The story of Queen Orlenes begins in Caldes d'Estrac, a beach village an hour north of Barcelona. Sitting on the balcony of a run down hotel, American-born, London-based songwriter Brooke X opened up her laptop and began typing a letter. It had been one helluva year. A heady cocktail of personal tragedy and professional set backs had left Brooke in a quandary--suffer the same fate as so many music industry casualties, or wipe away the tears, pick herself up, and try again?

The letter, as it turned out, was to her future band mates--long time friend and New Yorker Ian Wolff and native London musician Rob Walbourne. What would happen if they took away all the pressure to be successful? And focused solely on making the music they loved and could be proud of.

The answer came a few weeks later, via a 15-hour drive from NYC to Sparta, Tennessee. The trio set up their gear in the rural farmhouse of Ian’s grandfather and spent the hot Southern summer turning years of angst and anguish into the sound of Queen Orlenes.

Ten Tennessee demos completed, the group returned to London and happened upon producers Richard Cardwell and Jim Duguid, who took an instant liking to the band and promptly cleared their schedules to begin making the records.

In between studio sessions, the band embarked on a self-funded UK tour whilst setting up shop in farmhouses across North Devon and East Sussex where they continued to write songs. "The Ark," one of the sparkling results of a North Devon session, was included on charity album "Songs To Save A Life" to raise awareness and money for the Samaritans.

With four new tracks, Queen Orlenes are readying the release of their debut EP "Helicopters," on their own label, River Gang Records. Title track "Helicopters" is about "finding the courage to talk about the stuff in your life that's fucked you up," Brooke X explains. "Or it will bury you." It's a heady mix of melody and emotion, set to sparse yet hypnotic guitars and a marching drum beat that builds and builds.

This is music made by real people who have lived and loved hard.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Take your seats, the show is about to begin. I want to welcome to the stage the last, living song and dance man; an entertainers entertainer! Somewhere between the sweaty, swagger of soul music, and the heart and humor of a folk troubadour is Yoni Gordon. Someone said it best when they compared him to "Roy Orbison, Tom Waits and Jonathan Richman taking a road trip together through the southwest." Sounds pretty good, right?
Yoni Gordon is a practitioner of the long forgotten art of SHOWMANSHIP. Right now there are hundreds, NO thousands of musicians out there playing music, but Yoni Gordon is out there putting on a SHOW. If he needs to get down on bended knee and preach, HE WILL; if he needs to play his guitar behind his head(and play it better than most kids can play in front of their heads), HE WILL; if he needs to take requests from the crowd, covering everything from Usher to Weird Al and back, HE WILL. Whether he is playing in a bar or a basement or an ice cream parlor, he is the best show in town. And he is here, now, playing in your city. Go see him for God's sake. You won't be sorry.