ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The second annual Asheville music extravaganza AVL Fest returns August 1, bringing dozens of bands to 22 local venues across four days.
Meet one of the headliners:
Recent release: “Sweetest Ache,” May 17, 2024
Genre: Soul Pop
Hometown: Winston-Salem, N.C.
Performance: 9 p.m., Thursday, August 1, The Orange Peel
Though “Victoria Victoria” is led by and named after Victoria “Tori” Elliott, the band is more than an extension of her. According to Elliott, “Victoria Victoria” is made up of an entire block of people.
“A lot of us in the band, we all live on the same street. So it’s very much neighborhood vibes at rehearsals and shows,” Elliott said. “We want everyone to feel like we’re at a neighborhood hang, like the community is real, and that’s what we hope to convey at our shows.”
While Elliott is the face of the band, she is not the only Elliott to play in it. She is joined by her brother, Noah Elliott and her sister, Halle Elliott.
“It’s very much a family affair,” Elliott laughed. “Each of them have their own solo projects and I play for both of them. Then when it’s ‘Victoria Victoria’ time, the one who’s double-named gets to be the boss.”
The Elliotts play alongside a few other musicians, too.
“My band is my best friend Maia Kamil, who’s also an incredible singer-songwriter,” Elliott said. “For this show, we have Calvin Napper on drums which is such a treat. He’s an incredible drummer. And we have Matt Booth on bass who is filling in this month for me. Really great lineup.”
“Victoria Victoria” was invited to perform at AVLFest after playing a couple shows at The Grey Eagle.
“The Grey Eagle is like one of my favorite venues. It’s so cozy to attend shows there and to perform there,” Elliott said. “We had a contact through that, and it just ended up working out. I’m so stoked to be on the lineup this year.”
For this festival, however, “Victoria Victoria” will be bringing their powerful soul pop ballads to The Orange Peel. For their new album, “Sweetest Ache,” the band is exploring the aches and pains of love.
“The album is about the things that make us ache in life. It’s interesting because there’s this message about the obsession of infatuation,” Elliott said. “That limerence period where you’re like, am I gonna fall in love? I’m not quite sure. How it’s so exciting but it also hurts in a lot of ways.”
The aching of Elliott’s soaring melodies and bass lines is not confined to lovesickness either.
“The album also delves into the ache of grief and of loss and of leaving situations that you don’t necessarily wanna leave but you know that you need to,” Elliott said. “All the good existential themes in there.”
Though “Victoria Victoria” songs are about situations they may not want to find themselves in, Elliott is thrilled to be in Asheville for AVLFest.
“When I moved to Winston, the thing we would always do on a long weekend or if we had time off work or whatever, me and my friends, we would always go to Asheville,” Elliott said. “It was like this magical mountain getaway where we could be in touch with nature, but then also go downtown, and it was the coolest scene.”
Despite her love of hiking, camping and the Asheville music scene, the people are the thing Elliott is most excited for whenever she visits her magical mountain getaway.
“To play shows there has been really special,” Elliott confided. “The crowds have been great every time that we’ve been there, people from out of town or locals.”
Tickets to see “Victoria Victoria” and the rest of the AVLFest lineup can be found on the festival website, www.avlfest.com.