Metro Santa Cruz - June 2005

• Amelia Wasn't Lost at Sea
  
  The first time a group hits the road, it's difficult to get people into the seats, especially if the music is hard to categorize. One brave soul who took a gamble on seeing AMELIA at the CAYUGA VAULT asked the singer, TEISHA HELGERSON, what kind of music they played, to which guitarist SCOTT WEDDLE replied, "We don't know. If you do, could you tell us?"
  
  Amelia paints with a wide brush. In a single set they covered folk music from ECUADOR, PINK FLOYD's Meddle-era classic, "FEARLESS," and some '60s BUBBLEGUM POP. All these offerings were peppered by slinky slide guitar, some melodica and the stunning stage presence of a group on its way to many more major engagements. (Say that fast 10 times.)
  
  Despite their guitarist's confusion over the lack of alcoholic beverages and the people who get rowdy when they drink them (the band had played Nevada the night before), the group rocked the Vault as if it were a honky-tonk, throwing out raw and rocky slide work and single-coil telecaster licks that would make Elvis' guitarist, SCOTTY MOORE, proud.
  
  Amelia also features the bass work of one MICHAEL PAPILLO, who used to play around these parts in PICK UP STICKS before leaving Santa Cruz for Portland and the bass chair in THREE LEG TORSO. He's still pretty impressive, though Amelia didn't cover a single MARVIN GAYE tune.
  
  Peter Koht