If you open up this week's Billboard and look at the Top Internet Sales chart, you won't find a whole lot of surprises. Norah Jones holds the top spot, as she does on general Top 200 album chart. You'll also find such commercial mainstays as The Dixie Chicks, Avril Lavigne, Coldplay and The Rolling Stones in the top ten.
But go a little further down the chart to No. 18 and you'll see a previously little-known college rock band from outside Washington, D.C. beating out names like Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sheryl Crow and even Elvis Presley himself. Virginia Coalition has truly arrived -- both in the figurative sense of achievement and in the literal sense that they will appear at Dartmouth Friday night.
But the success has hardly come overnight. Since 1998, the band has been touring tirelessly up and down the East Coast playing college campuses and nightclubs. Last year alone, the group traveled over 100,000 miles, the equivalent of over four times around the earth, and played more than 250 gigs. It's that kind of dedication to playing live that has won the group a loyal following of fans, many of whom have gone online since Virginia Coali-tion's new album was released on Jan. 21, landing the album, "Rock and Roll Party," on the charts.
VACO, as their fans call them, have put out two other albums titled "Colors of the Sound" and "Town-burg," which sold a combined 55,000 copies. Most of those were sold after their infectious live shows, featuring a blend of rock, funk, pop and country.
Soon their reputation reached the ears of some big names in rock, and they found themselves on the same bill with the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Train, Fuel, Live, Counting Crows, Guster, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Cracker, Dispatch, Ben Folds Five and even Blondie. Additionally, MTV listened to their material and soon licensed some of their songs for use in some of their programming, including "Undressed" and "Making the Video."
These high-profile appearances exposed the band to a wider audience and won them even more new listeners. Their fan base has now grown so big that they have begun to sell out more major venues as Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club and Chicago's House of Blues.
Virginia Coalition is scheduled to take the stage in Collis Common-ground at 9 p.m. Doors open at 8. Tickets are available at the Collis information desk.
