Homefried Valentines are a husband and wife duo playing Americana, pop, and rock originals on a combination of instruments - acoustic/electric tenor Ukulele, acoustic/electric guitar, cocktail kit drums, and percussion. Michael and Carla Eigen are based out of Boston, Massachusetts with a love also for Southern Vermont and the Berkshire regions. Both Michael and Carla have been active members of the local Boston scene for many years in various separate projects prior to spinning off to create a post pandemic duo.
The longer read:
Boston based husband and wife couple Michael and Carla Eigen launched Homefried Valentines in April 2024. They came to the project having their own unique music-arts backgrounds. These differences complimented their training to combine talents in creating an original Americana, Pop, Rock duo.
Carla Eigen pursued opera training in her teens and through college later ended up in the Boston music scene fronting the alternative five piece rock band Sextiles playing original music in the early 90s. Carla’s unique singing style earned her recognition with a nomination for Outstanding Local Female Vocalist by the Boston Music Awards in 1994 (formerly Carla Havener). Live show reviews described Carla's vocals as Boston's answer to Kate Bush. Other reviewers during the 90s made comparisons to Lena Lovich and Nina Hagen. Juicy, Sextiles’ only studio record was released a few years later. Sextiles were on other music compilations during that time, Anon (1993, Castle von Buhler Records), Girl (1994, Curve of the Earth Records), and Dim (1994, Seven Records).
As an Opera trained vocalist, Carla gained much of her early stage technique studying classical vocal music and earning a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from UMass, Amherst. Several summers at Seagle Music Colony in the Adirondacks, provided additional training in regional Opera theater and classical performances. Carla returned to the stage after taking a long reprieve from music to raise a family and went on to expand her theatrical skills in the 2010s performing as a storyteller combining spoken word monologues for music concerts with the choir Exsultet in Holliston, Mass. Later, Carla teamed up with local Boston singer songwriter Lucy Martinez of Sado-Domestics and Lucy and the Dreamers to form the duo Lula. Lula launched in the summer of 2018 only to later disband during the pandemic.
Aside from performing, Carla has theoretical knowledge and training in the physiology and anatomy of singing technique acquired while earning a Masters of Science in Communication Disorders degree from MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston. Carla spent a semester treating adults with voice disorders and providing therapeutic treatment to singers at the Voice and Speech Laboratory of the Mass Eye and Ear Hospital in Boston. Carla currently spends her days working as a Speech-Language Pathologist evaluating and helping children talk and think better in a Boston area elementary school.
Michael Eigen fell into music when gifted a clarinet. Lessons at the John Payne Music Center led to playing in a jazz ensemble for a few years. Then jamming with a group of old friends led to the creation of the seven piece band Los Goutos. For over 10 years Los Goutos played 70+ concert dates a year in the local Boston/Cambridge Americana scene. The band had two full album releases, a live recording, Rained Out at the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater (2015) and a studio record titled Mighty (2018). While in Los Goutos, Michael’s background in creative writing and being a former English teacher proved to be a perfect translatable skill for songwriting, and many years of yelling at his two growing, active boys gave him a natural booming singing voice. In Los Goutos, Michael was the primary drummer but also an important singer songwriter for the project, often coming out from behind the drums to front the band on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. In 2019, New England Music Awards nominated Los Goutos for Roots Act of the Year. The pandemic put Los Goutos into a deep freeze but the friendships remain strong. As a result, two spin off projects for Michael were created, Homefried Valentines and The Gentleman Hollers.
It only took husband and wife Michael and Carla Eigen 30+ years and a lockdown to start a band. But diamonds come from lumps of coal and from that strange pandemic time Homefried Valentines was born. And as the cliché dictates….Home is where the heart is!