Maura Davis' bands.

Bella Lea played at The Earl last night. I didn't even remember about the show until today. But the Earl is far away from my house, and I don't have a car, so it's not like I could have gotten there anyway. This was their 2nd show in Georgia I believe (they played in Athens at the Caledonia not too long ago) and so hopefully they'll be back later this year.

If you already know about Bella Lea, you were probably a Denali fan. Maura Davis formed Denali in 2000 with her brother Keely Davis (of Engine Down), Cam DiNunzio (ex Lazycain) and Jonathan Fuller (also of Engine Down). Usually when a musician follows in their siblings footsteps, the ending result is a complete disaster. So many siblings try to be as successful as their brothers and sisters, but never quite make it. Maura didn't have that problem. Denali put out two great records on Jade Tree: Denali in 2002 followed up by The Instinct in 2003.

Everyone I know that listens to Denali doesn't just like them, but LOVES them. I imagine that the same thing will become true of Bella Lea. Let's face it. Maura Davis' voice is amazing. Most singers in bands can carry a decent tune, but aren't vocal acrobats. And I suppose they don't need to be when the instruments are meant to take front row. So when you come across someone who does some amazing things vocally, it's a treat.

I saw Denali twice (first when the opened for Deftones and Poison the well and then again on their own tour with Laguardia and Murder by Death) and both times I was just blown away. Maura hits those high notes as effortlessly live as she seems to on record. Even when they were playing Everybody Knows and I thought to myself, "there's no way she's going to hit that," she did. The soothing and reflective quality of Denali's sound complimented Maura's voice perfectly. So a lot of us were surprised and sad when the band announced that they were breaking up last year.

But now, we have Bella Lea, so there's no need to be sad.

Maura and the boys (Stephen Howard, Matt Clark, and Ryan Rapsys) are currently out on the road and playing loads of shows. Don't be a dork like me, and not go to see them when they come to your town. While you're waiting for them to swing by your city, you can listen to three tracks on their myspace page. Man, what would we do without myspace?