Rocker abandons Alaska for artistic redemption Introducing Blaise Beyhan and IONIA. Music that stands for something…

Rocker abandons Alaska for artistic redemption Introducing Blaise Beyhan and IONIA. Music that stands for something…

CMJ Music Marathon
Metal Radio VIP Party
Thursday, October 23 @ 7 p.m.
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery
New York City, NY

NEW YORK – With elections fast approaching and the economy in sharp decline, there’s no better time to discover IONIA, the socially conscious melodic rock band from NYC whose leader, Blaise Beyhan, was raised on an ALASKAN commune — NOW IS THE TIME to hear what rocks this front man’s world and the Last Frontier that forged it.

The Alaska in Blaise’s world was quite the opposite from Sarah Palin’s Alaska. And it’s helped Blaise form a unique perspective and fuel a politically-minded rock band hell-bent on writing music that stands for something and comments on the “self-destructive” American society he believes has been created in large part by the political arena in which Palin stands.

“I think Sarah Palin is a complete fraud,” says Behan. “The things I value about Alaska are not what 90 percent of the people there are about, which is capitalism, milking every resource.”

IONIA has been garnering lots of attention, with its new self-titled debut EP – produced by Ross Peterson (Brand New, Finger Eleven) and spreading across America on 200+ radio stations as they gear up for their performance at the CMJ Music Marathon Metal Radio VIP Party (Oct. 23).

If you’re a fan of the Deftones, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Used, or My Chemical Romance and politically oriented rock that’s fueled by a belief in the kind of real change Palin and John McCain could never represent, you should check out IONIA.

· Major festival appearances at NEMO, Locobazooka (with Alice In Chains and Buckcherry), Popfest and Millennium Music Conference.

· Voted #1 Unsigned Artist in first two weeks on PureVolume.com.

· 2008 Costa Rica tour for Roberta Felix Foundation, featuring IONIA on MTV America Latina, and the #1 college radio station, Radio U.