On Dec. 19, Von Iva will make a big splash—not onstage but on the big screen. Audiences will be treated to four original songs from the group in the Heyday/Warner Bros. Pictures film “Yes Man,” starring Jim Carrey and actress/musician Zooey Deschanel.
The San Francisco-based trio was cast to appear in the movie, as well as on its soundtrack, after music supervisor Jonathan Karp (“Superbad,” “The 40 Year Old Virgin”) found the band’s album, “Our Own Island,” while in the stacks at Amoeba Music in Los Angeles.
“We had a friend who would sneak our CDs in the end caps of the rows there,” drummer Kelly Harris says. “He was drawn in by the cover and ended up loving the music.”
The three became four as the band was cast as the movie’s fictional group Munchausen by Proxy, with Deschanel installed as lead singer. Von Iva’s regular lead singer, the fierce, soulful Jillian Iva, helped rewrite the tunes to cater to Deschanel’s voice.
Von Iva was originally a quartet when it formed six years ago, when founders Elizabeth Davis (former bassist for Seven Year Bitch) and Harris picked up Iva and dexterous keyboardist Becky Kupersmith. Davis eventually dropped out and the trio went on to embrace a more minimalist sound.
The group has gone on to self-release a full-length set, a music video and two EPs, the most recent being, appropriately, “Girls on Film,” on Oct. 28. With help from the Royalty Network, Von Iva has scored around a dozen TV placements, including Logo’s “Curl Girls,” a Nokia phone spot and Showtime’s “The L Word.” The band has also been tapped to open for such acts as the Walkmen, the Gossip and the Go-Go’s with the aid of the M.O.B. Agency.
