Lily Vakili & Her Band / Mighty Joe Castro and the Gravemen

A lifelong observer, chronicler, and creative force, Lily Vakili has spent years gathering fragments of the world – memories, landscapes, voices, losses, joys – and transforming them into urgent, electric songs. She was raised across Honduras, Florida, Thailand, Puerto Rico, and Iowa – absorbing pieces of each place, each culture, along the way. This international upbringing shaped her worldview, her voice, and her lifelong search for connection. The past decade has seen her channel that force through multiple studio albums – released both as a solo artist and with her successful Vakili Band – each one experimenting with the wide, untamed possibilities of rock. Off the heels of her 2025 full-length release Oceans Of Kansas and East Coast tour, Vakili released her first live EP, Live Wire on May 8, 2026, an in-studio, live audio and video recording of songs named for what fans and critics alike say is a perfect description of her charismatic performance style. For this stripped down and intimate six-song release, Vakili called upon her collaborator, the Grammy-Award winning, Emmy-nominated producer/engineer Reed Turchi, to produce the EP at his studio Second Take Sound (now Voyager Sound) in New York City. Live Wire reimagines old favorites and introduces new songs showcasing her emotionally raw, live sound – a genre-blending fusion of blues, rock, and art rock elements, backed by poetic storytelling.