interview with The Vth Circle
Have any of you played in other bands? Yes, we've all played in other bands. Some more than others, both guitarists been playing in bands since our early 20's.
How is it that you started playing music? We all came together around some original members and a love for making music and slowly began writing more and more original music, focusing on our sound and playing shows.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Dave Keske guitar
Mike Watson guitar
Jordan Kinicki, vocals
Colin Sellers, bass
Ramil Abad, drums
Have you had other previous members? Yes, alot!
Did you make music even when you were young? Yes, my dad used to teach piano and i began learning at a very young age. Started playing guitar around 14 and started playing in bands around 23-24
Where are you from? 3 of us are from western Canada, one from eastern Canada and our drummer is from the Phillipines.
What year did the band form? Around 2011
What's your style of genre? Hard to say, we've been labelled groove metal and melodic death metal. I don't really know what our subgenre would be as we play music that fuses a lot of styles.
What inspires you? Original music, from whatever genre. Something out of the ordinary, something that separates itself or sounds weird or not quite right. There's nothing worse than generic cookie cutter bands.
How often and where do you reherse? Depends what we've got going on. Usually we meet at least once a week in New West BC. If we have shows or tours, we practice a lot more frequently
How have you developed since you started with the music?Our band has steadily developed through the years. The music has evolved and so have we. We always strive to write new and more interesting music all the time and continue updating ourselves
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? 3 of us our chefs, ones a longshoreman, one manages a berry farm. We all work full time
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Always looking for outside help, as long as it works in our favour. Too many people are out there trying to dig gold from rock and roll and too many young artists fall into bad deals. Ya gotta be careful and it's gotta work for you.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that?Label would be nice for distribution and promotional purposes. These days its DIY anyway and you can't really rely on other people for very much, you really have to do it all yourself and get successful before you'll even be noticed. And even when you are, its not always worth it.
What made you decide to make this music? I wanted to make the music i hear in my head and the music I want to hear more of.
What are your songs about? Usually about the challenges of being in the modern world. Struggling to understand the world we've made for ourselves as a species.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Both guitar players write most of the music, vocalist writes his own lyrics.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics?Usually the music. It's a lot easier that way.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Mainly we write in our rehearsal space, but i write a lot of riffs and ideas in my home studio.
Have you done any covers live? Yes, we've covered a few Sepultura songs in the past and a Deftones cover
What language do you sing in? English
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? I think we played in front of about 3 people to around 80-90.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? 20s-30s
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We always vary them however we have a list of around 8 or 9 we frequently play.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? We have a few spots in town, however we don't play any one of them more than another, so not really.
What was your first gig like? Nervous but awesome! you never forget your first time on stage.
What was your latest gig? Last gig was may 29 in Kelowna BC
Have you had to cancel a gig? Not yet, however we've turned down a lot.
Where have you played live this year?All over western Canada. Vancouver, Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, Calgary, Lethbridge, Edmonton, Prince George
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? Unsure yet. No plans till fall at least.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We started 2016. We have 5 t-shirt designs including womens cuts, stickers, patches, drop cards and CDs.
Where can people buy your merchandise? From us personally or from our website, www.thevthcircle.com
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? I do both and I love both, however Prefer collecting vintage vinyl over cd's. I love how spotify has changed the music landscape however i don't like how musicians still aren't getting paid a fair share. I prefer to give music out for free and sell things as "value added" and more importantly promote live shows and merchandise.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? I think the biggest thing that's changed is people are now not expecting to make money off the recorded music itself. The recordings are more a promotional tool than anything and the only real money to make is in live shows, merchandising and liscensing to film/video etc. because of this, the big studios aren't as busy anymore and a lot more music is produced DIY at people's homes. I love this aspect of it because literally anyone can create, promote and market a record they've made themselves and retain full ownership of.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? I always take inspiration from whats been done in the past. It's hard to judge the flavours of the day because you never know what will last and what is just another fad. That being said, i love listening to modern metal bands and trying to get an idea of what they're about and using it to help me grow
What have been your biggest obstacles? Finding and keeping hard working, dedicated members
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Don't give up and don't stop believing in yourself. If you think you've hit the top, there's probably a lot more room to grow. Don't get complacent or else your fans will too
How can people reach you?
www.thevthcircle.com
twitter: @thevthcircle
spotify/apple music/google play: The Vth Circle
What are your plans for the future? Record our full length and tour
