Wrap your head around this: Nicolette Vilar (vocals), Aixa Vilar (drums), Michelle Rangel (bass) and Betty Cisneros (guitar) are ready to pick up where they left off and return to the stage as the original lineup of Go Betty Go. The news of their reunion comes as abruptly as did the news of them breaking up back in 2005. A few weeks away from completing the promotional tour for “Nothing is More”, the punk band’s first full length album, lead singer Nicolette called it quits, leaving the band- and its fans, high and dry.
Although the news came as a hard blow to the band, the decision was made to continue Go Betty Go with a new singer. Enter Emily Wynne-Hughes. The redhead with chops to kill played with the band for a few years, including at one of Al Borde’s Acoustic Sessions. In 2007, bassist Michelle was out as well and Phil Buckman was called in to take her spot. And somewhere along the line Emily decided to pursue a solo career, bringing the band to another abrupt hault.
But after a recent Facebook post made by the band, it’s official that the original lineup returns with a reunion show slated for August 25th at the Troubadour. We spoke with Aixa about everything that went down between the time of the split to now, and about what led to the sudden decision to take to the stage again.
Aixa: We were on tour promoting our second album when my sister, Nicolette, started feeling that the road wasn’t happening for her. She was very frustrated and homesick and it created tension between the band because we knew she didn’t want to be there. We had people talk to her to try to convince her to not leave the band, but my sister is stubborn and she had already made up her mind to leave once the tour was over.
We were literally on the road on our way to a San Diego show from a gig in Arizona when she said she couldn’t take it anymore. It was a very dramatic exit. We had to cancel the show in San Diego and the show after that, which was supposed to happen at the Henry Fonda, and that was the end of the band.
All of this was going down in 2005, which was a time when you didn’t have the support of social media and your main form of promoting your music was by touring. With Nicolette out of the picture, we obviously couldn’t do that anymore. That gave the label a reason to pull out all the sources to promote the CD because when they signed on, they signed on for Go Betty Go with the four of us. There was nothing we could do.
The aftermath
My sister and I have always been very close but there was obviously some personal hurt when she left because she knew how much I loved being part of the Go Betty Go family. We then decided to take a few months off to relax before we looked for a new singer. The rest of the band members wanted to keep playing so we knew it was something that had to be done.
When we found Emily that marked a new chapter in the band’s life. We played a couple of shows and wrote new music with her, but for one reason or another the timing was never right to go into the studio for a new album. While she was in the band she went on some reality television shows and American Idol, which we weren’t really agreeing with. Eventually she went on to do her own thing. It was never the same with her, though, because we had a special chemistry between the original members.
Everyone was off doing their own thing: I moved to Argentina for one year and Michelle became a mom. Then a few weeks ago, a promoter friend of Betty’s booked us for a gig. Emily wasn’t able to do it because she was working on her solo music so it occurred to me to ask Nicolette if she could sing. I was surprised when she said yes. So there we were playing this gig with Phil on bass (whom had replaced Michelle a few years back) and we asked Michelle to join us on stage for one song. Well, that’s all it took to get us back to that feeling of wanting to play together again.
Go Betty Go in 2012
Before we made the public announcement we had a huge conversation in which we discussed our personal obligations and our plans for the band. Now that we’re older and time has passed, we’re in a better place to set those kind off limitations so that none of us feels overwhelmed. We’re going to take everything very slowly. We’re starting with a reunion gig and then plan on keeping things local, like San Francisco, Las Vegas and San Diego. We’re also starting to write again, but there’s no pressure in releasing anything just yet.
The reunion show
We never got to play that last L.A. gig so the show at the Troubadour will be our way of saying “hello” and “thank you”. For that gig we’ll only play songs from the original Go Betty Go playlist and not the music we made with Emily. We decided to do that because in the case of Nicolette and Michelle, it’ll be easier for them to focus on re-learning what they already know versus having to learn all new material.
No hard feelings?
We’ve kept in touch with Emily. I know she’s been working with producers on an album and trying to get her solo career going. Phil’s really busy playing with Filter and when we talked to him about getting the original band together he was totally cool about it, which made everything much easier. We wish them both the best of luck in their path and are sure they wish the same for us.
-End-
Tickets for the Troubadour and Al Borde presents “Go Betty Go Reunion Show” are up now for $10, here. The show welcomes an all ages crowd.
