Antigone Rising

Antigone Rising, an all-female ensemble, fused the seventies sonic palette of Led Zeppelin and the Eagles with their affinity for pop, enabling them to sustain a demanding touring regimen of roughly two hundred shows each year while operating without label support. Their independent marketing approach and repeated live performances built a devoted audience, driving sales past twenty thousand copies of self-released CDs. Momentum shifted in 2003 when Lava Records president Jason Flom attended one of the band’s concerts and offered a deal. The live EP Traveling Circus served as their final independent project, after which the group began work in 2004 on a debut for the Lava imprint Hear Music. Released in 2005 through a Starbucks-sponsored campaign, the live acoustic album From the Ground Up moved more than 450,000 copies. Even with that exposure, Antigone Rising found it hard to build on the achievement. A full album recorded in 2008 stayed unreleased, though a live EP appeared in 2010. By summer 2011 the band, now reduced to a quartet after multiple lineup shifts, delivered its first proper studio LP, 23 Red.