RECENT STORIES

Canvas bag give-away a Starlight Bowl hit ( Brad Korb )
Calvary Chapel Burbank delivers Bibles to jail ( Patrick Dougherty )
A 'Shoot-Out' in Burbank ( Jackie Houchin )
9th annual MVP Basketball Camp in Burbank ( mike graceffo )
Art in motion: serene and seductive ( Jackie Houchin )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Burbank \\ Stories \\ Entertainment \\ Music

Hard working teen rockers getting songs heard

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

NEXT › ‹ PREVIOUS

Contributed by: Jean Dale on 12/22/2006

Teen rock band, Tessatura, is pushing forward, through lots of hard work.

Life in high school these days is usually stressful, with all the high expectations of schoolwork, college prep this and that, hours of homework, maybe a side job, etc., etc. But imagine adding rehearsal, career promotion, songwriting, recording plus practice and performing gigs around town. Whew! Now that's a long week!

Anissa Ann, the drummer/composer of the Burbank-based rock band Tessatura, does high school work -- lots, college class, youth group, church and extra studying every week. And these days, being a musician includes not only hours of keeping her chops up -- she's the band's drummer -- but also spending hours on MySpace where she cultivates friends and fans, promoting and spreading music.

She also has auditions and the promotion for her acting career. She still makes time for her chores at home. Imagine being beyond busy, very positive, happy and a successful young lady at 16-years-old.

"I write because it's something that I can do to get away from everything -- just write music," Anissa Ann reflects. "It's very encouraging to know that something that I created with my sister can bring people such joy. It's fun to have feedback from people who come to my shows and hear my music."

Anissa is in the band with her sister Tessa, the singer/songwriter/bass player and Mike Hesszo, is the band's guitarist, who is a senior at Burbank High School.

They have three songs on MySpace and have almost 7,000 friends (fans).

Anissa Ann explains that it's really a social community, "MySpace is such the thing to do these days, it's better than going to the mall, just go on MySpace. I have people from all over the world who have come to know our music from MySpace."

In London there's an art gallery who has put them on their Web site.

This summer they recorded four songs at Burbank's Nightingale Studio -- Not Waiting For You, Why, Fate of Eve and Make Your Way Your Own.

The two sisters in the band, Tessa and Anissa, wrote the songs. For the most part Anissa composes the music and Tessa writes the lyrics. The lyrics are what some might consider, intense, for such youth.

Most of the songs are about life and love, like most rock songs but Make Your Way Your Own, talks about changing the world, by uniting, changing each person, it starts with self. Even their logo has a meaning, a vision about uniting people, all people with music with a message.

They love U2 and Bono has been such a big influence on them.

Another song, Make Your Way, they recorded earlier this year with Matt Forger, a renowned producer. Forger, commonly known as Michael Jackson's recording engineer on Thriller, Bad, and Dangerous, has also worked with Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, and more.

Forger finds the band spirited: "As the drummer for Tessatura, Annisa Ann is the foundation of the rhythm section for the band. She has the spirit and energy that represent the band's sound and its drive. Tessatura's dedication to rock music with great melodies and pulsing rhythms is evident in their original material. The band works hard to give the audience an enjoyable experience and the stage presence at their live shows displays just how serious they are. As musicians, they also understanding that it's about having fun and letting everyone in on the party."

Since August, Tessatura has performed seven shows throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Recently a few of them have been at the over 21 clubs on Sunset.

"Their music is not at all teeny-bopper, it's straight-up rock, and is very much appreciated by the older audiences," Victoria Torres, their proud mom/manager explains. "They are getting a nice following, a big age range in their audience, even 21 and over. Doing all these shows has really improved their quality. I have seen them becoming really tight as a band and their musicianship is also advancing with each show."

The three-member band is a nice combination of talent. Anissa's strong style of drumming is also artistic and unique. Tessa has the voice of a mature lead female rocker, sweet, strong and captivating complementing her funky bass grooves and Mike's rhythm guitar fills out this hip rock sound.

For more information, contact Victoria at Up Entertainment through upent2@aol.com or visit www.tessatura.com or www.myspace.com/wwwtessaturacom.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story