Soraia

Not to be confused with the Colombian rock en español/Latin pop star Soraya (who had a major hit in Latin America with "Llevame" in 2005), the band profiled in this bio is a Philadelphia-based alternative rock/post-grunge outfit that is fronted by lead vocalist Sue Francia (an expressive, big-voiced singer with a gutsy, edgy, gritty, forceful style). While Columbia's Soraya writes and performs mostly in Spanish, Philly's Soraia performs in English exclusively — and the American band spells its name with an "i" instead of with a "y." Loud, hard-rocking and aggressive yet highly melodic and hooky, Soraia brings a wide variety of '70s, '80s, and '90s influences to the table. L7, Concrete Blonde, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Hüsker Dü have affected Soraia's sound, as have the Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde, and Patti Smith (not to be confused with Patty Smyth, former lead singer of the popular '80s arena rock band Scandal). Another influence on Soraia is singer/songwriter PJ Harvey, although Francia's vocals are not as stream-of-consciousness or as impressionistic; Francia is more direct and to-the-point in her approach. And while Soraia is clearly a part of post-'80s alternative rock, the Philadelphians also get a great deal of inspiration from metal, punk, and new wave artists who were around before the rise of Nirvana and before the highly influential, mega-platinum Nevermind dramatically rearranged the rock landscape in the early '90s and caused a lot of '80s bands to disappear from MTV. Soraia is a band that has clearly benefited from Nevermind, although they realize that rock history did not start with that 1991 classic.

In her pre-Soraia days, Francia earned her living in the educational field; the singer once headed the English department at Nazareth Academy, an all-girl Catholic high school in the northeastern part of Philly. It was around 2001 that Francia, who left her position at Nazareth to pursue a career in music, formed Soraia with her brother, guitarist Joe Francia. Performing in and around Philly in 2002 and 2003, the Francia siblings went through various bassists and drummers before auditioning and hiring bassist Travis Smith and drummer Jeff Valcarel in July 2004. Valcarel, who began studying the drums when he was only four years old, has cited Stewart Copeland (formerly of the Police) and Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction fame as major influences on his drumming. With that Sue Francia/Joe Francia/Travis Smith/Jeff Valcarel lineup in place, Soraia started working on their debut album, Dirty Like Soraia — which was released on the band's own label, Soraia Music, during the summer of 2005. In March 2006, Soraia announced that they would be doing some recording with veteran producer/engineer Obie O'Brien, who is best known for his work with Jon Bon Jovi and has also crossed paths with Alice Cooper (O'Brien was one of the engineers on the Desmond Child-produced Trash album in 1989), April Wine, Gorky Park, and Shootyz Groove (among others).