Press

The Santa Fe New Mexican

Terrell's tune up - Cherry new tempos from some bands of enchantment

August 25, 2006

Third Floor Serenade by Sol Fire. This is the second album by this band, fronted by brothers Buddy and Amado Abeyta. You could call this a second-generation Santa Fe band since the Abeytas' dad, Chris Abeyta, is a founder of the longtime local favorite Lumbre del Sol. (Sol Fire does Chris' song 'Universal Flight' here.) Like the band's friends The Cherry Tempo, Sol Fire has a modern-rock sound. However, it has a more distinctive Chicano-rock sound. You can hear a little Carlos Santana in some of the guitar solos.

And like Santa Fe bands going back to the '50s and '60s, these guys know how to rock ('Save It for Next Time' proves this), but they've got a true feel for soulful, romantic ballads. (A few years ago in an interview, Dave Rarick of the classic '60s Santa Fe group The Morfomen told me, 'We played Rolling Stones songs and everything, and they were good to dance to. But mf the Santa Fe groups were known for the romantic ballads. 'The End of the Highway' was like that, 'When You Were Mine' was. Maybe that's part of the Spanish influence. We liked the romantic stuff.') This really shows on 'We Don't Have That Much Time Together,' a mainly acoustic, Terence Trent D'Arby-penned song featuring a pop-flamenco guitar.

New Mexico Lottery Press Release

Musical Groups Chosen For New Series Of Powerball TV Commercials

July 13, 2006

ALBUQUERQUE – Three musical groups have been selected to join forces with the New Mexico Lottery in their third set of television commercials to promote Powerball, one of the Lottery’s most popular games. The new series will be rolled out whenever the Powerball jackpot reaches $60 million and higher. Groups featured in this latest series are: Sol Fire, The Hollis Wake, and Vanilla Pop.

Sol Fire, Santa Fe’s Latin rock band with brothers Juan “Buddy” and Amado Abeyta, started their music careers around the ages of 13 and 8. In the summer of 2000, they formed Sol Fire, a rock band with a Latin edge. Their first album “Self Titled” was released in 2004. Their second album “Third Floor Serenade” was released July 2. Buddy plays acoustic guitar and vocals, while Amado plays electric guitar and vocals. Justin Bransford is the band’s bass player, who also teaches music at Santa Fe Prep and at the Armand Hammer United World College. Sol Fire’s drummer, Joel Fadness, joined the group a year ago after returning from California’s Bay Area. The band’s manager is Daniel Maki. 'This group is high excitement,' said Maki. 'I believe in these guys and this commercial will help take them to the next level.'

Sol Fire has performed in the following locations: New Mexico; Chicago, Illinois; South Bend, Indiana; and Monterey, California. In 2005, the New Mexico Music Commission selected them as part of the Talent Showcase to perform at the New Mexico State Fair. They recently played at a reception at the Governor’s Mansion for the actors, crew and executives of the movie “Employee of the Month.” Sol Fire also performed with Grammy Award winner Ozomatli at the second annual Santa Fe Community Picnic. At the same event last year, they opened for Grammy Award winner Los Lobos. In August, the band will perform in the Santa Fe Bandstand 2006 summer series on the Santa Fe Plaza; and in September Sol Fire will be the closing act at the popular annual burning of Zozobra event.

The new series of Powerball television commercials was produced in Albuquerque and shot on 35mm film. For the third consecutive year, Fire Creek Film & Video Production Inc. produced, directed and edited the Powerball music series. The music was recorded and mixed by Grammy Award-winning engineer Doug Geist at Santa Fe Center Studios. Filming took place at Rio Grande Studios. Numerous photos were also taken of the bands to use in various advertising materials.