The Vaudeville Smash
The Vaudeville Smash are one of the most exciting bands on the Melbourne music scene, I’ve been a fan of their music for years and their debut album Dancing For The Girl is finally coming out. So Marc the front man answers my questions. So read on,
http://www.vaudevillesmash.com/
1. How do you think touring has helped the band and why you are getting good shows and loads of fans?
Touring helps the band in a number of ways. First and foremost, it means we play a whole bunch of shows in an extremely short amount of time, which makes us tighter and lets the songs evolve. Secondly, it makes you play to a bunch of new people – future fans – that have never heard you before. This in turn makes FB and twitter fans, which helps spread the word even more.
We’re getting good shows and loads of fans because we’re a really good live band that put on a killer live show and love what they do. We’re entertainers who feel our job isn’t done unless people leave the show happy. We like making people happy.
2. From all your years of playing are you happy to finally being able to play overseas and getting good responses?
Absolutely. It’s one of the main reasons I wanted to be in a successful band. Travel the world doing the thing you love.
3. How is the album different from the earlier releases?
We spent a lot more time on it. A lot more layers – instruments, harmonies and ideas. Our first couple of EPs were basically us in a studio slamming down a live rhythm track and chucking some vocals and a few extra guitar parts on top. We were going for that ‘live’ vibe. We’ve taken our time with this one – it’s taken over a year to make. It also has some darker moments. Our earlier releases were pretty Sunshine.
4. How often does the songwriting process change when writing music?
The short answer is: quite often. Dan (drummer) and I are the main song writers and we’ll usually come to one another with an idea, work on it and then bring it to the band for fleshing out. However, there are a few of the songs on the album that we co – wrote with my sister. Other songs have come to rehearsal pretty much fully completed by one person with no need to change much. Other songs evolve over time at gigs and others change immensely when we go to record them.
5. Where do the songwriting ideas for the songs come from?
Lyrically, a lot of songs are about being young and the passage of Time. ‘Dancing For The Girl’ is about that time when you just started going out and thought you were invincible. We sing about love and life and weird things like Ghouls and Sailor Moon. We also have a couple of songs on the album about nights we had a little ‘too’ much fun.
6. What was the inspiration behind the video clip Look At Me and why film it at the Brunswick hotel?
Look At Me is a song about wanting to be loved. I’m sorta paying myself out. I think it describes the lengths people take to be noticed, like… Karaoke. We had this quirky little Karaoke bar in China Town sorted out and at the last minute they cancelled on us. Luckily the Brunny was there to save us!
7. How important is connecting with your fans?
Extremely. Without them we’d be playing to empty rooms or at home in the shed. We appreciate every fan that comes to watch us and take no show for granted. It’s an absolute honour to think that people give up their Saturday nights and hard earned cash to see us play and sing our songs. We also make every effort to reply to emails and FB messages. This is also really important. It shows the fans we care… We do!
8. Do you have any special surprises in store for your album launch at the corner?
OOOOO yes we do. How does a 10 man choir singing the epic part to our song Sailor Moon sound? We’ll also have some extra horns, percussion and strings. It’s gonna be HUGE!
9. Do you think the Internet has made it harder for bands to stand out?
That’s a really good question and one I’ve discussed at length with my muss buddies. There’s definitely been over saturation since the internet has become a force. I think it’s easy to get lost. However, if you’re good (and have a bit of luck), the internet can spread the word like no poster or street magazine on earth. We rely pretty heavily on Facebook and emails to plug our gigs.
10. What does 2013 mean for you?
It’s already meant so much! We’ve released our debut album, toured the USA and Canada for SxSW and CMW, just come back from Singapore for the Music Matters Live conference and will tour Australia in June. We then head to Sapporo Jazz in Japan in August and plan to tour there and then return to Singapore. We want to release another single and film clip before then and, come the end of the year, start work on another album. I think 2013 is THE YEAR OF THE SMASH!
