WHAT IS A VUZZ?
Tiny Van. Tiny Synths.
Electronic art rock duo, Vuzz creates driving dance tracks and sultry soundscapes with female vocals. Christy’s “wrist-synths,” and Mike’s guitar-mounted synthesizer celebrate minimalism. Found sound, vintage samples, and spoken word bring their music into the maximalism aesthetic. They have been compared to bands like Siouxie and the Banshees, Portishead, Phantogram, and Berlin.
In 2018, New Orleans-based couple Christy and Mike formed Vuzz to busk electronic music across Europe. Three months traveling by train meant the whole rig had to fit in one carry-on suitcase. Armed with only a couple battery-powered mini-synths, a mic, an amp, and a few iPhone apps, Vuzz performed on board a train through the Belgian countryside, a rooftop overlooking Mt. Vesuvius, the streets of Polish Old Towns, and the Royal Mile as an official act of Scotland’s legendary Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Back in the states, Vuzz honed their craft, busking in the street-music mecca of the New Orleans French Quarter, as well as performing at classic alternative music clubs like the Howlin’ Wolf Den, Saturn Bar, and Bar Redux to eclectic crowds. Influences from darker, stranger electronic acts like Tricky, Aphex Twin, and Kraftwerk further pushed their sound into its own world.
Like many, Covid-19 was hard on the couple, with profound trauma and the loss of Christy’s son nearly stopping Vuzz in its tracks. It took months of healing and hardship, but the couple’s promise to each other to get back on the open road gave them the strength to record their first full-length album, completely at home in lockdown at their New Orleans shotgun apartment. They leaned into the new technology of the pandemic era, working long-distance with Nashville engineers Dennis Sager and Edsel Holden to mix and master the album over Zoom meetings.
But an album wasn’t enough. To commit fully to their dream of traveling the world and playing music, Vuzz gave up their New Orleans home and possessions in favor of a completely DIY conversion of a 32 sq. ft. Nissan NV200 van. Together, they built the minimalist van with a maximalist aesthetic to reflect the whimsy and wonder they desired to still see in the world.
Today, Vuzz travels full-time across the US, releasing singles to promote their upcoming debut LP, and living in their largest project, “Vuzzvan.” Their expanded, yet fully portable rig enables them to play in places where other bands can’t: the beaches of Moonrise Kingdom Bay, the Painted Hills of Oregon’s high desert, and the cliffs of Maine’s Acadia National Park, to name a few. They combine their artistic and travel passions on their Instagram page—creating all their own music, videos, artwork, and social media—sharing their journey with the world.
Electronic Art Rock 