Champagne Sunday

Saturday, September 26th — Rhythms Stage — 5:30 PM

Powerful, honest, edgy, and refreshingly original, Champagne Sunday attacks the stage with the theatrical flair of Queen, the seemingly simple writing style of the Beatles, the plain language poetry of Tom Petty, and the restless urgency of Ani DiFranco.

Hailing from the beach community of Ventura, CA, the band has earned fans from coast to coast through touring and radio play over the past few years. Since its inception in 2005 with co-founders Jessi Reems-Terrell and Jared Fredeen, the band (now with drummer Matt Gay and bassist Anthony Kafka) has seen several transformations in the line-up but its roots have always been strong in the writing partnership of Jessi and Jared.

Thier 2006 release "Make It Mine" garnered some radio play from local and college stations and won the group three MAVRIC awards (including Best Rock Song and Best Overall Song of 2007) out of five nominations. The band toured nationally twice in 2007 in support of the album and expanded their fanbase to New York and Seattle.

With the release of their follow-up album "North" in 2008, the band found much more national radio exposure, and won three more MAVRIC awards (including one for Best Vocal Group) out of thirteen nominations; more than any other group in the history of the awards. National touring for North (and the band's addendum EP, "Bird in the Hand") will last from September through December 2009.