You might be interested to know that Amy Coccia, Fernandina's 26 year old songstress, recorded the drums on the band's first and newest 2007 release, entitled No Good Sleepin.' Fernandina's drummer Dan Viands (also of Blanco Diablo and Safe Return Doubtful), who was supposed to meet the band in Atlanta, GA in February 2007 for their first week of recording, got stuck in Vegas on business the Thursday before their departure. "What were we going to do?" Coccia asserts. "Cancel our slot and lose precious time and money? I figured that since I'm also a drummer, and I knew the songs as well as anyone else, I'd just give laying down the drum tracks a shot. Luckily, it worked out okay." As a matter of fact, Coccia also recorded guitar, vocals, keys, among other various auxillary instruments on the 30-something minute record. Coccia started out as a drummer in her first band as a freshman at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. Soon, at band practice, she began picking up the guitar, and before too long, Amy was writing songs of her own. She began singing and playing house shows and coffee shops, only to learn that people really dug her songs. Since these early days of self-discovery, Amy has worked with a myriad of rotating musicians in the Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA area. With various line-ups including guitars, bass, drums, banjos, mandolins, background singers, upright bass, keys and synthesizers, bongos, and more, Amy continues her restless search, striving for instrumentation that can match the depth of her songwriting craft. "The most important thing to me about all of this is writing, recording, and performing good, honest songs. That's always what I'll be after," says Coccia. We think she's well on her way.
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