Caitlin Krisko and her band of Brooklynites are about to unleash soulful star power on Asheville.

by Joanne O’Sullivan

photo by Stewart O'Shields, shot on location in the Kessler Ballroom at the Grand Bohemian Hotel
makeup by Mendy Hoffman for Makeup at the Grove Arcade
hair by Gretchen Pheffer for The Secret Spa

The typical rock band trajectory is this: play your heart out in small town, then move to a city like New York and hope you make the big leagues. Maybe even sign a record deal. But The Broadcast, featuring lead vocalist Caitlin Krisko, isn’t a typical rock band. They left New York this summer when their star was on the rise and relocated to Asheville to pursue music full-time, free of rat-race stress. “Before you can be successful, you need to be of sound mind, body, and spirit,” says Krisko, who seems wise beyond her years at 25. Where better to achieve that than here?

The soul-driven band (which dropped “Caitlin Krisko and” from its name with the move) was filling spots like New York’s Mercury Lounge and the Bitter End, developing a following with live shows and a record last year, Over the Undercover. Krisko has drawn comparisons to vocalists such as Joss Stone and Janis Joplin. But you know the drill: expensive city life means struggling to make a living so that you can make music. Keyboardist Rich Brownstein was a booking agent. Guitarist Christian Mendoza worked at a music venue. Other band members, brothers Michael and Matthew Davis (drums and bass, respectively) and percussionist Tyler Housholder all had day jobs, too. So, with a little “feminine persuasion,” she says, Krisko convinced the whole band to move to Asheville in June. They share a North Asheville house in which they’ve set up a recording studio. (Expect a new EP at the end of this month). A typical day now starts at the gym, then doing outreach and bookings. They tout their high-energy live shows and cast the net wide. “We’ll call a fraternity house and ask if they need live music at their parties,” she says. Then the band rehearses all afternoon and has dinner together. The togetherness, she says, makes their music stronger.

Krisko grew up in Michigan with hippie parents (her dad was at Woodstock) who filled the house with Motown soul and the Beatles. “If music is my religion,” she says, “Stevie Wonder is my god.” She performed locally from childhood, and in middle school, a teacher singled out her vocal talent. A friend at the time auditioned for a New York City conservatory, which planted the seed for Krisko: why not audition for the High School of the Performing Arts, popularly known as the school from the TV show Fame? Undaunted by a winter storm that cancelled their flight there for the audition, she and her mother drove through the night to make it, and when she got in, the two pulled up stakes and moved to New York.

She learned how to promote herself on the solo acoustic circuit for about a year, with rotating band members, until the current lineup solidified recently. For her, moving to Asheville doesn’t mean giving up on the dream of bright lights and a record contract. “You don’t have to be in New York to make it anymore,” she says.

Hear The Broadcast live November 7 at MoDaddy’s, November 12 at White Horse Black Mountain or November 18 at MoDaddy’s with Spiritual Rez. For more details, check out www.thebroadcastmusic.com.