February 25th, 2023 8pm Stage 1
Velvet Rouge
In 2016, Gina Castanzo was featured on NBC’s The Voice, where she sang Andrew McMahon’s Cecilia and the Satellite. Only seventeen years old at the time, her performance granted her a spot on Team Blake for the show’s tenth season. After The Voice, Gina set off on a journey with the local label Raw Life Records under her new name, Gina Zo. She released two albums: My Weakness and Free Your Soul. Through this she toured the East Coast in 2019.
Gina is currently the lead singer of the band Velvet Rouge and has performed at an eclectic mix of Philly’s music venues including a sold-out show at Kung Fu Necktie, MilkBoy, World Café Live, Bourbon and Branch, The Fire, and Voltage Lounge. Gina Zo describes the sound as "if Florence Welch had a love child with Stevie Nicks".
Velvet Rouge's debut EP Dark Hallways was released in October of 2021 (under their previous alias, Zo) amassing over 30,000 plays on Spotify. WXPN has played rotations of Cry and Never Meant, calling the tunes "seductive" and "slamming". In 2022, Gina Zo was inducted into the Recording Academy Philadelphia Chapter and has set out on a journey to put her mark on rock n roll. In late 2022, Velvet Rouge was voted "Best Rock Band in Philadelphia".
2023 is jam-packed for the Philly Gypsy Soul Rock n' Roll band as they work on their next set of singles with Tommy Joyner at Milkboy Studios & Brian McTear and Amy Morrissey (War On Drugs, Sharon Van Etten, and Dr. Dog) at Miner Street Recording.