V8 Update

A band like V8 Love Affair is a rare and wonderful thing. Tough and hard-hitting, the group had both brains and balls, making them Hampton Roads' answer to Soundgarden (although they might rather be compared to Swervedriver). They've been inactive for quite some time now, but I caught up with guitarist Kenny Woodson recently via e-mail. He's still pursuing a music career, but in Los Angeles instead of Virginia.

Here are large chunks from his note sent last week:

"The singer/songwriter John [Taggart], and myself are no longer in Virginia. John has a family and joined the Coast Guard, who stationed him in Mantiwoc, Wisconsin. I came to Los Angeles a couple of years ago to further pursue music. Dan [Choi] and Luke [Ponessa] are still in Virginia Beach. Dan is a graphic designer with a family, and Luke has a wife and is the general manager of Guitar Center Virginia Beach.

We do indeed stay in touch fairly regularly. We've all known each other since the four of us attended Kempsville High School, so there's quite a bit of history there. Truth be told, I was actually a fan of the band before I was ever a member. If you recall, the V8LA was a three piece at the Strawberry Banks show. And I was one of the two dudes jumping around down in front! But I was in the same circle of friends, I was actually dating John's sister at the time of that show. Years later, John asked me to join on 2nd guitar to which I enthusiastically agreed.

The reunion gig has been talked about a lot and came very close to happening in early 2007. John was scheduled to be in town for some Coast Guard training in Yorktown, and I agreed to fly back so we could catch up and play a one-off show. It ended up not working out because of transportation issues, however we've kept the idea warm for the future."

We've all been playing those songs for so many years that they're pretty hard to forget, and the chemistry when we're playing in a room together is pretty undeniable. We had what was almost a year hiatus in '03-'04 because Luke had been transferred to another Guitar Center in Memphis, TN. Luke is a monster of a bass player and a pretty integral part of the band, so he wasn't easy to replace. We ended up settling on our friend Ian Sabo for a brief time before Luke came back to Virginia. But before we played with Ian, three of us got together to practice for the first time in almost a year, and it was as if not a day had passed -- we ran through our set like we'd never skipped a beat.

The EP was released in the fall of 2004. It was recorded in Hampton, VA with our friend Vince Burke from Beaten Back To Pure. It was our only official release. All other recorded material was demo stuff that we distributed & sold at shows. There were about two or three demo sessions if I recall correctly.

Luke is currently playing in the Norfolk band 1888, and also Virginia Beach's Fluorescent. Dan was playing in Fluorescent as well, but I'm not sure if that's still happening. John has been writing his own songs in his free time ...

I've been trying to get something started here L.A. but it's not easy! I had a band going in late '06 that was pretty awesome. Kinda mathy & angular, it sounded like The Jesus Lizard meets Chavez. Great, weird shit, but it imploded when our drummer left. We hadn't recorded anything just yet and when he left we kinda forgot how to play the songs!"