Kelly's Lot plays roadhouse blues. Their sound is upbeat, heartfelt and fun and audiences walk away with a smile. After Rock City News crowned Kelly’s Lot “Best Blues Band” at a yearly awards show, the band started booking blues Festivals including The Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland Oregon, the Big Fish Blues Festival, Maxson Roadhouse and the Pasadena Blues Festival. They have opened for Tommy Castro, Shemekia Copeland, Marcia Ball and Curtis Salgado and have hosted 2 many events for charity. Kelly's Lot was formed by singer Kelly Zirbes after years of songwriting and playing solo. Their 3 live CDs, "Live at The Troubadour", "Stop And Make A Difference" and "Trio" have shown the band has what it takes "LIVE" They have headlined local southern California festivals, toured regionally and went on 2 national tours. Kelly’s Lot has been featured on many media outlets including ABC Perspectives, Channel 4 in Milwaukee, Rock City News, LA times, Pasadena Weekly, Independent Songwriter Magazine, Mixdown Magazine, The Debra Duncan Show, Good Morning Texas, The Gordon Keith show and Fox TV Houston. Many USA radio stations, traditional, college and internet have played their CDs. Their studio releases "Come To This" and "The Light" were played on traditional and internet radio overseas in Europe. With the help of European fans and a new CD "Pastrami and Jam", they toured across Belgium and France the last 3 years and are planning their next tour in 2011.
Kelly's Lot weaves blues and roadhouse rock into a passionate
combination. Selections from their diverse selection of original
songs, form a dynamic set of sometimes mellow and moody; sometimes
raucous and radiant; but always soul searching lyrics.Kelly's Lot was formed by lead singer
Kelly Zirbes. Kelly Z recorded her first demo CD, "Kelly's
Lot", with J. Peter Robinson, former keyboard player for
Phil Collins and The J. Geils Band. The
next recording "Kelly's Lot-Live at the Troubadour",
produced by Perry Robertson, was added to the 1st demo to make
the promotional compilation "Kelly's Lot - Chapter 1 &
2."
 After
gaining lots of fans in Los Angeles it was tme to do a studio
CD. Perry Robertson, now in the band, recorded and produced "TEST
DRIVE" bringing in friends like Scott Sanders to Mix. Phil
Morales came on board to create the enhanced part of the CD and
a music video of the band's remake of Melanie's "Brand New
Key" was directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The band has always
had great supporters and talented folks willing to help. Kelly's
Lot went on tour to support their new release and found fans all
over the USA.
  The
next CD "STOP AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE" was recorded
to help the band raise funds for various charities. Re-titled
"Get Hip To Hep C", it was part of a national campaign
to raise awareness about hepatitis C. Kelly's Lot went on tour
again, hitting even more stops along the way.
"Trio" and "Come To
This" were the next releases.
"Trio was also recorded live and
represents the true feeling behind all the other recordings. It
is stripped down but still has the power of the full band. With
just 2 guitars and vocals, it features Rob Zucca, Perry Robertson
and Kelly Z.
"Come To This" is a full
band CD that features the Blues/Rock music that the band
is known for! So far all CDs have had lots of radio play
and received great reviews.The song "Train" was placed in the movie "King Of California". Other songs on the CD were placed in small independent movies and a documentary
"The Light" and "Pastrami And Jam
" were the next releases.
""The Light" and "Pastrami and Jam"
are the most recent releases and are selling fast. The Light was recorded in a studio and highlights the variety of styles this band is capable of. A few of the songs were recently placed in the upcoming movie "Janie Jones" "Pastrami and Jam" was recorded in about 2 hours with the band standing in a circle like they did in the 50's. It is "LIVE" without an audience. You can get your copy here on the website.
Kelly's lot - Live In Brussels" coming soon!
| The American Liver Foundation |
American Cancer Society |
| Millerwood Animal Shelter |
Women's Care Cottage |
| STOP CANCER: The Next Generation |
Aids Healthcare Foundation |
| Team Fierce |
Jonnies Charity |
| Dubnoff Center |
Valley Trauma Center |
| James Graham Brown Cancer Center |
Phoenix House |
| Valley Community Clinic |
Wellness Community |
| John Tracy Clinic |
Red Cross |
| Santa Monica Fire Dept's Fund for 9/11 |
Childrens Hospital |
| Shriners Burn Center |
...and a friend in need. |
| Sebastian Sheehan |
Rob Zucca |
| Dave Welch |
Bill Johnston |
| Perry Robertson |
Kelly Zirbes |
Scott Sanders |
Linda Moss |
| Robert Dill |
Matt McFadden |
| Ed Theriault |
Chris Robertson |
| Galen Shostac |
Mark Drews |
| Homero Chavez |
Bruce Johnson |
| Greg Granieri |
Jonas Manon |
| Brian Celano |
Wes Precino |
| David Walsh |
Alex Rylance |
| Jon Weiner |
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...read the history of the band below! |
The
first set of players in Kelly's Lot were Homero Chavez, Alez Rylance,
David Walsh and Greg Graniere. These players were crucial to the
band's existence. Homero, Greg, David and Alex gave Kelly a chance
to play music and realize her love for songwriting and performing.
This was Kelly's first "real" band and they backed her
up with such solid playing it gave Kelly the confidence to go
for it. J. Peter Robinson, a well known composer and keyboard player, took a liking to Kelly and her music and
produced a demo for Kelly bringing in Leland Sklar and Ralph Humphrey
as the rhythm section. If you know anything about these 3 players, than you know it was amazing for Kelly
to be backed up by such talent and history. This gave her even more confidence.
But the first changes in the
band started before the recording of the fist release "Test Drive".
For personal reasons the band decided to take a break. Kelly
looked to guitar player and producer, Perry Robertson, who had produced a live CD
for the band called "Live at The Troubador" for some
guidance. Together they began organizing a new group of players.
Thomas Richter (lead guitar) and Sebastian Sheehan (drummer) came
on board after Perry and Kelly met them both through their love
of Harley Davidsons. Wes Precino had a short stint as the bass
player but he couldn't commit to the amount of gigs the band was
getting, so it was Chris Robertson, found through an audition
process, that got the job. Together with Bill Johnston on Sax,
these were the players on Test Drive.
But of course there were more
changes in the horizon!
Chris
Robertson, one of the best bass players out there, was happy to
be in Kelly's Lot but soon moved away and couldn't contine as the full time bass guy.
Wes played on bass for a few more gigs but eventually Bruce
Johnson came on board as the bass player. Bill Johnston eventually
played on every song with his variety of saxophones and a lonely
clarinet and became a solid member of Kelly's Lot. "Stop" was the next release, a live CD the band recorded
from Hallenbeck's, a local cafe that the band played at every month for over 5 years. The owner, Rob Zucca,
eventually relaced Richter on guitar and Brian Celano, a co-worker of
Bill and Perry, took Sebastian's place as drummer. Mark Drews joined
to share bass duties with Bruce who was busy making the Ampeg basses for musicians all over the world.
"The next CD, Come to This, " was recorded
with Johnston, Celano, Drews, Robertson, Zucca and Kelly. Before the next CD Jon
Weiner and Jonas Manon both played drums with the band filling in and just playing for fun before Sheehan
returned to play again full time. After recording "The Light" Matt McFadden started filling in for Mark on bass
and Robert Dill was filling in for Sebastian on drums. Soon Dill and McFadden took over
the rhythm section duties full time while Drews and Sheehan began new careers as producers and composers.
Sebastian has since returned and shares drumming duties with Robert. With more gigs in Texas on the horizon the band welcomes
Texan J.P. Evans to play the drums when the band is there. Bill Johnston took a short break but is back in full swing.
Linda Moss plays harmonica when she can and has been playing with "the Lot" steadily for 4 years including the
band's first tour in Europe. Sebastian introduced the group to B3 player Galen Shostac who has become the official keyboard and B3 "LOT" member.
Dave Welch joins us on Trumpet and Ed Theriault plays spoons with Perry and Kelly sometimes as an acoustic trio..
Sounds like a lot of players but after 14 years everyone in this band is like family and eventually returns for a gig or a jam.
Kelly's Lot is a family.
So right now at this moment we usually have
Perry Robertson and Rob Zucca on guitar, bass player Matt McFadden,
Robert Dill or Sebastian Sheehan on drums, Bill Johnston on Sax, Dave Welch on Trumpet,
Galen Shostac on B3 and keyboards and of course Kelly Z singing her
heart out! From an acoustic duo all the way to an eight piece band you can find them doing
the roadhouse rock and blues they love.
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