This week I had a chance to chat with Dustin and Dylan of Vine Street Vibes (VSV) to discuss their upcoming LP release Nebula. The Denver based group has been steadily gaining momentum with a growing fan base and the idea of making their shows into a more memorable event for their fans. They wan their shows to be something special, something more then just a normal show, but instead a spectacle that leaves the crowd longing for more.
Dylan Buddeke – Bass
Dustin Cross – Drums
How would you describe VSV to a listener who has never heard you before?
Dylan: I would say its like rhythmically driven groove music, with intrepid guitar and synth. Throw in a touch of brass too; I would say that is a general explanation of our sound.
VSV is about to start a small tour through the Midwest. The bands first real trek through states for tour dates, what’s the excitement like, and do you have any funny tour stories?
Dylan: We did some shows in California last year, but this is the first real voyage. We can’t wait to see what lies ahead. When we did those Cali shows, we were driving through Nevada and Dustin had just knocked out about 12 hours of driving so I decided to hop behind the wheel and give him a break. Everyone fell asleep except for Dustin and I, I was thinking, “I’m making great time!” I totally wasn’t paying attention to the gas and we ended up running out of gas in the middle of nowhere Nevada. We had to wait for about 2 hours for someone to show up with about 5 gallons of gas, which didn’t seem like nearly enough to get us to the next town. Once we got the van started back up again we were back to playing the same game twice wondering if we would run out of gas again or if we would make it to that little town. Luckily we made it to the next town, but it was certainly getting a little hairy.
Nebula releases this week, what was the recording process like and what can fans expect from the new album?
Dylan: Jason Cale recorded and mastered the album with us, and as far as the music you’ll be able to hear how much more cohesive we are as a group and how much we have turned our focus towards one major goal. The recording process was great; it gave us a second to focus on more then just the improvisational side of things, which is what we find ourselves working on the most. It gave us some time to focus on the structural parts of the song, really dive into each song and make it how we originally planed it to be.
Saturday VSV is having their album release party at Cervantes, what kind of preparation goes into an event like this?
Dustin: Saturday is going to basically be an accumulation of all of our work over the past year. About a year ago we started to go through a pretty serious growth phase, which kind of shifted the direction of our sound and where we are heading. Preparation for this event has been crazy. Getting everything in line with the venue, the supporting acts; some day we have been pulling our hair out just trying to get everything in line. Luckily, we finally got all of that locked in and we are good to go this weekend. Now its just becoming mentally prepared and getting all our music as tight as we want it to be. We are really trying to make it like of a show, but more of an event. We want to have live painters, and venders selling art, something for the fans to interact with while at the event. It makes you feel like more of production and that it’s a larger community feel to it. Bringing the large-scale festival feel into a smaller concert setting.
How much of a factor does Boomer, your light designer, play into the live show?
Dustin: Boomer is the man, we consider hi like a member of the band. He is actually our percussion players’ younger brother. His lights are incredible, and he is just now finally getting to a point where he has everything he needs to provide the show he envisions. He company Galaxy Light Designs does an incredible job, and we couldn’t be happier to have him apart of our team. He knows our music better then most people, and practices with us from time to time. His lights can really influence the improvisational side as well, if we are jamming and he tones the lights into a certain manner then it can absolutely have an impact on where that jam goes. He works just as hard, if not harder then us. He is the first one at the show and the last one to leave.
I have heard later this year VSV will be releasing a Grassroots hat, can you confirm the rumor?
Dylan: Yes! The hat is currently in production and luckily for us Steve Poling, who designs our album artwork, is the same designer working to make the hat. It’s going to be a very cohesive with our album, and we are excited to get it out. We couldn’t say enough nice things about the entire Grassroots crew, we have had so many friends work with Grassroots and it’s just a good feeling to work so closely with one of our sponsors. It’s so awesome to have them on our side. Those guys are all such professional and hard working individuals, but at the same time it’s people that you would feel comfortable going out and having a beer with. It’s not just business partners, but they are also friends.
What’s coming in 2016?
Dustin: A lot of new material. We are already in the beginning steps of writing and working on more new songs. We have our tour through the Midwest, and the only trivial part of the tour is whether of not our van, Lucille, will be able to make it through the whole trip.
As long as you remember to fill the gas tank, I’m sure you wont have any problems.
Both: HA! Yea we have her locked down to a science now so hopefully we should be okay!
Thank you guys so much for taking the time to talk to us. I had a great time talking and getting to know y’all just a little bit better.
Both: Dude, no problem. We don’t always have interviews that are this much fun or casual. Thank you again, we truly appreciate it.
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