Blue Lotus Collective

BLUE LOTUS COLLECTIVE A multi-band DIY music collective in Richmond, Virginia, which organizes house and venue shows and offers recording and performance opportunities to up-and-coming songwriters.

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Some Blue Lotus Extrusions

Mark you’re calendars for May 15th through 18th! Solace Sovay, Ashes, Headless Mantis, The Alberts, as well as a bunch of other great Richmond acts will be performing at Pinkstone Arts and Music Festival in Rock Camp, West Virginia. Ashes and Headless Mantis will be performing on Thursday the 15th, Solace Sovay will be performing on Friday the 16th, and the Alberts will be performing on Saturday the 17th. For more information on the festival check out their official Facebook page HERE.

For those of you sticking around Richmond, Celtic Panda will be performing at the National on May 17th as part of the “On The Verge” showcase. If you live in a hole and don’t know, Celtic Panda is a super talented RVA band that have been with us since the very beginnings of Blue Lotus. As stated in their Facebook bio, "what appears to be an effortless blending of funk and jazz with heavy rock breakdowns, Celtic Panda's eclectic, psychedelic sound is a testament to the musical talent that is proliferating from RVA these days.” But in truth, few acts around the city are as much worth your time as these guys are. Make sure you don’t miss their show if you’re around - it's sure to be a blast. Check out their Bandcamp HERE for sweet tunage and their Facebook page HERE for tickets, a LOT more show dates and all the information you could need.

Also, keep your ear to the ground for the next Blue Lotus showcase in the coming months. We've got a lot of new acts in 2014 we can't wait for you to hear live!

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Inland Ocean joins the Blue Lotus Collective

We're pleased to announce Inland Ocean as the newest member of the Blue Lotus family!

Check out the tunes at the Inland Ocean Soundcloud and keep up to date with events on the Inland Ocean Facebook page.

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Energy 2000

Energy 2000 is one of the new acts we've added to the collective this year and we'd like to take a moment to introduce you to some of their really interesting and beautiful music. Click on the album art below to go to their respective album pages.

Trans-Lunar Injection [December 2013]

The Gemini Transmissions [October 2013]

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&shes

Andrew Harrison, an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who plays under the moniker &shes, has been involved with a huge number of Blue Lotus events since our inception at the end of 2012. At the very end of 2013 he released a raw and wonderful EP on his Soundcloud account called "LSDemo". Check out the EP now by clicking on the album art below.

LSDemo [Dec 2013]

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The Willie Nelson Experience with Temple and Fallon performing the single off of his upcoming EP, "Sleepless Nights"

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Thanks to Ink Magazine for this awesome video! For anyone out there who may not know what Blue Lotus actually is or why we started it - check out the video. Concert footage was captured at our Blue Lotus Collective invades Gallery 5 event on January 18th.

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Happy New Years Everyone! We look forward to a year of good music and good times! Enjoy this video by Solace Sovay.

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Dane Ferguson at the Last Blue Lotus Residency Show!

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Sounds of RVA review of "Sleepless Nights

The Willie Nelson Experience - Sleepless Nights (demo) Get a little bossa nova in you with The Willie Nelson Experience's new demo. Not THAT Willie Nelson. Will Nelson is the bassist for The...

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An interview from Her Campus VCU.

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Ashes- "Frame by Frame" at a Blue Lotus Show.

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Clifton Gibbons - Rhythm/Treble

Clifton Gibbons of The Banduras and The Blue Lotus Collective releases new music seemingly constantly, and the album he put out at the end of July is well worth the listen.  His dirty guitar blues has a Hendrix proclivity and the restrained percussion helps highlight the moody vocals and surfy garage guitarwork. 

RIYL: Jack White, The Black Keys

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Sounds of RVA is too good to us. Here's a write-up of Blue Lotus co-founder Clifton Gbbons' newest EP "Rhythm/Treble".

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Megan Parochka - Forgive Me

Songstress Megan Parochka has polished up her ukulele and yodels for her new album, Forgive Me, eight tracks of soulful, sassy songs.  This is also known to Parochka and fans as “the ukulele album 2013.”  She also plays guitar but not on this album (from what we can tell).  The title track opens the album with a fresh take on acoustic chick rock.  Her outrageous yodels will snap you back to reality.   Originally from Arkansas, Parochka also performs under the name “Mother Pearl.”  Check out her ode to the ukulele-playing ladies (and perhaps self?) in “Uke-A-Lady.”  “You are the queen of the sea…”

"Revolution" is very far from the Beatles versions, and it is as enchanting as it is coital.  "Let’s start a war/Let’s start a revolution/We’ll do what we can and change the world…"  and to do this one probably would accept her invitation, "Let’s take off our clothes/Let’s take love slow/We’ll be as naked as when we were born."  Also make sure you don’t skip the last track, Parochka’s slowed and impassioned take on "House of the Rising Sun."

Here is another new track with Megan on guitar, probably from the upcoming album An Ode to Arkansas, “I Don’t Care:”

<a href="http://meganparochka.bandcamp.com/album/i-dont-care" data-mce-href="http://meganparochka.bandcamp.com/album/i-dont-care">I Don’t Care by Megan Parochka</a>

Here is also a recent performance of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire:”

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Check out this lovely write-up by soundsofrva of Megan Parochka's new album, "Forgive Me"

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Megan Parochka - "Forgive Me"

Blue Lotus artist Megan Parochka just released her new EP "Forgive Me". It was recorded by Felix Falcon with Gravel Recordings. Check out her new song "Guys Like You" via her soundcloud below and head over to her bandcamp page for the full EP.

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Blue Lotus @ Emilio's #12

Our next installment of Blue Lotus @ Emilio's will be held on Thursday, July 25th, 2013 at Emilio's Downtown (1847 West Broad). These shows occur every other thursday at 10pm, are 18+, and are ALWAYS free!

  Music this week will be provided by:

Yankee Dixie (Official Page | Facebook) Mitchel Bamberger from Sunrise Detour (Bandcamp | Facebook) Inland Ocean (Soundcloud | Facebook)

Click the image above for more information and to see the official Facebook event page!

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Check out the latest EP of new material from Blue Lotus co-founder, Clifton Gibbons. This is the second EP Clifton has put out since May, the first being the much softer "Sprawl", which was reviewed by Sounds of RVA (click here).

Check out both full EPs and download them for free at cliftongibbons.com

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After years of making interesting videos based around his loop experiments as The Willie Nelson Experience, Blue Lotus co-founder, Will E. Nelson, just released his first audio demo for the project called "Sleepless Nights". Once again, there is a review of the track provided by Sounds of RVA (click here).