– Mardi Ford

– The Observer

LA GRANDE Local fans of the rock and blues band SONSOFDAY which performed at last summer’s fifth annual Son Light Fest will have an opportunity to hear them again Thursday.

Currently on tour, the Portland-based Christian band will make a stop in La Grande for a 7 p.m. concert at Valley Fellowship, 507 Palmer Ave. The cover charge of $2 will help cover the church’s expenses.

Last summer, the group wowed Son Light Fest chairman Armen Woosley, and he jumped at the chance to book them between gigs in Montana and California for a concert at Valley Fellowship.

“These guys have great hearts,” Woosley says. “I was so impressed with their performance last summer on and off stage.”

Woosley recalled that SONSOFDAY had agreed to drive all the way to La Grande last August and participate in the festival without any guarantee of being paid any certain amount.

Woosley said although the festival had tried to book them for both days, SONSOFDAY’s conflict with another booking in Portland allowed them to commit to the Friday event only.

But, after they drove back to Portland, they called Woosley in the wee hours of Saturday morning and offered to drive back after their engagement for Saturday night’s concert series if someone canceled and a band were needed.

The four-member rock band are the Bellos brothers Vlad, Rocky, Bogdon, and Scott. Vitaliy, the fifth brother, is the band’s sound technician. They were born in the Ukraine, but now live in Portland.

Though the band’s first full album titled “Fragile People” is due to be released this year, an official release date has not been set. The new CD includes 12 original songs including the four songs on the extended play CD released last December.

With them, SONSOFDAY bring another former East European now living in the Pacific Northwest Christian artist Briksa.

Born in Minsk, Belarus, in the former Soviet Union, Briksa started his musical career in the Belarusian State Philharmonic Society.

After playing with one of the Soviet Union’s most popular secular rock bands, he eventually started his own and was quite successful. Though fame and good money were within his grasp, at 23 years old, Briksa still felt incomplete.

In 1991 he met a girl named Irena whom he would eventually marry and she led Briksa to God. After dedicating his life to the Lord Jesus Christ in the spring of 1992, Briksa eventually went out on the road on his own to play music and talk about Jesus.

In 1999, Briksa, Irena and their two sons all came to the U.S., and eventually settled in the Pacific Northwest.

Here Briksa met the Bellos brothers of SONSOFDAY. Together, they produced Briksa’s first English language album, “Welcome to Your Life.”