Zilla is a trio from Boulder, CO that is remarkable for it’s ability to create spontaneous compositions. Their live shows are 100% improvisation. You see, these guys are the best of friends and they all believe in the group mind. For them, a good show is all about listening to each other so well that each individual musician’s voice melts into the collective whole. At a Zilla show, the musicians are all so on the same page that the sky cracks open and the music plays the band! Zilla’s musical conversations are a discourse of patterns, melodies, pumping bass and get up and shout beats. Tribal thunderstorms of percussion run down the spine of a lush, melodic and nasty matrix of sound… How many all-improvisational live-electronica hammered dulcimer trance bands have you heard? That's right, Jamie Janover plays hammered dulcimer, mini-kit, percussion, sampler, electric kalimba, electric sitar and water. Michael Travis (The String Cheese Incident) plays drums, hand percussion, sampler and keyboards. Aaron Holstein plays bass, guitar, sampler, keyboards, foot pedal controller and sings. Less is more. Play like a loop. Listen… then play. These are some of the mantras that help guide the band in their quest to play music that serves everyone in the room, not just the musicians themselves. With ergonomic simplicity and immaculate time keeping, Zilla slowly builds rhythmic tension, and then releases it with their signature break-through explosions that seamlessly morph into ambient sound-scapes. Zilla’s musical energy manifests with relaxed fury and inscrutable honesty, creating spontaneous order. Expect a dynamic, highly percussive trance-induced journey that fuses hammered dulcimer wizardry and intricate rhythms into a source of telepathic musical expression, all created in the now time. Zilla is coming to destroy your town (in a nice way of course). Travis is a pioneer in the art of modern improvisational jam-rock drumming. He is especially known for his groundbreaking work on playing both hand drums and the drum kit simultaneously. As the drummer for the highly accomplished band, The String Cheese Incident, he has developed a unique style that is very supportive of a free jam aesthetic while still always laying it down. He further develops that approach in Zilla by being super solid to the point of emulating grooves that some of the best programmers and DJs would create, except with that elusive human feel. Travis has played along side some of the worlds greatest drummers while playing with String Cheese including Trilok Gurtu, Babatunde Olatunji and Bill Kreutzman and he has collaborated with many other artists including Keller Williams, Karl Denson, Warren Haynes and Bela Fleck. With Zilla, he gets to stretch-out into brand-new territory by occasionally playing bass and guitar at times during the show. amie Janover is recognized one of the most innovative hammered dulcimer players playing today. His technique on this ancient percussion stringed instrument is revolutionary in both its technical approach and its stylistic range. Janover’s intuitive sense of compositional flow and his impeccable timing helped him to win the 2002-2003 National Hammered Dulcimer Championship. In addition to recording with Zilla, he has recorded 8 hammered dulcimer albums and plays adventurous solo shows. Jamie is the originator of the style of music called "dulcitronica". He also plays with Meeting of The Minds, Everyone Orchestra, Mo Realms and Vibe Squad and he is a veteran of countless live guest appearances with artists including Phish, Stanley Jordan, Bela Fleck, G. Love, Umphrey's McGee, New Monsoon, Keller Williams, Garaj Mahal and The Slip. He also invented a musical vehicle called the "Realmsmobile" on which is mounted the small but huge sounding "mini-kit", another of Jamie's creations. Aaron Holstein’s joy for playing music is infectious. His face tells the story of the music in a way that is so appealing that everyone gets behind him as he creates his magic. Aaron is a talented multi-instrumentalist. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, sampler and sings. A veteran of many bands including Future Jazz Project, Vibe Squad and Boogie Shoes, he has also written, recorded and produced 3 records of his own music. Aaron’s record label called Vibesquad Recordings carries his latest project, an album for kids called "Kids Are Funky Too". Aaron gets to showcase his diverse musical facets in Zilla by playing practically everything on stage: guitar, bass, sampler, keyboards, foot controller and singing.