Congratulations to “Dead Empire”. Our 2023 Rela Voted Artist Of The Year.

Dead Empire is a four-piece original prog rock band based in Mount Maunganui NZ.  Exploring unique time signatures paired with catchy song lyrics Dead Empire brings an energetic presence to any type of audience. Teaming up with artists across NZ Dead Empire aims to break stereotypes of fitting into specific genres of music.

Milky Way- Guitar
Kaine Harkins – vocals, keys
Joel Luna- Bass
Matt Ruddell- Drums

Dead Empire competed in the Battle of the Bands NZ placing 3rd and was awarded Best Drummer in 2020 and again in 2022 ending the same result having spent some time in the studio working with New Zealand heavyweight producer Nathan Sowter of Link Flamingo having worked with Sophie Maude/ Blindspott and Deadbeat to name a few, have captured a sound that needs to be shared and 2023 is the year for that with 17 gigs under the belt this year so far and it only being half way through year and many more in the works the Dead Empire has hit the ground running their latest single Buckley is out now on all major streaming services.

“Dead Empire” competed against 11 other artist winning votes to claim the 2023  Rela Voted Artist Of The Year Award. Congratulations to everyone and our Top Eleven Artist . Everyone had an outstanding fanbase thank you all for participating and supporting Independent music and like always keep it Rela..

Sincerely,
Rela Radio

DJ Co1, DJ Craig Allen

Congratulations to “Voodoo Moonshine”. Our 2021 Rela Voted Artist Of The Year.

Voodoo Moonshine, a “bluesy groove rock band”, was formed in Memphis, TN in 2003 by lead guitarist, Jeff Losawyer. The debut album, Decade of Decay, was released in March 2005, and was well received throughout Europe. A tour was booked, including shows in England, Ireland, and Scotland. Due to the album’s success they were voted “Number One Band” seven times in England, and six times in Japan. In mid 2005, Voodoo Moonshine was introduced in Dublin, Ireland and quickly became one of the top three requested bands there.

Their debut received rave reviews in many music publications including R.I.P. Magazine. 2006 saw the band’s popularity continue to rise, and rock radio around the world stood up and took notice. Voodoo Moonshine could be heard in Portugal, Greece, Canada and of course, at home in America. Many times during the year, the band’s songs charted ahead of some of rock’s so-called heavy hitters, like Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Guns N Roses and the Scorpions. The album Decade of Decay continued to do extremely well deep into 2007, more than two full years after its release. As the year wound down, the band took some much needed, and well deserved, time off. This eventually led to guitarist Jeff Losawyer’s work on a solo album. Jeff continued to write music during this time, and never gave up his passion to play.

Fast forward, and suddenly 12 years had passed. Interestingly enough, he heard Pedro Espada singing in a YouTube video and really liked what he heard. He took a chance and reached out to Pedro to see if he would be interested in singing some of his songs. Initially he didn’t receive a very warm response. As a matter of fact, he was mostly ignored, but he knew he had found the right man for the job, so he was persistent. His persistence paid off and Jeff was invited to Daytona Beach Bike Week 2018 to jam with Pedro and his bandmates of Rockitfly. Needless to say,things went well with Pedro, along with former Rockitfly and Nova Rex members merging together to bring back Voodoo Moonshine.

Pedro Espada on vocals, Jeff Losawyer on guitar, Jeffrey LaRoche on guitar, Tommy Ray Neeley on bass, drummer Eddie Cruise rounds out the rhythm section. The future of Voodoo Moonshine looks extremely bright.

“Voodoo Moonshine” competed against 57 other artist winning 37% of the votes to claim the 2021 Rela Voted Artist Of The Year Award. Congratulations to everyone and our Top Ten. Everyone had an outstanding fanbase thank you all for participating and supporting Independent music and like always keep it Rela..

Sincerely,
Rela Radio

DJ Co1

Congratulations to “Thrifty Malone”. Our 2020 Rela Voted Artist Of The Year.

Thrifty Malone are a 6 piece band playing everything from Irish to Rhythm and Blues, Rock ‘n Roll and Country, originals and covers.  The current band line up includes; Mandolin, Harp, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass and Drums.  We play regular gigs in Gibraltar and Spain, with the occasional overseas tour thrown in.

Thrifty Malone competed against 56 other artist with 2,456 votes to claim the win. Congratulations to everyone and our Top Ten. Including our runner up Jack and The Box. Everyone had an outstanding fanbase thank you all for participating and supporting Independent music and like always keep it Rela..

Sincerely,
Rela Radio

DJ Co1 & Nate The Great

The 2021 Rela Voted Nominees will be published Friday, April 30, 2021

Congratulations to “Wake Theory” our Rela Featured Artist Of The Year.

Wake Theory is a rock/metal band from Alexandria, Louisiana.

The band’s music has spread like wildfire since the release of their first single “Forever”, in December 2018.

Follow-up tracks “Falling Faster” and “Take Me to the Edge” were released weeks apart in March 2019, creating a surge of momentum that pushed Wake Theory to the No.1 spot on ReverbNation’s Rock Charts in the United States by April 2019.

Wake Theory members:

Rick Ferrier (Vocals)

Ant Jones (Guitars)

Hailey Bolton (Guitars)

Mark Taylor (Bass)

Joey Cooksey (Drums)

Wake Theory is currently partnering with MxD Recordings (Berlin, Germany) to produce/mix/master the upcoming album entitled “Hypnosis”.

Wake Theory competed with 52 other artist for over two weeks to capture the victory.  Daphne our runner up never gave up and was in the race until the end. Wake Theory came through the last day and claims the “The Rela Featured Artist Of The Year. Rela Radio proudly presents this award to Wake Theory for their hard work and great fan support.

Rela Radio thanks everyone for participating and supporting all the artist. Tune in and support Independent Music.

2020 Rela Voted Nominees will be posted April 30, 2020. Until then Keep It Rela.

Thanks

DJ Co1 & Nate The Great