Introducing Viv, S.F. band with big-time potential

by Brad Kava
San Jose Mercury News, October 13th, 2004

Posted on Wed, Oct. 13, 2004

Introducing Viv, S.F. band with big-time potential

By Brad Kava

Mercury News

My list of truly great local bands who sound like they could step right up to the big time is fairly short.

Toward the top is a band called Viv. I date myself here, but the first time I saw this catchy San Francisco rock and pop outfit, I flashed back to seeing an unknown band called the Eagles, who, in one of the more absurd billings ever, opened for Helen Reddy and Sly and the Family Stone at New York's Central Park.

Every song was so well-crafted and tightly played that I thought they were either going to be huge or be one of the best unknown bands ever. In concert, Viv gave me that same shiver down my spine. This is a band whose songs sound at once familiar and singable, but make you want to hear them again and again. Its recently released second album, ``Flawed,'' is better than its 2001 debut -- which makes its free appearance Saturday even more remarkable. Viv is playing at a Barnes and Noble bookstore (5353 Almaden Expressway, San Jose) at 7:30 p.m.

This band, which should please fans of Radiohead, Tom Petty and even Cheap Trick, also plays Friday at 8 p.m. at Redwood City's Little Fox Theater with Megan Slankard and Jill Block. Tickets are $12/$14 at http://www.foxdream.com or (650) 369-4119.

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