Variety Workshop is an all inclusive genre machine blending the best music has to give through tolerance for all points of view and styles to produce an ever-changing sound. Originating in the summer of 2003, Variety Workshop went through a few lineup changes before settling on the current lineup with the arrival of Bradley Whitsett, drummer, in 2005! Since then, Variety Workshop has written a multitude of songs, opened for such national headliners as Authority Zero, Whole Wheat Bread,
The Supervillians, and Rehab, Played the 2006 Vans Warped Tour in St Pete, appeared or have been mentioned in such local publications as Reax Magazine, Weekly Planet, Creative Loafing and The Tampa Bay Times Ultimate Local Band Guide (2007 and 2008), have a two singles (You Suck Noodles, City Lights) playing on 97x Local Motion, played over a hundred shows in various clubs throughout the
Tampa, St Pete, Clearwater area and beyond (such as Tallahassee, Gainesville, Sarasota, Orlando), gained a solid hometown fanbase and released their debut album on January 17 2009!
Press
Release:
Variety Workshop
By Julie Garisto
Published August 17, 2007
The guys: Ryan Reilly, bass; Evan Brenner, vocals; Robbie Pereira, guitar and vocals; and Brad Whitsett, drums.
Homebase: Oldsmar
Debut album: New CD out this fall.
More than a band name: The guys use Variety Workshop for projects outside the band - video production and other multimedia.
Hell on wheels: They're all skateboarders and produce skate videos.
Chunky but not crunchy: They play eclectic music, but they're not a jam band. VW mixes up rock, punk, reggae, ska and soul. "It's heavier and louder than a jam band, and the songs are tightly structured," Pereira says.
Open mike psyched: "We were open mike warriors!" says Reilly, 23, recounting the days before the band formed. Reilly and Pereira performed the free-for-all nights in Clearwater and Palm Harbor. Dubbed the Ryan and Robbie Show, the guys played songs by 311, Fugazi, Weezer and Sublime. Their strangest cover was Paranoid Android by Radiohead.
Space jam: In their early days, they practiced in a space that's now legendary, a building in a mobile home park that attracted friends and other local musicians, such as members of the Satsukos, Incredible Crisis and Weaksauce. "It was a little shack in Dunedin," Brenner, 26, says. "We just devoted the whole summer to sweating in no air-conditioning and intense practicing seven days a week."
Reilly: "Five hours a day, plus the occasional beer."
Brenner: "Or 12 ... I joined in 2003. I was basically the friend who came to all the practices."
Reilly: "We'd see him singing along in the background and said, 'Hey, let's give him a microphone.'"
Brenner: "At first, I didn't know a lot of the parts, so I would just run around the jam space like a mad man, break tables and chairs and do anything to draw attention to the band."
B-rad is rad: "B-rad is Whitsett's nickname. In his absence, his band mates gush about the 19-year-old's drumming talent and ways with women. "We went through a lot of drummers before he joined in 2005," Reilly says. "He's been our longest-running drummer. ... We were playing in a cover band for money, down at this big club in Ybor," Reilly says. "Brad dominated up there. The ladies love him. He had just turned 17, but you have to be 18 to play clubs. ... Sure enough, after months and months, they decided to card us all and yelled at us (and fired the band). It wasn't like he was big-headed about it, but he was so emotional. He was packing up his kit, and was, like, 'Man, why do they got to be like that? The bitches love me!'"
Family man: Pereira, 25, is engaged and has a 2-year-old son, Skyler, with his fiancee.
They keep it going: When VW plays Keeping It Going, nearly the entire audience gets on stage to sing with the band.
Tough love: "My parents' whole view was," Reilly recalls, "'if we're going to buy you the guitar, you're going to take lessons.' The teacher said, 'If you're going to take lessons, then you have to practice - 30 minutes a day, at least, five days a week.' Sometimes I would cry because I was 9-10 years old at this point. I wanted to go out and play. My mom was like, 'You're practicing!' (He mimics sobs and wails.) ... I would do the same thing with my kids."
In the genes: Brenner says his grandmother, Helen Brenner, sang at Carnegie Hall. "I guess I had hidden attributes I didn't know about until I joined Variety Workshop."
Check 'em out: Saturday (8/19) with Griz Collective, Skull and Bone Band and others. Pegasus Lounge. 9 p.m. 10008 N 30th St., Tampa. $5. (813) 971-1679.
Description: Variety Workshop is an ongoing culmination of all musical styles that currently features punk, reggae, dancehall, hip hop, folk, progressive, jazz, funk, blues, and what ever else we happen to get our hands on.
Armstrong stands as a piece of Rock n’ Roll history, yet he is a recently opened vault, chock-full of rockin’ Alternative Country/ Americana/ Roots Rock heart and soul.
The first time I laid eyes on Ron was 1965. I was a shaggy headed teenager living in San Diego. My band…
The initial idea of Nimencia was conceived in mid 2003 in Miami by Marcos Jimenez (guitar), Moises Jimenez (bass), and Roger "Maget" Izaguirre (vocals). After a few months of writing, and rehearsing, the group meets Ricardo Mere, former drummer of a very popular cult band named Futuro Incierto of Lima,…
George "Markkii" Harrison, Jr., fell in love with different styles of music at a young age. As a producer/singer/songwriter, he brings his own definition to music.
Hailing from humble beginnings, at the age of 16, Harrison was forced to leave home with nothing but a dream to become a legendary…
The Billy Martini Show plays infectious, high octane Rock with driving beats, lyrical hooks and bone crushing guitar riffs. The live show is high energy and theatrical. A visual and auditory extravaganza!
Their first album, "Like No Other" received rave reviews and got some radio airplay. The Billy Martini Show…
Last winter ORBO & The Longshots packed their instruments, left their ice cold and snowy native Norway, and flew to Memphis Tennessee. To hear history whisper from the walls, to become the first Norwegians to ever record in the legendary Sun Studio to record songs live in studio for…
There’s a
large tattoo on Keith Cook’s forearm that reads, simply, “Remember.” It
reminds him never to forget where he came from, not just the successes, but
the mistakes, which gave him the will power that brought him to the present,
ready to present his music to the world.
“Wondering,”…
Jon Davidson is an alternative rock artist from Portland,
Oregon.
As a solo artist and as the front man for the critically acclaimed bands Silversafe and The Lemons, Davidson has performed in 5 countries and over 30 states. His music has been played worldwide on online and FM radio stations,…
Stephen has written and recorded over 30 original songs at his private studio "Overlook Studio" on his property in Colorado. Stephen performs all lead vocals, some backing vocals, all piano and much of the acoustic guitar work He assembled some of the best session players in Colorado to accompany him…
A native of Penzance (Cornwall, UK), David Mark Pearce began playing the guitar in earnest at the age of 15 after first learning to play the drums. His first experience as part of a band came at 18, followed by several more until he left to attend the London College…
After 10 years of music and 14 albums/compilations released, Xavier Boscher is a productiveness musician. His work contains great melodies and amazing synth ambiances between rock, new-age, classical and progressive music...
He was born on 23 December 1979 in Poissy, France. He began piano at 10 years and guitar…
Indie Artist Directory 
Variety Workshop is an all inclusive genre machine blending the best music has to give through tolerance for all points of view and styles to produce an ever-changing sound. Originating in the summer of 2003, Variety Workshop went through a few lineup changes before settling on the current lineup with the arrival of Bradley Whitsett, drummer, in 2005! Since then, Variety Workshop has written a multitude of songs, opened for such national headliners as Authority Zero, Whole Wheat Bread,
