SongVault Artist Profile

Lovewhip is dance music. The Boston Globe exclaims “Lovewhip has a celebratory and upbeat feel that has kept crowds dancing everywhere they play!” Part of Boston’s underground but up-and-coming electro scene, Lovewhip creates a live show that is rooted in fun with the passionate vocals and dance moves of the “soulful electro-rock diva” (says the Boston Phoenix) Erin Harpe a.k.a. Empress Erin. Able to get any room going by shaking her infamous booty, she also rips out screaming electric guitar riffs as she taunts and teases the crowd. Building on influences as diverse as Blondie, Beck, Sean Paul, Missy Elliot, the B52’s and the Cars, Lovewhip has created a sound that people go crazy for.

The project of frontwoman/guitarist/singer Erin Harpe and bassist Jim Countryman, Lovewhip has been making eclectic dance music since their first release Whip It, Baby! in 2000. Lovewhip’s multicultural influences have ranged from Jamaican reggae and dancehall to Nigerian soukous and highlife, afrobeat, and more recently retro 80’s electro. “The overall concept has always been to lift people out of their daily drudgery and get them dancing and feeling good,” says Harpe. And that’s just what they’ve done, touring regularly around the country to great reactions and dancing crowds.

LOVEWHIP’s fourth CD, Virtual Booty Machine, mixes electropop with dancehall reggae, funk, and rock to create a distinctive sound that begs the listener to shake it. Virtual Booty Machine takes the listener to a bright new future, weaving the sexy soulful vocals of Empress Erin with crunchy rock guitar lines, electro-pop synth lines and a dance beat. The CD was independently produced by Lovewhip with the help of Darron Burke (Makeshift Studio). It includes remixes by Boston scenesters Jeff Czejak (Plunge into Death), MicL PTVN (Lovewhip, Cassette, Campaign for Real Time), and Reggie Burrows (Radio Dread, Trumystic, High Fidelity Dub Sessions #3) and the notorious DJ Monk One from Brooklyn (Turntable Lab Magazine).

While the sexy Empress may be the focal point of the live show, the Lovewhip experience wouldn’t be complete without the boys. “Juicy” Jim Countryman (bass) and Devo Kosces (drums) lock in with precision and lay down irresistable dance rhythms over a myriad of hooky synth lines as well as samples, loops, blips and bleeps that create a thick and heady soundscape behind Empress Erin’s vocals. From their spiffy matching pants to their erratic stage antics, these guys put out, and put their all into each and every performance.

“Virtual Booty Machine” is just the tip of the iceburg for LOVEWHIP, whose sound is gives the masses exactly what they need: pure, unadulterated, high-energy dance music. Quickly becoming dance club favs, Lovewhip has already become a sensation from Boston, MA to Los Angeles, CA and from Portland, ME to Miami, FL and received radio play throughout the country. Lovewhip constantly tours around the country year-round, and is busy planning their first European tour in 2007, so look for them coming to your town soon!

The band has begun work on their forthcoming album which will be released summer 2007.