one band playing. a million billion zillion quadrillion people listening.

Million Billion voted #1 of the "Best New American Band Names" of 2009
- Dave Eggers - Best American Non-Required Reading for 2006

"...cynical folk-rock with country that lands a bull's eye."
- URB Magazine

"With a sense of fun and adventure that suggests a lighter, freer version of Bob Dylan's Current band, Million Billion is a trio that knows how to play like the one other guys but wants to do things it's own way."
- Jim Fusilli - Wall Street Journal

---

Our featured band, Million Billion, started playing in 2005. Attending USC, and pursuing a double major in Political Science and Business, Yonatan Elkayam, (keyboard/upright bass/harmonica) was also pursuing a separate education in Jazz at the USC School of Music. After graduation, he earned another degree in music production and recording. Instinctively putting his education to work, Yonatan immediately found himself playing within L.A.'s prime music arena where he came face-to-face with an array of skilled musicians. Yonatan's path soon crossed with (lead singer) Gavin Bellour, who was also pursuing his love of music by performing in a Latin acid-jazz band he created while attending UCLA. Although each person perfectly filled their own position, one mystery still remained...who was going to play percussion? Picking from the top resource of local talent, the two soon met their counterpart, Brian Ulrich.(drums) Brian was an engineering student at MI by day and DJ by night. The trio immediately clicked and soon submerged into sessions filled with writing and rehearsing scores of new music. Obviously, each member of the band had different musical influence from their past, so they did what any intelligent group would do and they gathered their resources. After creating an impressive artillery of different tunes , they were able to fuse all the energy in the right direction and create a signature sound in the indie-pop scene: a combination of simple pop/rock, jazz, folk, soul and latin flavors. Whether blending pop with Motown-influenced horns (All the Time / Milk & Honey) or bringing out the semi-punk beats through jazzy rock-a-billy. (Apocalypse Now)

The triad has come up with a myriad of sounds and soul for every song on their debut album: Ready. Fire. Aim. (Mercy)

The album is co-produced by music producer, Karl Derfler, (No Doubt, Dave Mathews Band, Big Head Todd), who added his own special touch of progressive beats against a strong classical backdrop to help create a few key elements to the overall sound of the album. As for the name, the trio held a fan contest and eventually settled on Million/Billion, as it reflects an innocent sense of limitless possibilities. And so far, they have done a great job in exploring and experimenting with the possibilities! Gavin Bellour (guitar, vocals), Brian Ulrich (drummer) and Yonatan Elkayam (keys/bass, upright, harmonica…), first came together as LA based trio million/billion in 2005. Their music is all embracing, their style eclectic. "We like to think that the sound we created doesn't really fit into a particular genre or perhaps it does and we are just too ignorant to know it, but in our universe we blend genres to create a style of our own. One with a progressive nature but also a timeless and classic quality", says lead singer Bellour. Their sound –combines punk-folk intensity, classic-rock hooks, pop jangle, Western twang, jazz-tinged filigrees and soul grooves with ease.

The band's unique formula has already made them a BMI Pick of the Month, earned them opening spots for international music icon Beck and such acclaimed artists as Ray Lamontagne, Shooter Jennings, Gomez, Keaton Simons and others; garnered offers to share stages with Ben Lee, Supergrass and Joan Osborne; and won them prestigious month-long residencies at L.A.'s Hotel Café and Tangiers. Their inimitable songs have been heard on L.A.'s groundbreaking Indie 103.1, KCRW's Broadband program, KTLA Morning News and Continental Airlines' in-flight channel. Their debut album Ready.Fire.Aim, to be released this October on Mercy Records, has already elicited a four-star review from URB Magazine saying, "Million/Billion throws in cynical folk-rock with country that lands a bull's eye," and calls their "rhythmical acoustic guitar and raucous performance," hard to pass up."

import com.flashdrone.MusicalFountain; var fountain:MusicalFountain=new MusicalFountain(640,250); //loading a song initially. fountain.loadSong ("music/symphony.mp3"); addChild (fountain);