Oct 11, 2010

RadioSPIN recently interviewed Vanguard Villains who will play the RethinkPopMusic Showcase November 9th at Crash Mansion. Check out the interview below:

Sure you heard something about Vanguard Villains: this rock-band based in NYC recently released its debut album, getting positive reviews from various blogs, such as Wild Honey Pie, Brill Dream, Moxie And Mayhem, and Knocks From The Underground, as well as radioSpin, of course. They’re making a great deal of progress and they’re now being considered for signing by RethinkPopMusic. That’s why we want to know them better and we decided to make the most of their kindness when they accepted to answer a couple of questions.

ARTIST: Vanguard Villains
CITY: New York
LABEL: Rethink Pop Music
LATEST ALBUM: Vanguard Villains
MEMBERS: Neil S. Matharoo, Steve Faller
WEB: http://thevanguardvillains.blogspot.com/

RADIOSPIN – Let’s start with a very dull question, but radioSpin really curious about it: why the name Vanguard Villains? And, above all, why did you cut the article “the”? Today the indie-trend is to put the article in front of every band name, even when it’s not necessary (or even when it sounds terribly bad): is this a choice expressly against this trend or there is another reason?
NEIL – Steve and I met through a mutual friend (a bassist), and we played a few shows under various crappy names. A short while later, that bassist departed, and that’s the point where Steve and I really became a solid duo. And so, we needed a new name. Steve had brought up the idea of using alliteration, and while watching the news one night, I heard the word “Vanguard.” The name “Vanguard Villains” popped into my head, and we were set. As for eliminating “The”, it’s a recent move. There are still some websites which include “The”, but we’re ok with it either way. We’ve definitely noticed the indie trend to include “The”, whether it’s needed or not, and it leads to some confusing results!

RADIOSPIN – What about your musical path? Why did you start playing? When/Where did you learn playing? Are you self-taught or did you studied somewhere?
NEIL – My foundation goes back to playing the violin as a kid. In hindsight, it was a good way to start, because I learned the basics of playing music. That lasted only a few years, and then I heard Nirvana’s “Nevermind”; that’s what really got me into guitar. I coerced my parents into buying me a crappy $70 electric guitar, and I quickly moved from the 90′s alt-rock bands and into 80′s hard rock (especially Guns n’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction”). When I got serious about songwriting, I studied Mountain Goats, Whiskeytown, and Ween (seriously).
STEVE – I started playing because I always wanted to communicate musically. I was one of those annoying kids that was always tapping on something, so I figured drums would be for me. I’ve studied drums with a lot of great players and continue to do so. With the amount of amazing musicians living in New York it’s almost criminal not to. My main drumming teachers/mentors have been Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright), Mark Greenburg (Dicky Betts, Dave Matthews), Dennis Leeflang (Lita Ford, Bumblefoot), Pete Lewis (Ricky Martin, Arturo O’Farill), and Guy Licata (Santogold, Bill Laswell).

RADIOSPIN – Let’s talk about musical influences: choose three albums you love and three band/artist you’d say your favourite.
NEIL – These 3 albums are among my favorites:
1) Weezer, “Blue Album”: amazing songwriting and guitar playing.
2) Ween, “The Mollusk”: great diversity here.
3) Whiskeytown, “Stranger’s Almanac”: very dark and brooding music.
Three favorite artists (I’m gonna list musicians and not bands):
1) Freddie Mercury: this is how you’re supposed to work a crowd.
2) John Darnielle: my favorite songwriter.
3) Slash: the epitome of rock guitar.
STEVE – Choosing a favorite artist or record is subjective thing. My “favorite” switches a lot upon my mood and what is going on in my life. However, three incredible records are definitely Jeff Buckley’s “Grace”, Steve Wonder’s “Innervisions” and Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall”.

RADIOSPIN – Even if it’s a blog radioSpin doesn’t like tags and labels speaking about music. Anyway they’re somehow useful to quickly describe something: I’ve read some perplexing descriptions of what you are around the web. Would you rather you weren’t labelled and tinned, or do you recognise the need for it? And in the end, make and effort and tell me what kind of music Vanguard Villains play.
NEIL – Yeah, it’s very hard to tag and label our music. I mean, compare our song “Admire” to our song “Unexecuted”. When people ask about our sound, we tell them that it’s rock music. We’re a diversely-influenced team, and those influences show. Ultimately, labels can be useful, but applying them so stringently leads only to isolation. We have fans who are into hip-hop, fans who are into guitar rock, and fans who listen to all sorts of other styles. But call us what you wish.

RADIOSPIN – You are a due, by now: what are the advantages/disadvantages about playing rock in two? Who’s playing the bass in some songs?
NEIL – We’ve done the bulk of our work as a duo up to this point, but we’re now auditioning bassists. Steve and I work so well together that we often don’t even need to discuss new dynamic inflections in our songs; we just hit them simultaneously. But playing live, bass is essential to fill out the sound and allow the guitar to branch out. I ended up playing bass on our album.

RADIOSPIN – Could you briefly describe your music-making process?
NEIL – Normally, I’ll write a song and then bring it into the studio, where Steve and I hone the dynamics to optimize the sound. We rehearse quite a bit, which makes all the difference.

RADIOSPIN – We hope we’re wrong, but i guess you aren’t able to live with what you earn with music by now: what’s your secondary occupation?
NEIL – I’m a scientist here in New York.
STEVE – My daytime occupation is twofold: commercial fisherman in the summertime and bartender throughout the rest of the year.

RADIOSPIN – You are now being considered for signing by RethinkPopMusic. Is this your first label? Why this one in particular?
NEIL – We’re very impressed with RethinkPopMusic’s business model: they book great shows for their artists and stay out of the recorded music aspect. This way, we can develop our fanbase and still maintain total control over our music. In searching for agencies, I was aghast at how poorly-run most of them were; RethinkPopMusic struck me as being run by intelligent, capable people.

RADIOSPIN – Are you interested in some other form of art besides music (painting, poetry/literature, film/video etc.)?
NEIL – I enjoy creating visual art, but I don’t do it often. Writing is something I’ve always been quite interested in, and hopefully one day I can do something with it. Music takes up most of my time right now, though.
STEVE – I’m also a martial artist (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai). I was an English Lit major in college and would like to delve deeper into writing later in my life. However, now is the time to help the Villains attain the success I know that we can achieve.

RADIOSPIN – radioSpin really liked “Admire” video: it is a nice stop-motion stuff. Who shot/directed it? Tell us something about it: where did you get the concept/inspiration? Did you shot it in one time or did you need to write all the stuff several times due to errors or bad timing?
NEIL – I shot that video while on vacation in Florida. Traditional music videos (with the band playing, and maybe some random shot of a pretty girl) don’t appeal to either of us. I really liked the notion of a drawing which sort of comes to life, and so I took a stack of printer paper and a few Sharpies and shot the video. It’s not properly stop motion: I had to play back the song at half speed while I recorded the video and then play back the video at twice speed; that’s why the end result looks like I’m writing really fast. The fun fact about it it’s that I had a sore back for two days after shooting the video, because of the weird angle I had to stand at!

RADIOSPIN – And now, let’s end playing a couple of games, now.

“FILL THE BLANKS”
- I wish I was [...]
STEVE – better than I am currently in all my endeavors.
- I wish I had [...]
STEVE – unlimited resources, so that I could help out all the marginalized people that greatly need it.
- I’d like to learn playing [...]
STEVE – piano well. I’m getting there, eventually!
- I’d like to play with [...]
STEVE – a drum duo with ?uestlove from The Roots.

“ONE OR ANOTHER”
- Beatles or Rolling Stones?
STEVE – Beatles. Though honestly, neither does it for me (blasphemy!)
- Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet?
STEVE – Duran Duran.
- Pavement or Sonic Youth?
STEVE – Sonic Youth.
- Nirvana or Pearl Jam?
STEVE – Pearl Jam.
- Prodigy or Chemical Brothers?
STEVE – Chemical Brothers.
- Apple or Microsoft?
STEVE – Apple (though they need to make iTunes available for android phones!).
- Pizza or Cheesburger?
STEVE – Pizza.
- Beer or Wine?
STEVE – Wine.