Plush Ft. Vendetta Rose and Alborn at Empire Live Albany (2/11/2022)  -By: Amy Modesti 

Young rockers are making waves into the music sphere. Starting out at local clubs, performing at outdoor festivals, to stints on television, they don’t give up on reaching their dream to become famous. They don’t morph into someone they’re not just to remain en vogue; they remain true to their hearts and their rock- n-roll roots. 

Capital Region’s rock goddess, Moriah Formica, made her superstar dream a reality. With brief stints competing on “The Voice” and “American Idol”, opening for Smash Mouth at the Empire State Plaza Independence Day Celebration, and collaborating with The Refrigerators at summer concerts, it was apparent that Formica had the ultimate voice and drive towards music stardom. 

When Formica teamed up with Brooke Colucci (aka. Rock Angel) to perform their duo cover of Heart’s “Barracuda”, it catapulted them into stardom. The video received positive reviews on social media, seven million views on their social media pages, and their discovery by Surface Management and Pavement Entertainment Inc. Hence the ultimate formation of Plush.

Plush features Formica (Lead Vocals/Guitar), Colucci (Drums), Bella Perron (Guitar/Vocals), and Ashley Suppa (Bass/Vocals) and this female-fronted band rocks! Based in New York and Maine, Plush has opened for Evanescence, Lzzy Hale, Daughtry, Sevendust, and Mammoth WVH. 

Friday, February 11,2022, Plush was called home to Empire Live Albany to release their self-debut album at their sold-out show. Joining in on the fun with Plush was Asbury Park, NJ rockers, Vendetta Rose, and Northern Illinois own Alborn. 

Vendetta Rose was certainly hard-core but easy on the ears to enjoy their music. Their cover of “Man in the Box” (Alice in Chains) was epic and set the mood for hard rock to filtrate the venue. Wearing his black and white sparkly jacket and peach sparkling shoes fit for a star, Alec DeMello (Lead vocals) didn’t waste no time getting the crowd worked up dancing along the stage, even giving out red roses to new fans while singing his final song. Including DeMello in Vendetta Rose, Kyle Crowley (Bass), Ryan Graci (Guitar), and Joey Prince (Drums). 

Alborn were head-bangers, so much so that their two guitarists and bassist head hanged in sync to one another within each beat to their songs!! They weren’t afraid to work up their audience and move around on impact! Alborn opened their show with an original, “Hindsight”, and from there continued to rock and scream aloud! 

“We wanna be who we want to be and that’s how it f****** goes,” exclaimed Justin Taylor (Guitar/Lead Vocals). Taylor, along with members Alex Raser (Drums/Vocals), Zame Lewis (Bass), and Nate Guske (Guitar/Vocals), were honored to open for Plush, whom they toured with months ago. To perform at their album release party that evening, everything had come full circle for the young rockers at best.

“Albany, how is everybody doing tonight? Good God! I can’t believe, look at all, this is like, crazy! Oh my gosh! It feels so great to be back playing Albany. As a lot of you know, this is my hometown, very special. This is actually our first show in the Northeast. So thankful to be able to share that with you guys. There’s a lot of familiar faces here. Pretty emotional to be honest with you. Thank you so much for being a part of this with guys honestly… It’s gonna be a fun night guys.” Exclaimed Formica.

And a fun night it certainly was!

Plush was exceptionally brilliant and watching these women gel to bring Formica’s originals to its genuine rock prowess was fantastic. Listening to “Athena”, “Champion”, “Found a Way”, “Sober”, “Sorry”, and “Bring Me Down” live were more defined and livelier in their arrangements. “Walk Away” had a cool, unique spin into the rock/disco-esque vibe it brought out, along with exceptional soloing from Perron. 

Formica further went into playing her “kind of an emo song”, “Don’t Say That”, based on her life’s experience of having her heart broken a long time ago. In fact, most of her songs on the debut album are based on the theme of the broken heart, according to Formica. “Better Off Alone”, also their new music video, was played next, with “Will Not Win” and “I Don’t Care” in suit!! Crowd took part in a call and response chant of “I Don’t Care’s” chorus as Formica, Suppa, and Perron clapped along in unison to Colucci’s drumbeat keeping things in line. 

Keeping the back end tight all night, Colucci had her own spotlight to shine in. As her band mates took a brief break, Colucci took off like a shooting star to shine in her epic solo, taking control of her stage. For a few minutes, all eyes were watching Colucci take over the lead as she handled the drums with great prowess and care, keeping things in check into her final song, “Hate”. The girls returned to Colucci to close out “Hate” alongside her. And just when you thought the show was officially over, it wasn’t.

That is until they played the tune that launched Formica’s stardom on “The Voice” and the formation of Plush… “Barracuda”!! Their rendition; nailed it!! Everything about their encore was perfection, epic, and full of love!! Ann Wilson would have been deeply proud of Plush playing her song for sure if she attended their release party!! 

Post-release party, Plush opened for Daughtry at Mohegan Sun February 12 and on February 25,2022, will open for Slash at Arvest Bank Theater in Kansas City, MO. More info about Plush and their upcoming tours can be found on their social media handles and website at www.plushrocks.net .