The Line Up
Marika Prince - Lead vocals
The newest member of the Nation and oft described by loved ones as zealously Francophilian, Marika uses her classical music training to produce voice pictures that terrify and beautify musical landscapes. Though her high-brow teachers might cite a reluctance to continuously “sing into the mask,” her style still pays homage and yet simultaneously wrecks havoc on the traditional trappings of her well-versed study. This lyric soprano has enjoyed a lifelong interest in singing and stylish well-heeled footwear. She’s not sure who enjoys the best vocal chords, though she’s inclined toward the likes of Jeff Buckley, Grace Slick and Billie Holiday. Marika brings a faux operatic torch song croon and vamp to the merciless thunder and lightning of Divine Nation.
Wade Adkins - Lead guitar
Imagine a Teddy Roosevelt of the guitar. A rough rider who’s part axe-slinger, artifact collector and storehouse of knowledge esoteric. Like a word travelling chameleon, Wade’s music vocabulary speaks of stories and influences distant and familiar, subtle and sharp as a stick in your eye. (Note the birch, mystical druid tree, as Wade’s wood of choice for the thorny missile.) Born to the blues, but not bound to them, Wade relishes tubes, electricity, flesh and wood, (and whatever else might be laying around in the woodshed), using Carvin, Fender, Marshall and homemade gear to dial in his sound. Nation resident bassist Todd refers to his pedalboard as the reenactment of the great U.S. Civil War ironclad nautical engagement between the Monitor and the Merrimack.
Todd Potochnik - Bass
A remark he made once about his MusicMan bass guitar--“the Stingray might be clanky, but it sure is spanky”--got him thrown out of his 20th Century American Poetry class. Because it lacked meter and rhyme? No, his hipster Cassandra-like professor regarded it as an unsavory salvo and somehow keen observation on her penchant for whips, chains and hand grenades. And this would not do at the small, private, east coast liberal arts college Todd attended. (He however parlayed this scenario into a thoughtful essay which made him an attractive candidate for admission to Harvard.) Todd still plays these fine basses made muscular, warm, fuzzy and bizarre by a hybrid of Gallien Krueger, Eden, Epifani and Stewart amplifiers and speaker cabinets. Nation guitarist Wade has christened Todd’s pedalboard the H.M.S. Indomitable.
Bobby Gants - Drums
With duality, grace, and tasty double-bass, Mr. Gants shatters and affirms the archetype of the old school rock drummer. With his acerbic wit, he channels the greats like John Bonham and Bill Ward to create his distinctive percussion palette that beats and booms with old sincerity and new tribal tech. Bob truly is the heart of the band in all manifestations of the word. His drive and direction is the force behind the rise of Divine Nation.