Featured Artist: Volk
By Emmy Susani
VOLK is the thrashy/twang love child I didn’t know I needed. Small in size yet big in sound, VOLK is Chris Lowe (electric guitar, vocals) and Eleot Reich (drums, lead vocals). Together they kick out the jams with a high-octane show combining politics, poetry, and pageantry.
Their debut album, Cashville, is their first full-length release and the first to capture the full range of their cinematic style. The twelve song LP is a banger after banger, this album perfectly sums up VOLK in the best way possible. Straight ahead power with each and every song.
VOLK has come a long way since Reich and Lowe met in Berlin, Germany circa 2013 at a brothel-turned-bar called Madame Claude’s. Lowe taught at an international school; Reich was completing her theater degree; both turned to songwriting as a refuge for creativity. They ran across each other one fateful Sunday at Madame Claude’s open mic night where both were trying out their original songs, Lowe on the slide guitar, Reich belting out the blues. Their initial folksy acoustic collaboration eventually needed more—the songs were calling out for it. They added a drummer for a month, but when he split town, leaving behind a drum set in their apartment, Lowe asked Reich to give the abandoned drums a try in a moment of inspiration.
I found VOLK playing a small bar in the outskirts of Pennsylvania and am still blown away by how much this two piece can totally take over a room. The band has been pretty hard on the touring circuit, stay posted on their socials to catch them out on the road. You won’t be disappointed.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/livevolk
IG: https://www.instagram.com/volk_band/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7DC7DTFiH8DZXydAIOgABV
YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/VOLKBAND
Website: https://www.livevolk.com/