Up Next!
Friday - December 6th The Boar's Nest 35 Old State Rd. #67 Oxford, CT 06478 475-675-5569 8:00-11:00 Saturday - December 7th ***Private Event*** Sunday-Funday - December 8th Ponza Italian Kitchen 690 Connecticut Ave Norwalk, CT 06854 203-866-7444 4:00-7:00 Wednesday - December 11th ***Private Event*** Friday - December 13th ***Private Event*** Saturday - December 14th O’Neill’s Pub 93 North Main Street Norwalk, CT 06854 (203) 838-0222 9:30-12:30 "Best band we've hired, by far." Lennox Live Event Coordinator "We came in for pizza and stayed all night! When are you playing here again?!" Patrons at Pier 131 January 2022 "Thank you guys so very much for rocking this party and making it so special!! Jordan, Don and Family 2019 |
Best of the Gold Coast
2016, 2017, 2018 2020, 2021 Best Local Rock Band 2019 Editors' Pick Best of the Gold Coast no longer has a band category, but Tangled Vine received awards throughout: from 2006-2021, and are still rockin' the best! From Fairfield Living:
"OK, fine, so you didn't snag the Bruno Mars tickets that your bestie offered you. And you will forever regret not catching Prince or The Rolling Stones in concert when you had a chance (yeah, bad call). But that's OK, because Fairfield County Best Of voters are huge fans of Tangled Vine. This group of musicians rock out to the most popular songs that will get you dancing, swaying, fist pumpin' and forgetting all about the stress and regrets of concerts missed." Made up of professional full time musicians, winner mulitple times since 2006 of the Best of the Gold Coast's Highest Award for total votes for all gold coast towns, Tangled Vine never fails to ignite a room to smokin' hot and rockin'. With a mix of classic and contemporary rock, soul, and rhythm & blues - from Janis Joplin to the Stones, Bruno Mars to Prince, Johnny Cash to Humble Pie - Tangled Vine delivers an irresistible soundtrack for any event. July/August 2018 Edition "Your band is amazing! This morning, a lot of my collegues came up to me and said that the band 'Kicked A-s last night!'" Corporate Event Pattie C. • Pernod Ricard USA |
"Your exceptional performance for our daughter’s wedding reception made the evening!!! We are most grateful that you took time to carefully plan the music portion of the evening with us. . . the planning really paid off. Your band is so together, the sound is so superb, and the fun that you clearly all had during your performance just put us over the top for an wonderful celebration. Feel free to use me as a reference, though you probably don’t need references with your stellar reputation!"
M.R. • Dec 2018
M.R. • Dec 2018
"Dear Tangled Vine, We couldn't imagine anyone else helping us celebrate our wedding! Thank you for always bringing so much energy and talent to what you do. It is always a pleasure being on the other side of the music. We are so happy you could be part of our big day!" With love, Kenzie & Tim 2019 "Saw this great band last night in Wilton. Got me out on the dance floor. Place was bedlam when they jammed on 'Sympathy for the Devil.'" Raffaello P. April 2018 |
"Tangled Vine was the band at my cousin's wedding, my brother's wedding and finally came my turn. My first order of business was to make sure Tangled Vine was available! The reception was a party where no one left the dance floor! The music makes the party. I received compiment after compliment about Tangled Vine. I highly recommend them and wish I could do it all over again!" Kristina 2018 |
NORWALK HOUR Sound Surfing: Tangled Vine weaves musical magic around weekly shows at Peaches
By Mike Horyczun, Saturday, November 17, 2018
NORWALK — Playing lengthy musical residencies is second nature for Tangled Vine. In its infancy years, late 2000 and early 2001, the band had weekly gigs at a former South Norwalk hot spot, The Loft, and at Prohibition in New York City. Both bookings lasted for several years and in one case over a decade — The Loft shows ended, when the club closed its doors in 2016. Another long-running series of live dates for Tangled Vine continues this weekend, when the band hosts a Sunday Brunch from 4 to 7 p.m., at Peaches Southern Pub & Juke Joint at 7 Wall St. in Norwalk. The weekly brunch gigs will continue through next May.
Tangled Vine is a veteran ensemble — three are original members — whose set lists run the gamut. They’re know for playing authentic renditions of classics from the Stones to Zeppelin, the Beatles, Humble Pie, to Michael Jackson.
As band member Kevin Totoian explained, it really is all about the music. “This is a cover band and a band that we’re making a living at,” said Totoian, who sings lead vocals and plays bass guitar and harmonica, “but we play these songs like they’re our own songs. I think that that’s what people respond to.”
Other band members are Christine Tambakis on lead vocals and percussion, Andy Abel on guitar and vocals, and Nick Saya on drums.
Tangled Vine’s beginnings are deeply rooted in the Norwalk music scene. “It was sort of a happenstance,” said Totoian. “Christine, our singer, heard that they needed a band to play at a club called Amberjacks in Norwalk. There was a band that would play there on Wednesday or Thursday called First Year Fonzie.” That was back in 2000, and another Norwalk veteran, P.J. Pacifico, led that band.
“They would play for three hours straight and would need a break,” he said. “So, they were looking for a band to play for like an hour. So Christine and Andy and I got together with acoustic guitars and we did it. We played the songs that we knew, and we said, ‘Hey this is fun. Maybe we should try to do this for real.’ Andy had a recording studio in Norwalk, and he has another one in Trumbull, where he lives. We recorded our demo, and that’s how we started getting gigs.”
Next month marks the band’s 18th year together, and there’s no sign that things are slowing down for the quartet — drums were added when the clubs wanted the group to rock louder for the dance crowds. This past weekend, Tangled Vine played five gigs, and they remain active not only on the club scene but also on the corporate and wedding circuit. They’ve performed in Hawaii four years in row, in Aruba, San Francisco, Miami, and throughout the tri-state area.
“We’ve been playing together for so long now, it’s like a family. And when we’re playing, the music just communicates right with the audience, no matter how big the crowd is,” said Totoian. “There’s a level of respect we have for the music, and I think that all of us completely respond to that.”
The bass guitarist, who lives in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, has a long history in the music business. He was a founding member of Tall Stories, a band that recorded for Epic Records and toured in the early ’90s. And his father, Richard Totoian, who at one time worked for Columbia Records, was responsible for getting Santana signed to the label.
“I was exposed to amazing things,” said Totoian. “Mountain’s Leslie West and my dad gave me my first bass guitar, and the band’s bassist Felix Pappalardi gave me an amplifier that once belonged to Jimi Hendrix. My dad traveled with The Who and became good friends with Keith Moon. I met Pete Townshend when I was 13, and he told me, ‘As a musician, whatever you do, do it the absolute best, do it as best as you can. That’s the only advice I can give you.”
Along those lines, Totoian sees the future of Tangled Vine as expanding on its success and perhaps adding some original music to the mix. “There’s always something to aspire to,” he said. “We want to always grow. We want to add new and different music. I would like us to do original music and to give people an opportunity to hear our creativity, to give them a chance to hear how we can express ourselves with our own music. Maybe the coming year will be that time, when we focus on bringing that element to it, and it will make it something more compelling for us, as well.”
Mike Horyczun’s Sound Surfing column appears every Saturday in The Norwalk Hour.
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By Mike Horyczun, Saturday, November 17, 2018
NORWALK — Playing lengthy musical residencies is second nature for Tangled Vine. In its infancy years, late 2000 and early 2001, the band had weekly gigs at a former South Norwalk hot spot, The Loft, and at Prohibition in New York City. Both bookings lasted for several years and in one case over a decade — The Loft shows ended, when the club closed its doors in 2016. Another long-running series of live dates for Tangled Vine continues this weekend, when the band hosts a Sunday Brunch from 4 to 7 p.m., at Peaches Southern Pub & Juke Joint at 7 Wall St. in Norwalk. The weekly brunch gigs will continue through next May.
Tangled Vine is a veteran ensemble — three are original members — whose set lists run the gamut. They’re know for playing authentic renditions of classics from the Stones to Zeppelin, the Beatles, Humble Pie, to Michael Jackson.
As band member Kevin Totoian explained, it really is all about the music. “This is a cover band and a band that we’re making a living at,” said Totoian, who sings lead vocals and plays bass guitar and harmonica, “but we play these songs like they’re our own songs. I think that that’s what people respond to.”
Other band members are Christine Tambakis on lead vocals and percussion, Andy Abel on guitar and vocals, and Nick Saya on drums.
Tangled Vine’s beginnings are deeply rooted in the Norwalk music scene. “It was sort of a happenstance,” said Totoian. “Christine, our singer, heard that they needed a band to play at a club called Amberjacks in Norwalk. There was a band that would play there on Wednesday or Thursday called First Year Fonzie.” That was back in 2000, and another Norwalk veteran, P.J. Pacifico, led that band.
“They would play for three hours straight and would need a break,” he said. “So, they were looking for a band to play for like an hour. So Christine and Andy and I got together with acoustic guitars and we did it. We played the songs that we knew, and we said, ‘Hey this is fun. Maybe we should try to do this for real.’ Andy had a recording studio in Norwalk, and he has another one in Trumbull, where he lives. We recorded our demo, and that’s how we started getting gigs.”
Next month marks the band’s 18th year together, and there’s no sign that things are slowing down for the quartet — drums were added when the clubs wanted the group to rock louder for the dance crowds. This past weekend, Tangled Vine played five gigs, and they remain active not only on the club scene but also on the corporate and wedding circuit. They’ve performed in Hawaii four years in row, in Aruba, San Francisco, Miami, and throughout the tri-state area.
“We’ve been playing together for so long now, it’s like a family. And when we’re playing, the music just communicates right with the audience, no matter how big the crowd is,” said Totoian. “There’s a level of respect we have for the music, and I think that all of us completely respond to that.”
The bass guitarist, who lives in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, has a long history in the music business. He was a founding member of Tall Stories, a band that recorded for Epic Records and toured in the early ’90s. And his father, Richard Totoian, who at one time worked for Columbia Records, was responsible for getting Santana signed to the label.
“I was exposed to amazing things,” said Totoian. “Mountain’s Leslie West and my dad gave me my first bass guitar, and the band’s bassist Felix Pappalardi gave me an amplifier that once belonged to Jimi Hendrix. My dad traveled with The Who and became good friends with Keith Moon. I met Pete Townshend when I was 13, and he told me, ‘As a musician, whatever you do, do it the absolute best, do it as best as you can. That’s the only advice I can give you.”
Along those lines, Totoian sees the future of Tangled Vine as expanding on its success and perhaps adding some original music to the mix. “There’s always something to aspire to,” he said. “We want to always grow. We want to add new and different music. I would like us to do original music and to give people an opportunity to hear our creativity, to give them a chance to hear how we can express ourselves with our own music. Maybe the coming year will be that time, when we focus on bringing that element to it, and it will make it something more compelling for us, as well.”
Mike Horyczun’s Sound Surfing column appears every Saturday in The Norwalk Hour.
Article Link