Biography
The San Francisco-based quartet Von Iva features vocalist Jillian Iva alongside bassist Elizabeth Davis, organist and keyboardist Becky Kupersmith, and drummer Kelly Harris. Before the group formed, Elizabeth Davis devoted seven years to recording and touring with the riot grrrl band 7 Year Bitch. She and Kelly Harris also joined the sci-fi rock outfit Clone for a brief period, during which the project released its sole album, Not Feeling Quite Like Yourself Today?, in 1998. Five years after that release, Davis felt ready to launch a new band in 2003. Early that year, while Jillian Iva performed with her boyfriend’s group at a Bay Area club, Davis discovered the vocalist. Within weeks Iva departed both the relationship and her prior band to unite with Davis, Kupersmith, and Harris. Taking Iva’s great-grandmother’s forename as the group’s title, the members began sharing their soul-inflected disco-rock throughout San Francisco before the year closed. Gigs with the Raveonettes, I Am Spoonbender, the Hiss, and Metric soon followed. The self-titled debut EP appeared in early spring 2005. Founding bassist Elizabeth Davis’s exit from Von Iva was announced in May 2006 so she could concentrate on motherhood. Jillian Iva and Kelly Harris then created the side project JK Fab.