For her first act, Vicci Martinez spent a decade growing her Vicci Martinez Band into one of the region's most popular live acts.
For her second, she built a national following as the spunkiest member of Team CeeLo on the inaugural season of NBC-TV's “The Voice.” Her brush with pop stardom came at a cost, though. Martinez did not feel her major label debut, “Vicci,” was a priority for her new label, Universal Republic, and grew disillusioned as sales remained flat. The singer had developed a full-blown crisis of confidence by the time she left Los Angles last year.
“When I came home, I was at a low point (and realized) this could really send me into a depression,” she recalled last week. “You can go into your own head, and I know a lot of people who have just stopped. I knew that I would never stop. I just didn't know what was going to happen next.”
In that context, fellow singer-songwriter Aaron Stevens’ timing could not have been better. Stevens, a longtime friend, is best known as the vocalist and primary songwriter for popular Tacoma indie-folk outfit Goldfinch; and, a year and a half ago, he set the stage for Martinez’s third act, which entails fronting a new Tacoma super-group, Enter-Exit-Stay.
The band - which also includes Goldfinch drummer Paul Hirschl and Tacoma-based hip-hop producer D.J. Phinisey - will make its public debut on April 18 at the Rialto Theater. Meanwhile, fans can download the quartet’s new EP, “I Am” - which surfaced on iTunes Tuesday - or hear Martinez preview new cuts during her guest run this week on “Mornings with Jackie, Marco and Moote,” on Seattle’s KLCK-FM (Click, 98.9).
The new material is electronic-pop contrasting the rootsy repertoire the Vicci Martinez Band is known for, but not too far removed from songs Martinez recorded for “Vicci.” The sound evolved from a project Stevens had been plotting with his dancer wife, Faith. “It was something that she was going to be doing some choreography to,” he said. “I wanted to work on something more hip-hop related than anything I'd ever done before, and I actually had set out to write music that wasn't lyrical.” Laughing, he added, “Then I failed at writing non-lyrical music.”
The new tunes didn’t fit the Goldfinch aesthetic; but when Stevens shared a track with Martinez, in October 2013, she was instantly hooked. “She loved the song,” he said, “and before she left the studio that night, she was like ‘let's do a record.’”
“I needed to do something different,” Martinez said. “I was actually gonna go to Sweden and possibly have a publishing deal and live out of there. But I started going to D.J.'s studio, and it became like medicine.”
Over time, the quartet developed a solid rapport and a tireless work ethic. The quartet keeps a rigid schedule, dedicating two nights a week to recording, and has already written nearly three albums worth of material, according to Stevens.
“There's a tremendous amount of confidence that comes when you see a team of people all working together for a common goal,” he said. “We're all fighting to make the music better all the time. We get in some pretty serious arguments in the studio at times, but it's always with the understanding that we're fighting so hard because we think it's going to make the art better. So there's not any personal feelings that get in the way.”
“It's really awesome. I feel more a part of my music than I ever have,” Martinez said. “Everyone is bouncing knowledge and experience off of each other. Paul Hirschl is a music director, and he's just changed my world, how to practice and how to rehearse.”
“The songs that we've been writing and what we've been doing is the best work any of us have ever put out,” Stevens added. “Somehow, the combination of all of us working together is pulling things out of us each, artistically. It's like mining depths that have never been mined before.
There is bad news, though, for fans of their previous projects. For starters, the Vicci Martinez Band is no more.
“That was 15 years of my life. So I think If anything happens with that, it's gonna be in 15 years,” Martinez said. “We played together, and we were really tight, and it was nice. But I was running the whole ship, and I can't run the whole ship any more. Maybe I could one day, but I don't want to any more. “This is more collaborative, and I prefer that more in my life. It's nice to have the help.”
Stevens seemed more open to reuniting Goldfinch some time down the road. “If I feel like I start writing songs again that fit the aesthetic of Goldfinch, I have no problem putting out another Goldfinch record,” he said. “But right now, as it stands, I don't have the time to be rehearsing or touring or writing for any other project other than this. We've made a two-year commitment. The hope is that it goes well and we just continue working on this project. But I can't read those tea leaves. I have no idea what's going to happen.
The April 18 show is also a benefit for Center Force, a 501 (c)3 non-profit that supports families with members that have disabilities. Learn more about the group online at http://www.centerforce.net.
Vicci Martinez & Enter-Exit-Stay in concert
A benefit for CenterForce
7:30 p.m. April 18
Rialto Theater
901 Broadway, Tacoma
$19 to $69