VI ZA plays The Gaslamp in Long Beach Sept. 11
VI-ZA just came back from their UK tour and is bringing their folky, metal/rock sounds back home. VI-ZA plays the Gaslamp in Long Beach on Thurs, Sept. 11.
Heading to Sacramento for Aftershock Festival in Discovery Park, the band will play alongside groups such as AWOLNATION and Weezer just to name a few. VI-ZA has certainly proven worthy of entering this music scene.
The band currently released their newest album Aria available on CD, mp3 and Vinyl. The bands mixture of different sounds and elements really brings in a different and unique sound that is sure to catch your attention. VI-ZA is known to put on quite the performance full of energy and excitement!
OC Concert Guide spoke with the band to see what these local LA musicians are up too.
OCCG: You guys got back from being on tour in Europe. What was the experience like compared to playing shows in the US?
VI-ZA: Touring overseas is like being explorers in some ways for us. We’ve come across a lot of cities more than once and sometimes we visit a place for the first time and we let it sink in. But it’s different traveling when you live in a bus for weeks on end. There is a delicate orderliness to it all but also a rigor and endurance that comes with the territory. But in the end, getting on stage and playing is really something special.
It’s been 4 years of Europe and UK shows, and we’ve learned so much on the road, especially when we opened for Serj (Tankien of System of a Down). We actually just got back from Download in the UK, which was really awesome. Playing here is fun too – we did some dates with Gogol Bordello in the Midwest a year ago, which was a great experience for us, especially playing with such a fun band with some folk influences that we share in some ways. And we just did the UK with Skindred earlier this year – and we will say, being overseas has a different energy and power, it might be because modern “alternative” pop music hasn’t taken over as much in Europe and rock is still quite strong and present – so the scene is a little different there than here in the states. Regardless, at the end of the day, we love to play wherever we can and to make new fans.
OCCG: Looks like you guys have quite the production team, what was recording the album like?
VI-ZA: Amazing. By recording our last album “Aria” at Swinghouse Studios we had the chance to team up with Warren Huart, who’s worked with Aerosmith and the Fray and tons of other great artists. The songs on “Aria” were a continued evolution of our songwriting process and growth, and we had lots of contributions from all our members for a pretty cool mosaic of sound. It was a fun and intensive process, especially as we integrated it into a really successful Kickstarter campaign, where we raised over $32,000 to help with album and tour costs. That was honestly the most inspiring part of the whole thing, because so many people came out of the woodwork and elevated us through their passion and support – it was really incredible for us.
OCCG: Being local LA musicians, there is quite the competition out here when it comes to music, what have you done to stand out and get yourselves noticed?
VI-ZA: That’s true, there are so many great bands and musicians out there working hard and trying to get ahead. It kind of makes the atmosphere a little charged but in a good way where we are proud to work alongside our peers by putting ourselves out there playing shows and hustling. It makes us want to push harder and work to share more actually. So from that angle, being in LA for music is a cool thing for us. In terms of standing out, it’s not like we go out there trying to do that really – but just simply from our instrumentation, which features the our and lots of folk percussion, and our melodies and sounds that we produce, we just do some things that typical music fans don’t usually run into all the time on a regular basis… and not to mention, this is all natural for us and part of our upbringings. All our members have a variety of influences in their past, depending on our birthplaces, the instruments we played and the music we listened to, etc.
We use an Oud in our songs a lot because it was the quintessential Armenian instrument in a community that valued preservation of art after the Armenian Genocide as a way of honoring history. Most of our families have been in the states for about 100 or so years, so being pretty Americanized, most of us have the influences quintessential American rock, metal and pop music, and also creating a canvas on which to explore some pretty daring ideas and fusions of sound.
OCCG: Your album also came out on vinyl, what is your take on vinyl; do you prefer it over CD/mp3?
VI-ZA: We did a vinyl edition of “Aria” as part of our kickstarter packages that we offered. It was a way to include something a little different for supporters and fans; especially folks that enjoy and appreciate the vintage feel and should of vinyl. We thought it would be cool to print on vinyl as we had never done that before, and it was a cool way to add some variety to our packages. Now that the campaign ended, we are still offering vinyl as it kind of took off and fans are digging it.
When it comes to CD and MP3, we print everything we do on CD for touring purposes and for fans to be able to still retain a little bit of what the internet killed off in terms of experiencing meeting and feeling the artist. In terms of MP3s we recently did a free download of “Alabama Song” by the Doors, which was an interesting cover and our take on a great classic – turns out the Doors covered it too which we didn’t even know until researching the song…
OCCG: How do you manage your personal time with your music?
VI-ZA: It can be challenging, but everything worthwhile in life is right? We all dedicate a lot of time and love to our music – where we enjoy it as producing and creating art, but also as an understanding that it takes hard work and hustle just like trying to succeed in any other field.
OCCG: What would you say is your favorite local venue to play at?
VI-ZA: The Viper Room has a great feel to it and so does the Troubadour.
OCCG: How much time does the band spend together?
VI-ZA: When we’re on tour, all day every day haha! Kidding aside we rehearse usually 3 times per week just to keep our juices flowing and to be sharp and in the mode, both for preparing for shows and also for writing music. Given that we are all in LA and have lots of the same friends, it’s kind of hard to escape from each other
OCCG: You will be playing Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, alongside some of the biggest bands – what are you most excited for?
VI-ZA: We’re really looking forward to it. It’s kind of like when we were at Download earlier this summer – we had a chance to be around and see bands perform that we grew up listening to and also bands that are really currently active and on the rise. So this festival is a nice mix of both. We’re looking forward to AWOLNATION, Godsmack and Weezer’s performances as well as ours of course!