VESTIBULE INTERVIEW 2013

First of all let’s get the annoying one out of the way – why ‘Vestibule’?

Hector: Adam came up with the name from a sign on a train that said “Don’t ride in vestibule while train is in motion” ... For me though, the name has a profound meaning. I think its a great name to describe what life is like. A room before another room. A life before another life. It rang true to something inside me, so I voted to keep the name. I’m sure we all have our own reasons why we chose it though.

How did the band get together?

Hector: Well, Greg and I were in the same Jazz class in high school. I had asked him to play drums for my first band that would eventually become “Sons of Liberty”, but I don’t think his parents liked the idea, so it didn’t work out. 3 or 4 years later (2007) Greg got ahold of me over some social network and asked me to play guitar for a Jazz project he was working on called “Steel Groove” and Cody was already playing bass for them.

The project seemed to fall through, but the plans for a prog rock band were already in the making. After going through different bassists and guitarists, we decided to call Cody back up. We jammed with a couple different guitarists for a while, and then finally in April of 2008, Greg suggested we bring Adam on board. We both knew Adam for a long time, and apparently he had gotten his guitar skills through the roof. So I was like “sure why not?”. We clicked so well on our first practice that it was settled that night. Through our evolution though, the whole prog rock thing turned into a prog-punk kinda thing with hints of all the other music we love.

You’ve hit on a very interesting sound, with elements of Punkish aggression and Prog flavoured sounds – wasn’t Punk meant to kill Prog?

Cody: I don't think Punk was specifically targeted at New Wave, I think it was more of a spray-fire against everything. At the same time, it's important to remember that when DEVO got jumped onstage at CBGB's they held their own. I think they even finished the show.

Hector: I never really cared much about why punk was created. I just knew I loved it the second I heard it. Although I sported a Mohawk, chains and ripped Jinco jeans for most of my childhood (as well as a juvenile record towards the end), I stayed true to my own interests (which included classical, jazz, and latin music). So prog just seemed like a natural progression as I matured as an artist.

Are you big fans of each genre? What sort of bands do you listen to from that period and love?

Cody: Since Vestibule has started I have definitely fallen out of love with "Prog" and gotten deeper in to punk. Some bands I am listening to now are Pussy Galore, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Butthole Surfers. At the same time I have been digging on prog/alt bands from that era like DEVO and Talking Heads.

Hector: I’m more of a 80s and 90s punk fan. Love Bad Brains... Sublime, Pennywise, Bad Religion, NOFX, Drop Kick Murphys, Flogging Molly just to name a few...(I’ve seen all those guys live except Sublime because Bradley died the year I started listening to them) hmmm Minor Threat, Authority Zero... I could go on and on.

What does the title of the album ‘Through the Surface’ mean to you?

Hector: For me, its describes perfectly where we were in our lives as a band. During the recording process we really got to peer into the world of the music industry for the first time. We broke that barrier, so to speak.

Opener ‘Astray’ has a real punk sound and ‘September Skies’ has a similar energy I bet they are fun to play live?

Hector: They ARE fun to play live, but they’re both pretty rough on my vocals. On a good night we will play both, but if my voice is tired, we’ll usually only play one or the other.

There’s a real cool underground almost English Punk vibe there too, has anyone else picked up on that and is it intentional? (or am I hearing things!)

Hector: The English Punk feel definitely wasn’t intentional haha. We were really surprised when people compared us to The Clash and The Police. So I guess you’re not hearing things! I kinda love the fact that people hear that in our music though, because I admire that “underground” vibe.

Then you have the other side of the band on tracks like ‘The Longing’ which slows things down into almost trance-like groove that really smacks of what we’d call Prog. Am I reading too much into these things – are you just a bunch of guys writing songs or are you trying to create a mood?

Hector: ‘The Longing” was definitely written as a concept song. It has a very odd time signature and the lyrics (even the way I sang it) try to express what its like to truly miss someone you know you’ll probably never get back together with. I’d like to think its our most “theatrical” song. We definitely are a bunch of guys writing songs, but we also most certainly try to create moods.

The softer sound of ‘Lucid Dreams’ opens up a far more complex and interesting sound, you somehow seem to manage to meld a nice dense sound with energy and fun?

Hector: I wrote Lucid Dreams as kind of a tribute to my favourite childhood bands. (Sublime, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Radiohead). So I guess that’s why it has that fun yet complex feel. I think it has a very 80s vibe.

‘Forget the Hour’ I guess is the last part of the puzzle – it starts off a more traditional hard rock song but has a real alt-rock vibe. I think it’s our favourite. Tell us a little about that one?

Hector: I think that ‘Forget the Hour’ is also my favourite. It’s just so intense and fun to sing. I thought it would be a great way to wrap up the album because the lyrics are about seeing “through the surface” of our reality and realising that time is just an illusion.

Musically it blends hard rock, punk, metal and a little bit of electronica. (The kick is synth and we use digital effects in the background of the verses), this is another reason I really dig the song... Also we discovered a hidden message in the noise at the very end. All it was just supposed to be was a distortion loop, but we think some extra-dimensional being must have wanted to be part of the track haha... We seriously didn’t put the message in. It’s just there. Listen carefully... It sounds like a heart beat, but it also says “I love you” repeatedly. We got chills when we first realised that.

If you had to create a name for a genre that you could be placed in what would it be?

Hector: Prog-Punk? I really don’t know heh

What can fans expect from a Vestibule live show?

Hector: A really good time ;)

Who would be your ideal touring partners?

Hector: Hmm I’d say Foo Fighters, Incubus, The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria. Id say we’d fit on Warped Tour pretty well too.

What sort of collective influences have and where do you think your sound will eventually take you?

Hector: Collectively I’d say we are influenced by modern Alternative Rock bands like Incubus, Kings of Leon and Foo Fighters. Also Radiohead and The Mars Volta... Coheed and Cambria. All sorts of jazz, punk and classical too...

We take everything one step at a time... Right now our sound is going towards a more Alternative Rock flavour, and I think we’ve definitely matured a lot (musically and lyrically) since we first started recording “through_the_surface”. We have so much new material that we’re sifting through for the next album. It can go in a couple different directions. We still have plenty of prog and punk flowing in our veins.

If you could have been a fly on the wall at any recording session in the history of music what would it have been and why?

Cody: Uncle Meat by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, because I have no idea how they were able to accomplish that album with the almost nonexistent budget and extremely limited technology they had at that time.

Hector: Deloused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta. Just because its probably the best prog album I’ve ever heard.

What is the meaning of life?

Hector: Life is but a dream ;)