DeVotchKa
The acclaimed American band DeVotchKa are featured on the worldwide television commercial for Microsoft’s ‘Gears of War 2: The Last Day’, with the glorious song ‘How It Ends’. In response to huge demand the song now gets a full single release this coming Monday (22nd December).
The sixty-second advertisement, is currently being screened on major European TV networks, including the Sky Sports broadcast of the Carling Cup, and cinemas throughout the Europe, is accompanied by ‘How It Ends’, the title track to DeVotchKa’s 2007 album.
The commercial was created by the same team responsible for the award-winning ‘Mad World’ (2006) advertisement for the original "Gears of War" campaign. ‘Gears of War 2: The Last Day’ is in stores on Friday 7th November.
DeVotchKa released their latest album, ‘A Mad and Faithful Telling’, in March on ANTI.
The band is a four piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble fusing Romani, Greek, Slavic, Bolero and Mariachi music with American punk and folk roots. They take their name from esteemed author Anthony Burgess’s Nadsat word for "young girl," a term used in Burgess’s controversial work, ‘A Clockwork Orange’.
Based in Denver, Colorado, the DeVotchKa quartet is made up of Nick Urata, who sings and plays theremin, guitar, bouzouki, piano, and trumpet; Tom Hagerman, who plays violin, accordion, and piano; Jeanie Schroder, who sings and plays sousaphone and double bass; and Shawn King, who plays percussion and trumpet.
The band originally came to attention through constant touring and self-released records – ‘SuperMelodrama ’ in 2000, for instance, ‘Triple X Tango’ (2002) and ‘Una Volta’ (2003) - with DeVotchKa’s 2006 appearance at America’s Bonaroo Festival decisive in cementing the band’s reputation.
In between tours the band was picked by film directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris to score ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, the enormously applauded independent movie that would go on to garner four Academy Award nominations. DeVotchKa wrote and performed the majority of the music for the film, resulting in a 2006 Grammy Award nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack.