VO5

VO5 crushed it in the polls this week and went on to win this round of The Freshmen. “Dance Originality” will be added into full rotation next week. Congrats, VO5, and a huge thanks to all the artists and fans that voted. - MTV

While V05 the brand has fallen on hard times, V05 the band is more vital than ever.

The ‘70s brand of hair spray no longer sells at Walgreens, but you can pick up its hot oil treatment for $3.99. Meanwhile, V05, the Madison dance groovesters, are busy getting booties shaking most every weekend all over the Madison area.

The nine-member funk and disco band is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and is putting out its first-ever album of original music.

And fortunately for band members, Alberto V05 has never come after them for copyright infringement. After all, a Google search finds the band on top, one above the hair-product company.

“We kept thinking that the company would stop us from using their name as our band name, and we’ve never gotten a letter from them,” said band frontwoman Catherine “Cat” Capellaro. “We’re waiting for our cease and desist because it could be good publicity.”

V05 is hardly in need of publicity, particularly in the summer when it draws thousands of fans in dance mode to all the marquee local festivals.

“We are a festival band,” Capellaro said. “We like for people to stretch out and be able to dance in the streets.”

Friday, they play Dane Dances, which they’ve been doing for the past six years, and consider one of their favorite gigs.

“Dane Dances is Madison at its best,” Capellaro said. “It’s the most multi-racial, multi-generational, just free-spirited event that we play.”

The Dane Dances organization has consciously cultivated interracial cooperation, she said. They will usually book a predominantly African-American band opposite V05 “so we can cross-fertilize our audiences. I love that,” Capellaro said.

Dane Dances (with the Christopher Project — R&B and jazz groove — joining V05 Friday) is probably V05’s biggest show each year, said the band’s founder and keyboard player Andrew Rohn. “It’s the most diverse. And it’s just a thrilling setting.”

Likewise, Capellaro calls the setting exquisite. “You’re overlooking the Capitol on one end and the lake on the other. It’s sometimes beastly hot, but the sun goes down and you are just in a little slice of paradise.”

Then you add 3,000 people, most of them dancing, and “it’s a semi-religious experience for me anyway, to see that much joy,” she said.

V05 has done Atwoodfest, in its various incarnations, for seven years. And Memorial Union Terrace — usually UW-Madison’s graduation weekend — all 10 of the band’s years, although one show was near the Terrace, not on the Terrace, Rohn said.
“Those three are sort of landmarks for our summer season,” Capellaro added.
The first configuration of the band came together in 2005 as an offshoot of the theatrical work Capellaro did as a member of Cherry Pop Burlesque, a dance-comedy-striptease-aerial dance group active at the time. Rohn, who is married to Capellaro, formed a band to back up the group.

“We just discovered that we all agreed Madison needed a dance band and there was music out there that we didn’t want to let die,” Capellaro said.

The band plays mostly music from the ’70s — the Bee Gees, ABBA, the Jackson Five, Sly and the Family Stone. Songs like “Fire” by the Ohio Players, Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration,” or the more recent Daft Punk hit “Get Lucky” get most everyone onto the dance floor.

Lately they’ve been sprinkling in originals from their upcoming album, “Dance Originality,” which is also a track on the CD.

John Feith, the band’s guitar player, produced and engineered the album in his basement. Feith said while band members have had ideas for songs all along, it’s come together in the last six months, with five of the band’s nine members contributing songs.

“It’s been a challenge getting nine people coordinated to come and record, but since we did it in our home studio, we were able to take our time and fit everybody’s schedule,” he said.

They also had to work around the schedules of the four extra horn players who played on the album. “I think everybody’s really happy with all of the songs,” Feith said.

Trying to complete the project this summer has been difficult since summer is V05’s peak season and they often play gigs every weekend, said Feith, who wrote three songs on the album. Rohn wrote two, as did bass player Drew Szabo.

Ready or not, the band is holding a CD release Oct. 24 at the High Noon Saloon.

“It wasn’t the perfect process,” Rohn said, noting that the group workshopped some of the songs but didn’t figure out a way to help band members who really hadn’t written songs before. “Hopefully we will try again.”

The band originally came together to play covers and is proud to play the hits of others, Capellaro said.

They first appeared in public at the Mad Cabaret at the now-defunct Slipper Club and did a few numbers there, she recalled. Then they started playing at the Weary Traveler and on small stages.

“And we found that wherever we went there was a happy feeling and a happy party going on,” Capellaro said.

They now have about 150 songs in their repertoire, Rohn said.

In terms of the band’s longevity, it has stayed together through the years because of the love they have for each other and the music they’re making, Capellaro said, noting that the experience can feel profound.

“We make people dance and I think they’re happy,” she said. “And I think we’re all a little better for it.” - Wisconsin State Journal

From the opening seconds of V05’s “The Disco Haiku” music video, I was smitten. It is a rare thing that a band’s heart and soul shines so brightly through all aspects of their creative output. Shamelessly embracing the lighter side of life with a formula that is equal parts disco, dancing and bizarre, V05 have struck gold.

“The Disco Haiku” is featured on their debut album, Dance Originality. The release marks their tenth anniversary and celebrates a successful run and plenty of critical acclaim garnered as a live band.

Only driving my love for the band even deeper into the endless well that is my heart, the band’s make up proves every bit as eclectic as one might expect from a band obsessed with all night dance parties, funk, disco, barbies, theatricality, and outrageous costumes. The band includes two famous playwrights, a brave firefighter, a renewable energy guru, a wind-power engineer, a best-selling ornithologist and engineer, a wise doctor, and two celebrated actresses.
--Sam Buck, Milk Crater
Milk Crater is an ambitious music blog with a charitable twist. Every time someone listens to a song or watches a music video on our site, we make a donation to Direct Relief International - helping bring medical and emergency relief all over the world. We are literally changing the world by sharing great music. - Milk Crater

Their website is described as “under construction permanently.” Their sound? Thoroughly pre-internet. So many questions have to be asked of VO5 before a well-developed picture of the anomaly they are begins to unfold. The nine-piece disco band, well known in Wisconsin’s private party scene, has been a hidden gem of the dairy state for over a decade. While a VO5 gig consists mostly of covers — “YMCA” will cost you extra — their album is titled Dance Originality for a reason. The nine fresh songs and EDM-laced remix draw from a well rounded group of influences, including jazz, Latin, and funk, in addition to their disco home ground.

While the songs are well crafted, VO5 borrows from their idols freely — a bass line here, chord progression there — to make an album that, compositionally speaking, fully belongs in the present day music environment. With electronic dance music having its moment and hip-hop being a cultural mainstay at this point, there’s an irony in drawing analog influences that could practically be confused for digital sampling.

The sound-snatching group is forgiven, however, when you realize their diverse backgrounds and presumably busy schedules. None of them are full time musicians, but instead a group of doctors, engineers, actresses, and other jobs of creative, yet serious, servitude. They’re almost like a real life version of Village People, which may be the reason behind their reluctance to play YMCA.
Similar to their everyday occupations, VO5’s new music spans the spectrum of functionality. One can drive to work, clean the house, or breezily jog a 5k to a song like “I Can Feel It” with its open ended lyrics and seriously uplifting piano chords accompanied by some playful guitar accentuations à la Nile Rodgers. “In Your Dancing Dreams” is more of a drive-home-from-work kind of song, but is still danceable, nonetheless.

And so the album goes, as a whole, coming off as a nostalgic compilation with no real theme running through the piece other than sheer disco and the urge to move. Again, dance moves aren’t the required movements; you can speed to the office, mow the lawn, or flip a burger at some marginalized job to this album, and it will be more enjoyable solely due to the sonic waves that disco brings to the table. Dance Originality is the steak sauce of music; It makes every form of human motion better by pumping it full of positive emotion and keeping an ambitious tempo going throughout the piece.

I would recommend this album to anyone looking for a boost of originality throughout his or her daily routine. People who were introduced to dance music through the most recent explosion of EDM could also be well served to give Dance Originality a listen, as it will surely be palette expanding and leave a 30 year genre gap open to being filled with Chicago house, Detroit techno, and other great eras of dance.

Dance Originality is in stores now and is available in several formats, including digital download and CD, but if you’re really about that life be sure to cop it on vinyl. Dance on.
-- Eric Cullen, Contributing Writer - The State Times

The timely new funky protest song by nu-disco band VO5 features Mr. Levy rapping about discontent with new Trump-government policies. Everything is fair game, from the Mexican border wall and new immigration policies to the usual “isms” the Left has fought against for decades.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/s98oXvHP1U0
A music video for the song featuring the Madison Women’s March makes it clear the number of people unhappy with the direction the government is taking. - Skope Magazine

I couldn't begin to count the number of times I've spoken to local bands about the lack of interest they perceive the city has for local music. Yet, the clubs and bars that circle the outer ring of Madison host primarily cover bands and do a much brisker business. The patrons of these outer-ring clubs don't crossover a whole lot with the downtown clubs where bands play mostly originals and vice-versa. VO5 is a band that does disco-era covers in full period wardrobe and they do it very well. They are certainly one of the city's biggest draws. People like them because they put on a show. For them. This is an important point because the Beatles' Liverpool fans had a unique bond with the band. They were theirs. VO5 succeeds at making the party for their audience and making it fun. Unlike the Beatles, however, it's doubtful their fans could name the members. Like most cover bands VO5 gets paid very well while the original bands languish, working for a percentage of the door at sparsely attended events. - Madison Magazine

VO5 provides a delightful blast from the past on “Aurora”, a gentle pop ballad that recalls serene singer/songwriter work of the ’60s and ’70s that wasn’t wary of sweeping, sometimes saccharine orchestral accompaniments. On “Aurora” the male-female vocal melodies and nearly bossa-nova percussive feel make for feelings both romantic and wonderfully psychedelic, with the psych-pop elements especially prominent around the two-minute mark, where the various vocals and sweeping orchestration remind of the ’60s soundscape Caribou successfully created on Andorra. The track’s great music video, starring Ken and Barbie on a dreamy northern road trip, adds even more to the otherworldly dream state of the track — with the video’s ending, Barbie waking up in her office after daydreaming of a magical vacation, being relatable to us all.

In addition to fantastic originals, the Wisconsin-based VO5 “perform disco and funk hits by Abba, BeeGees, Ohio Players, Jackson 5 and many more along with some groovy originals.” Dance, funk, disco, electro-pop and psychedelia are all fair game, making this very eclectic group a source of constant entertainment. - Obscure Sound

Along with 1000's of college radio plays and over 100,000 Spotify listens, VO5 songs have appeared on these broadcast channels/shows: MTVu (255 plays, rotation for 8 weeks), Video Diversity (NE US Cable show), Video Hits (Rochester, NY), Video Jam (NE US), California Music Channel (Oakland), The Pulse TV Network (Las Vegas), Bronx Cablevision, Manhattan MNN, Brooklyn BCAT, Cuttin Edge (Dayton, Ohio), TheCoolTV (Ohio), FoxTraxx (Wisconsin), RnRTV (Baltimore) PCMusic (Canada), H2o Television (NY).
In addition, the VO5 youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/vo5band) has over 600,000 views and and an active worldwide facebook fan base.
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Subject: Airplay on KHUM Radio

Hello V05,

You folks are FABULOUS! I'm in love with your new record and wanted you to know that I've been playing it on my radio show out here in Humboldt County, CA. KHUM is the radio station. It's a real radio station, and I'm a real radio DJ, with an afternoon show every day, 6 or 7 days per week. We're legit but not as legit as you.

Thanks for making a super fun record.

Larry Trask
Music Director, APD and Afternoon Host
KHUM Radio. Eureka, California
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Subject: WHYS Radio , Eau Claire

Vo5: Thanx for your partylicious CD! On my Monday morning show Jump Start I paired up In Your Dancing Dreams with Ray Charles' arrangement of Shout! I have directed Dance Originality towards our Soul show and our World Beat show. I also like Soul Shiny Day, Baku, and I Love the Sun. Thanx again! yers, Tom Viele aka RetroTommy, Music Director, WHYS
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I really, really like it. Not the few more disco-ey ones so much but I was delighted by the ultra-lounge and Latin numbers. It's pretty psychoacoustic! Sybil Augustine, Music Director WORT
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Spinning Soul Shiny Day, In Your Dancing Dreams and I Can Feel It - Soul Connection and DJ Brettalicious, KAOS Olympia, Washington

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"It is a rare thing that a band’s heart and soul shines so brightly through all aspects of their creative output. Shamelessly embracing the lighter side of life with a formula that is equal parts disco, dancing and bizarre, V05 have struck gold. Only driving my love for the band even deeper into the endless well that is my heart, the band’s make up proves every bit as eclectic as one might expect from a band obsessed with all night dance parties, funk, disco, barbies, theatricality, and outrageous costumes." Milk Crater, a music blug with a heart

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"The song Dance Originality is delicious. Great intersection of classic beat, silvery vocals, and surprise Latin flavor at the break. Truly an original." Disco Lives! by MorticiaJane iTunes Customer Reviews

"The nine-piece disco band, well known in Wisconsin’s private party scene, has been a hidden gem of the dairy state for over a decade...they’re almost like a real life version of The Village People, which may be the reason behind their reluctance to play YMCA....Dance Originality is the steak sauce of music; it makes every form of human motion better by pumping it full of positive emotion." Eric Cullen, The State Times
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"VO5 creates a captivating and infectious mix of 1970s-style disco, funk, soul, salsa, world music, jazz, and electronic dance music elements." Angel Romore, World Music Central
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"VO5's retro disco number is brought to life by a couple of genuinely awesome dancers, against a backdrop that feels like it could’ve been lifted from a funky version of Street Fighter." the-monitor.com "Best Music Videos of October 2015"
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"It is unusual for a band to stay together for 10 years, and this album shows the musical lessons learned from performing 70s covers at hundreds of shows. It is rare to see somebody not dancing at a VO5 show, and this set of songs, both dance–friendly and enjoyable to listen to sitting in a car, are unique enough to warrant a careful listen (get a room, make love to these songs!). It is a pleasure to find musical references, conscious or unconscious, amid disco clichés and very original sections. The overall feel of the album is that of musical joy and respect for past artists and musical traditions." — TP for the Rolling Disco Balls magazine https://rollingdiscoballs.wordpress.com/
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"V05 is hardly in need of publicity, particularly in the summer when it draws thousands of fans in dance mode to all the marquee local festivals." WSJ
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WINNER, "Best Cover Performer," Madison Area Music Awards, "Favorite Rock Band," Isthmus Reader’s Poll VOTD.TV Winner Video of the Day - compilation

VO5 selected Top 10 Finalist (out of 200 bands) for Summerfest's "Land the Big Gig" $25,000 contest. Last year’s competition spanned the country and almost 300 artists entered for their chance to Land the Big Gig at Summerfest. - Summerfest

Aurora - directed by GUSTAVO ARTEAGA

A dreamy chance encounter on a camping trip to northern Labrador leads to surreal romance under the Northern Lights. - votd.tv

V05 performs the entire Dance Originality (9 new songs) album live two weeks after the album release.

In response to the thriving independent music scene, 30-Minute Music Hour offers a free-form stage where artists from around the state and country perform music that might otherwise go unheard. "Colonel" Andy Moore hosts. - Wisconsin Public Television

There seems to be a new wave of artists performing new visions of funk music. Add VO5 to the list. This group from Wisconsin creates a captivating and infectious mix of 1970s-style disco, funk, soul, salsa, world music, jazz, and electronic dance music elements.

The big band has also invested is several fun to watch videos featuring dancers. The lineup on Dance Originality includes John Feith on guitars; Andrew Rohn on keyboards; Cat Capellaro on vocals; Drew Szabo on bass; Gail Campbell on drums; Marcy Weiland on keyboards; Steve Tyska on wind instruments; and Jim Yockey on percussion.

Dance Originality is a hip shaking album that brings together 1970s and current club scene dance styles. - World Music Central

MUSIC, AS ANY OTHER ART, is awash in borrowed ideas, stolen techniques and oblique references (not to mention blatant sampling). The art form is full of envious hero worship and flush with unknown musicians humbly playing other fellow artists’ work. Folk, jazz and classical musicians are respected for using others’ art as a vehicle for their own artistic interpretation. The modern pop cover band, on the other hand, is seen almost as a lowly art forger who uses popular music to receive, for a moment, the adoration usually reserved for “real” pop stars.

VO5, a Madison disco big band, has been receiving fans’ adoration for 10 years at numerous live venues and festivals. A decade ago, composer Andrew Rohn had the idea of forming a cover band focused on disco hits from the VO5-Dance Originality cover 300x30070s. Andrew and his wife and fellow playwright Catherine Capellaro cobbled a group of mostly theater–related friends involved with a local cabaret act, Cherry Pop Burlesque, to form what many would think of as either impossible or completely unnecessary— a disco cover band.

From the start, it was clear that disco music—which most people have never heard performed onstage and is often dismissed as overproduced— really could be exciting in a live venue. The energy and theatrics of a large band enhance the danceability of this already highly danceable music. Even disco haters find it hard to resist a disco song performed onstage.

With a little effort, the band filled up its schedule and learned over 100 songs, including half a dozen originals that it would sprinkle in with the guaranteed dance numbers. It is clear that the dance music of the 70s is the main influence in this album. But a surprising number of elements come together in this quirky collection of original songs.

The first song, “Dance Originality,” begins with a suggestive call to action “on the dance floor” before diving into musical theft, or postmodern parody, whichever you prefer. It mimics the intro from a song in the best–selling salsa album of the 70s, Siembra, by Ruben Blades and Willie Colon. The first song in that the album, “Plastico”, is a critique of shallow materialism and consumerism and it also uses a disco parody to introduce the song. One feels the “disco sucks” sentiment already rising in the 1978 salsa hit along with the call for less “plastic” living.

The composer of “Dance Originality,” John Feith, born in Puerto Rico, already had developed in his pre–teen years a love for both salsa and disco— two of the greatest American art forms to rise out of the 70s (assuming Latin America is part of the Americas, a fact often forgotten by North Americans).

After two musical intros, the shifty song transitions into a smooth disco feel, kickstarts into a funky bridge, and switches to a Puerto Rican plena–style horn and percussion breakdown (which begs for a Soul Train/bomba dance–off) before returning to its strings–heavy disco roots and its simple suggestion to get creative dancing — or maybe a call to freak dance the dirty reggaeton— with a wink or a twist. The blending of musical motifs, including the patriotic “La Bandera Puertorriqueña” and Chic’s “Freak Out” along with an unusual chorus chord shift push the song from plagiarism and parody to a unique, idiosyncratic genre of dance music.

The second song of the album, “In Your Dancing Dreams” is also a mashup of styles. This time, one hears bits of “Hawaii Five–O,” “Stayin’ Alive” and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” set to the chords of Quincy Jones’ “There’s a Train Leaving” (with a bonus reference to the theme from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”). The song, written by Kelly Maxwell and John Feith, is an ode to a fan who after working all week dresses up to go dancing at a VO5 show. Maxwell was thinking of a particular friend (in this case walking to the Madison’s neighborly Crystal Corner Bar) who often dances alone in an ecstatic, spaced–out state yet is always among friends. Halfway through, the song shifts into a straight disco ditty with a melody first heard in the intro horn overture. It then becomes a celebratory instrumental in the style of Diana Ross’ “Love Hangover” with a finish that includes an ode to guitarist John McLaughlin’s tone playing the intro to J. Geils Band “Centerfold,” and ending with a dreamy harp and a fancy Ebmaj7#11 chord.

The third song in the album, “I Can Feel It,” by Andrew Rohn has a more driven rock/gospel feel with a taste of the Cheryl Lynn’s piano–heavy disco hit “Got To Be Real” infused throughout. Drummer Gail Campbell keeps the drive going, and the rhythm section, which had been playing the song live for three years before recording it, fills the bluesy melody with ecstatic danceability.

“Soul Shiny Day” continues the shift away from disco and into older R&B pop and gospel. This song opens with a riff from Miles Davis’ Bitches’ Brew and takes obvious cues from Jackson Five’s “ABC” and “I Want You Back,” modernized with Chicago–style chords and horns and sung in a flowing jam–band style by its writer, Jim Yockey. Like the first two songs, this song is about joy in movement (this time, a bike ride in a Madison neighborhood) and religious–like ecstasy. Yockey, VO5’s percussionist, studied religious themes in world music as a PhD student at Berkeley. One word in the song “Chabas” (“chabas jumping in the puddle”) is mysterious, referring perhaps to children from a Paul Chabas oil painting or a type of amphibian.

Drew Szabo, bassist, and the writer of “Baku” has a Hungarian heritage and a love for storytelling in songs. This song takes the “I Will Survive” theme to a comedic, vengeful end. Sung by music theater veteran Marcy Weiland, the song tells the story of a woman seeking revenge on an ex–lover. VO5 somehow turns this Middle–Eastern influenced song into a danceable discoish tune with a Kurt Weill cabaret feel. It is certainly the only song to ever use the phrases “erotic activity” and “champagne and smoked trout” along with the phrase “marred by Stalinization.”

“The Disco Haiku” by John Feith starts with a water drop, the sound of a frog from Basho’s famous haiku. Starting with the first five notes from the Bee Gees’ “Too Much Heaven,” the trumpet intro (performed by Steve Tyska, the band’s resident physician) then turns to a seven–note phrase then back to five. Five–seven–five “musical haiku” note sequences fill the song, including the main melody and verses.

Other traditional haiku techniques such as zooming into small details are used, for example, in the line “polyester suit no tie/sweat begins to flow.” With a smile, the chorus parodies disco’s excessive wish to please and be remembered in a similar way that the song “Dance Originality” makes light of the ever–escalating sexualization of pop American music and dance.

This ode to both haiku poetry and disco includes musical phrases from the “Love Boat” and “I Only Have Eyes for You” in its chorus and a touch of the Police’s “Synchronicity 1” in its verses. The instrumental middle–section adds a bit from the American–made Chinese cliché musical phrase (popularized by “Kung Fu Fighting,” “China Girl” and “Turning Japanese”) while keeping the 5–7–5 prop. The song does not take itself too seriously and, like a haiku, wastes no time, ending at the three-minute mark.

“I Love The Sun” is a song by Andrew Rohn that VO5 has been performing for 10 years without recording. It is reminiscent of Carlos Jobim’s “Brazil” in its chromatic samba style. Its first-verse lyric “each day that you shine, love so divine, whole as in one” again sets a religious/ecstatic/Buddhist tone present in many of the songs in the album. Yet the song keeps it light—evoking “Oh, Calcutta” by The Dave Pell Singer’s (of “Mah-na Mah-na” fame) and would fit right in The Sound Gallery, a catchy compilation of 70s mood music. It’s a sun salutation that ends with the sound of either burning–hot frying oil or an icy–cold rainfall.

The solar theme continues with the album’s atmospheric ballad, “Aurora.” Written by Drew Szabo and sung by Catherine Capellaro, it sustains the worldly trend of the album, this time taking the listener to “northern Labrador.” A phrase from Debussy’s “Arabesque,” which was used in Jack Horkheimer’s astronomy show (that version played by Japanese composer Tomita in 1976) sets the spacey mood, with a feel similar to The Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love” and the Flaming Lips’ “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell.” Lush harmonies, moogy synths and a French horn solo keep the listener slow dancing to the wistful song about ionized solar winds and past lovers.

Many of the songs in this album pay tribute to Madison and its joys, and “We’re Getting Older,” by John Feith, is no different. Although it ends in frantic disco (“Look around this crazy town. Doesn’t it just make you smile?”), it has a decidedly bluesy–jazz intro. Like Disco Haiku, the song plays with quickly shifting a key from major to minor. This time, the inspiration is Inara George’s “Fool’s Work,” which it directly quotes for three measures. The Beach Boys’ “Fun, Fun, Fun” and even Charlie Brown’s “Chrismas Time Is Here” are also quoted. Like others in Dance Originality, the song has a Latinesque middle section, which again encourages letting go of inhibitions as a way to stay young or receive religion.

It is unusual for a band to stay together for 10 years, and this album shows the musical lessons learned from performing 70s covers at hundreds of shows. It is rare to see somebody not dancing at a VO5 show, and this set of songs, both dance–friendly and enjoyable to listen to sitting in a car, are unique enough to warrant a careful listen (get a room, make love to these songs!). It is a pleasure to find musical references, conscious or unconscious, amid disco clichés and very original sections. The overall feel of the album is that of musical joy and respect for past artists and musical traditions.

— TP for the Rolling Disco Balls magazine - Rolling Disco Balls magazine

If you are going to throw an end-of-the-world party, make damn sure it’s full of rollicking music, carnivalesque sex, and otherworldly vibrations. Madison supergroup V05 (www.voh5.com) feels the same way and plans to take these elements and put them into a tight-fitting, glitter-speckled disco dynamite package fitting for the occasion. - Maximum Ink

Part VIII: VO5's 'Cheddar Revolution' - youtube - Ben Reiser

The cure: VO5, Madison's ambassadors of disco, glitter and platform shoes. The band is headlining a Wisconsin Film Festival afterparty. Tickets are $10 at the door.

http://2009.wifilmfest.org/docs/090401_77square_d.pdf - Capitol Newspapers

VO5 knows how to throw a party. - Dane101.com

http://magazine.localsounds.org/2009/07/26/mamas-on-the-terrace/

We had a great time at the second annual MAMAs on the Terrace on Saturday night. The raindrops were effectively dodged and the turnout was spectaular.

VO5 (best cover band winner) really lit up the night with their funky Kool & the Gang-syle of disco covers. You’ve got to hand it to these guys even if you hate disco – which I do. They can sing! I believe there were six vocalists in all, although it was a little difficult to see over the bouncing pink bunnines. No shit, there were bouncing pink bunny people. I knew leaving my Orange Sunshine at home was a mistake. My favorite dude has to be bassist Drew Szabo who stood about seven feet tall including his platforms.
- localsoundsmagazine

VO5 filled the dance floor with a warm feeling of peace and love as they recreated an era that brought a whole new meaning to the word “funk.” - The Clarion

"There are a lot of closet disco fans out there," says guitarist John Feith. "Even hippies like to dance to disco. We discovered this while playing in Viroqua a few weeks ago."

Whether you're a looking to practice The Hustle or you're simply a nostalgia addict, "Wonder Woman" is worth a listen. - Isthmus

What Madison band features the talents two playwrights, two stage singers, two power engineers, a doctor, a birdwatcher and a firefighter? Why, it's V05, a disco and dance nonet seeking to "make people boogie" with their mix of classic fin de millénaire covers and a few originals. Breaking out their disco ball and wigs since the spring of 2005, the group is gearing up to end this year with a flash. Lather up. - See more at: http://www.isthmus.com/music/madison-music-project-v05/#sthash.iWLTtNNZ.dpuf - Isthmus

"Isthmus" on the isthmus: Ten frames with disco superstars VO5 (video) - by Ben Reiser February 4, 2010 - Isthmus

What message or messages do you think the music you play conveys to the world?
Kelly: Dance, dance, dance! There is such a sense of euphoric togetherness that can happen on a crowded dance floor. Dancing and surrendering yourself to the music can provide a clarity and energy that’s hard to find elsewhere in daily life. We’ve all experienced that sweaty, breathless joy and all we want to do is spread that feeling all over this town like sweet marmalade or cream cheese or some other delicious spreadable substance. Mmmmmm, disco. - Maximum Ink

V05 performs at the Madison Area Music Awards after winning best cover band in 2009. Left to right are: Marcy Weiland, Gail Campbell, Kelly Maxwell, Catherine Capellaro and John Feith, with Andrew Rohn pictured on the screen at left. Members have remained the same throughout the band's 10 years. - Wisconsin State Journal

Watch the video that brought down the US Senate campaign of Tommy Thompson at the bottom of the article.

BONUS: Haters Gonna Hate Tammy Baldwin and Wonder Woman Meme: http://imgur.com/6ZoaJ9X

"Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R), who has an extensive anti-gay record, employs a political director who is now attacking Senate opponent Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D) for being a lesbian. Brian Nemoir sent an email and a tweet Wednesday deriding Baldwin’s “heartland values” and linking to a video of her dancing with the disco band VO5 at the 2010 Wisconsin Capital Pride Rally.

If all goes according to plan, come November, Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin will become the first openly LGBT person elected to the US Senate. But if all goes according to the, uh, Chick-fil-A agenda of one of her opponent's top aides, Baldwin will be defeated, because this one time in 2010, she danced onstage at a gay pride parade while a woman dressed as Wonder Woman, and that's not consistent with "heartland values." Nope — in the heartland, they don't hold gay pride parades. They hold homo shame sulks. Much less glitter cleanup.

Baldwin's opponent is ex-Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, and the weird "heartland values" statement came from his aide Brian Nemoir, who on Saturday linked to the video of Baldwin with the following rather bitchy accompanying tweet — "Clearly, there's no one better positioned to talk ‘heartland values' than Tammy." - Jezebel

Eric Cullen, Contributing Writerdanceorgintality
Their website is described as “under construction permanently.” Their sound? Thoroughly pre-internet. So many questions have to be asked of VO5 before a well-developed picture of the anomaly they are begins to unfold. The nine-piece disco band, well known in Wisconsin’s private party scene, has been a hidden gem of the dairy state for over a decade. While a VO5 gig consists mostly of covers — “YMCA” will cost you extra — their album is titled Dance Originality for a reason. The nine fresh songs and EDM-laced remix draw from a well rounded group of influences, including jazz, Latin, and funk, in addition to their disco home ground.

While the songs are well crafted, VO5 borrows from their idols freely — a bass line here, chord progression there — to make an album that, compositionally speaking, fully belongs in the present day music environment. With electronic dance music having its moment and hip-hop being a cultural mainstay at this point, there’s an irony in drawing analog influences that could practically be confused for digital sampling.

The sound-snatching group is forgiven, however, when you realize their diverse backgrounds and presumably busy schedules. None of them are full time musicians, but instead a group of doctors, engineers, actresses, and other jobs of creative, yet serious, servitude. They’re almost like a real life version of Village People, which may be the reason behind their reluctance to play YMCA.
Similar to their everyday occupations, VO5’s new music spans the spectrum of functionality. One can drive to work, clean the house, or breezily jog a 5k to a song like “I Can Feel It” with its open ended lyrics and seriously uplifting piano chords accompanied by some playful guitar accentuations à la Nile Rodgers. “In Your Dancing Dreams” is more of a drive-home-from-work kind of song, but is still danceable, nonetheless.

And so the album goes, as a whole, coming off as a nostalgic compilation with no real theme running through the piece other than sheer disco and the urge to move. Again, dance moves aren’t the required movements; you can speed to the office, mow the lawn, or flip a burger at some marginalized job to this album, and it will be more enjoyable solely due to the sonic waves that disco brings to the table. Dance Originality is the steak sauce of music; It makes every form of human motion better by pumping it full of positive emotion and keeping an ambitious tempo going throughout the piece.

I would recommend this album to anyone looking for a boost of originality throughout his or her daily routine. People who were introduced to dance music through the most recent explosion of EDM could also be well served to give Dance Originality a listen, as it will surely be palette expanding and leave a 30 year genre gap open to being filled with Chicago house, Detroit techno, and other great eras of dance.

Dance Originality is in stores now and is available in several formats, including digital download and CD, but if you’re really about that life be sure to cop it on vinyl. Dance on. - The State Times

After 15 years, the disco gods have shined down on VO5, Madison’s premiere disco-funk band, blessing its members with the musical gift of a lifetime. On July 2, the 10-member ensemble will take the BMO Harris Pavilion stage at Milwaukee’s Summerfest with the legendary Village People and K.C. & the Sunshine Band.

“It was an honor to be asked and it will be super fun to do what we do in front of a big audience outdoors,” says Catherine “Cat” Capellaro, who sings and plays trumpet with the band, and is a former Isthmus arts editor. “We’ve been brushing up and polishing our playlist, especially Earth, Wind & Fire, which seems to fit that venue.” - Isthmus