BAND: The Vincent Black Shadow
INTERVIEWER: Liz Wise (Liz@bandvibe.com)
INTERVIEWEE: Rob, Anthony (Tony), and Chris Kirkham
DATE OF INTERVIEW: 07.23.06
BAND MEMBERS:
Cassandra Ford - Vocals
Rob Kirkham - Guitars
Anthony Kirkham - Drums
Chris Kirkham – Bass
BV: Is this your first Warped tour?
Rob: Yeah, this is the first one.
Chris: It’s virgin territory for us.
BV: How does it feel to be a part of this many bands? What do you think sets you apart from other bands on Warped Tour?
Tony: Well we sound very different from most bands on the tour, mainly because we don’t have that emo screamo vibe to us. Well, Cassie does a scream but it’s more like out of frustration.
Rob: We sound more like polka, a punk polka.
Tony: No we don’t…
Chris: I think it’s just such intense volume now. You’ve got to wear earplugs just walking around out here. There are so many stages.
Tony: There are a lot more small stages now. And now I think that those smaller stages are getting more attention. A lot more people go looking around at those stages now, even if to get away from the giant crowds at the main stages.
BV: Do you enjoy touring?
Tony: Absolutely. We’re one of the only bands that’s on the whole tour.
Chris: Just not with each other (laughs). We’re brothers. We stay at opposite ends of the bus.
Tony: You get to pick up new fans and meet new bands, steal those band’s fans. I mean this bus is nicer then my apartment back home.
BV: Is it better to tour on your own or as part of a festival as this?
Chris: At this point yes. For a new band especially. While people are waiting to see the band they really came to see they might stop and check us out, or any of the lesser known bands. It’s good exposure.
BV: Where’s the most interesting place you’ve been on tour?
Tony: Maybe Vienna.
Chris: That room waiting to get across the border.
Rob: I can’t think of anything so I’ve got to say the one time we just stopped and set up on the side of the freeway. That was great. There were all these people driving by staring, but some actually parked.
Chris: That’s not actually true. Don’t listen to him.
BV: Any great stories from the tour so far?
Chris: Sometimes you’ll have this rogue group of Indians come at you.
BV: Any plans for after Warped Tour?
Rob: Touring more to promote the album. It just came out on July 11th.
Chris: More and more touring. The Warped tour was actually sort of a promotion or the album. It just came out and we’ve been on the whole tour.
BV: Are you guys with a record label right now?
Rob: They’re called Bodog records.
BV: How hard was it to find a label?
Chris: That’s the funny thing, we never really looked.
Rob: Have you heard of Biff Naked? She’s big in Canada. We gave some stuff to her. Then her dog ended up biting the head of Bodog Records, Rikki Zazula, on the ankle. Then his company bought out HRM, our label at the time, and there you go.
Tony: It’s still a long process though.
BV: How did the current line-up come together?
Rob: Well I already had a lot of the songs written. I’m lazy… So I just walked downstairs and asked my brothers. Then Cassie joined us.
BV: Do you have any advice for bands getting started?
Tony: Work hard on your songs you know. Don’t go to the dance without any moves. Have a product that you have so much faith in that you’re willing to do everything and anything for it cause you’re going to have to. You’re going to have to be broke, be tired. Have stamina to get through this type of stuff.
BV: So what’s your writing style? I know that some bands write when they’re forced to before an album and others just consider it an all the time process.
Chris: The way I think of it is that you’ve got your whole life to record your first album. Right now the creative time in my brain is about 3 minutes a day. Usually you’re touring so much with your first album that when it comes to the second one you’re thinking, “Uh, ok…” I think we still have a lot of material from the first album.
Tony: It should be no problem if that’s something you want to do. Why should it be hard if that’s your next job after touring? If you’re a creative person it should come easy.
Rob: Then again though, you can’t rush creativity. Just walk around here today and you can see why certain songs get rushed. Some bands have 5 or 6 albums and they all sound the same. They just kept churning it out. It’s hard to write a good song. For every good song someone writes there might be 20 bad ones.
Chris: You can’t force the creative process and I don’t think we did.
Tony: Still, you have to force yourself sometimes- just do it.
BV: So then are you your own influences?
Chris: (Laughs) We are.
BV: Anyone else?
Rob: Well it’s different with each of us. There is some common ground. Our father’s a concert symphony musician and our mom was obsessed with the ‘50s scene. That’s what we were raised on. I really like Faith No More and Blondie, some Bert Backarack.
Chris: I listen to mostly punk but I also like Billie Holiday, Elvis, Roy Orbison.
Tony: I wear it on my arm (shows tattoo). I like Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden, all the So Cal punk.
BV: Who are your favorite bands of the moment? Who’s in your CD player?
Rob: Peeping Tom
Chris: I’ve gotten into NOFX. A lot of other Warped Tour bands.
BV: What would you like to tell your fans?
Chris: Buy our CD, come to shows.
Tony: Put bands to the test, be a militia for change.
BV: What is one question you would ask yourself in an interview? Answer…
Tony: “Have you heard your record’s gone platinum?”
Chris: “Who would you record with if you could?”
BV: Alright, who would you record with?
Rob: I’d say Mike Patton (Faith No More).
Chris: Danzig, if he didn’t kick my ass.
For more information on The Vincent Black Shadow, log onto:
+http://www.bodogmusic.com/tvbs
+http://www.myspace.com/tvbs
+http://www.hrmrecords.com/vbs/
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