South Florida Indie Music Artist Talent Support Developers & Musical Agency Management

Flo Anito, Washington DC

Q. How did the project come into existence?

CD

I decided to record my full length album, No Dustbunnies down in Charlottesville with producers Chris Keup , Stewart Myers (Jason Mraz, OAR, Lifehouse, Rachel Yamagata), and drummer Brian Jones (DMB, Mandy Moore) after a friend who went to highschool with Jason Mraz found out that he'd recorded with them. I self-funded and self-released the album after 2 one week blocks of recording time.  It was a long time in the making as I had to raise money for the second block of recording time.

MUSIC VIDEO

I was contacted by director Francisco Campos-Lopez via Myspace about making a music video for one of my songs. I was doubtful at first because there are so many scams out there but we found a time to meet up and threw some ideas back and forth and ended up coming up with what I thought was a pretty cool concept. I was almost a theatre major so I was super excited about acting in the video and wanted it to tell a story.  I chose my song Uh Oh which had been a finalist in Cosmo Radio's Breaking the Band contest and decided to set the story in a 50's style All-American diner in DC.  I set out to find a diner that would let us shoot and somebody from my mailing list immediately suggested the Capital City Diner in NE DC. Upon visiting and meeting the owner, I knew it was the perfect place.  I recruited friends to help out with the shoot and we managed to finish the whole shoot in a day which was pretty amazing.  We released the video at the Rock and Roll Hotel in mid December and put it up on Youtube right away. It's been doing great - over 3000 views in two months.

Q.Who are the members of the band if any and please tell us about it? I usually play solo but occasionally my friend Jeff Goodwin joins me on drums and Brian Waitzman plays the bass/guitar. I sing and play keys and the acoustic guitar.

Q How would you describe your sound/genre? I call it Jazzy Pop - what you might get if you threw Nellie McKay, Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Jewel, Janis Joplin, and Regina Spektor into a stew pot.

Q. What formal training or previous experience do any of the members have? I have classical training in Voice, Piano, and Cello. I studied folk/fingerpicking Guitar and Classical and Jazz Vocals in college.

Q. Are you working w/ a producer on your upcoming album? I will for sure.

Q. Who would you say has been the biggest influence on the bands sound or that you have used as inspiration for your music? Most of my music is based on my experiences and those of my close friends. As far as musical inspirations, I listened to a lot of lyric heavy artists - Fiona Apple, Counting Crows, Ani Difranco, Jewel. I also love Jazz and Blues so I have tons of Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, and Louis Armstrong. Right now my favorites are Regina Spektor, Nellie McKay, Amy Winehouse, Julieta Venegas, and Shakira. I love to dance so Latin, African, and Techno are in my mix as well.

Q.What advice would you give to others starting out?  Work as hard as you can and then work harder. I think no matter what stage of your career you're in, that's good advice.

Q. Where can people go to learn more about you and hear your music? You can find everything on my website: http://www.floanito.com. I also have a Youtube channel, if you want to see live performances, new songs, and music videos. My Youtube channel is: http://www.youtube.com/floanito. I have CDs for sale on CD Baby and I'm on i-tunes, napster, rhapsody, lala, shockhoud, and all that jazz.

Q. If you could play anywhere in the world or with anyone you wanted where and who would it be with?  Hmmm... I think I would play with Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Africa or maybe with Moby somewhere with great acoustics or Redrocks with Big Head Todd or with Ella at the Apollo...

Q. What has been your greatest experience so far either individually or as a whole?  I have a lot of great memories. I've always loved singing at the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Singing on the stage in front of the Jefferson Memorial to hundreds of people, surrounded by Cherry Blossoms. One year a football (soccer) team from Argentina got on stage with me at the end of the show to dance and take pictures. 2 years in a row the same teachers brought their nursery school students to my performance and the kids were so adorable - they gave me hugs and asked to touch my guitar. I got to sing for the Secretary of the Interior at their press conference and not long ago I sang the National Anthem at a Washington Freedom (DC's professional women's soccer team) game. My live interview on Cosmo Radio was pretty exciting and receiving No Dustbunnies in the mail was an amazing feeling as well - to see all that work in tangible form was such a relief -  and the shooting of the music video was such a whirlwind but so great, not only for the musical aspect but for the positive energy and the amazing show of support.

Q. Do you have any upcoming events or news you would like to tell our readers about?  I have lots of upcoming shows and I really hope your readers will check out the new music video and my CD!

Q. Where do you see yourselves or hope to be in about 5 years? I hope to be able to tour internationally, have a few more CDs under my belt, and be happy and healthy. A spread in Rolling Stone wouldn't be so bad either...

Thanks,