JIM CATALANO/ Journal Staff
Kiev, including guitarist Taylor Quan, will perform on the Warped Tour at Darien Lake Wednesday.
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While the Vans Warped Tour has long showcased most of the biggest names in punk rock, it also has a tradition of showcasing different local bands at each stop.
This year, Ithaca band Kiev has landed a spot on one of the local stages at Wednesday's Warped Tour date at Darien Lake.
Needless to say, the trio -- guitarist Taylor Quan, drummer Sylvie Froncek and bassist-singer Maia Vidal -- are excited about the show, and they've been rehearsing every night to get ready.
"We're so completely stoked about playing," says Vidal. Adds Quan, "We're so lucky."
The gig was arranged by Bad Religion singer Greg Graffin, who was given Kiev's CD by Megan Shull, a mutual friend of Graffin and Froncek's mother, Janet Shure.
"Their CD was good, and I'd like to see them cultivated," says Graffin. "I don't usually stick my neck out, but since they're so young -- 15 when they made the CD, which is how old I was when I got started in music -- I told them I'd try to help.
"I distinctly remember that no one stuck their neck out, or got us on any shows, and for years, we were always wishing that we could play some of the biggest venues in Los Angeles," continues Graffin. "All it would have really taken was somebody to say, 'Can you get my friends' band on the bill?' Finally the Adolescents and the Circle Jerks, who are our contemporaries, stuck their necks out, and it really worked for us.
"So it was kind of sentimental thing. I can't say that I can do that for every Ithaca band, but it certainly was a gesture for the home town."
Originally published Thursday, August 12, 2004
