New Jersey based post-everything band will be releasing their sophomore collection on July 23rd. The album is called Life In Cycles and they have been very gracious to allow me to stream a track from the release here on the Fade To Yellow blog. While I thought that was amazing in its own right, we really went one better and also got an exclusive interview with the band.
Press play and listen to the track while you find out everything you ever wanted to know about this fine band.
And if that isn’t enough, you can then hit the link at the end of the interview and that will take you to their first release, which is free to download on Bandcamp.
TUXFORD FALL
FTY : Can you tell me about the members of Vasudeva and how did the band get it’s name?
We’re all ages 21-23. Not too much to know other than we grew up together our whole lives and are best friends. We got the name from a book we read in high school called Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Vasudeva is a ferryman in the book who talks rarely and listens intently.
FTY : How did the band meet?
Derek grew up across the street from Chris in one town, Corey grew up across the street from Grant in the town over. Corey and Derek played in a band in middle school and then when that ended we kept jamming and added Grant and Chris in the mix.
FTY : For someone who didn’t know your music, how would you describe your sound?
Its like pistachio ice cream, cause you haven’t tried it but you should.
FTY : You are just about to release your second record, can you tell me what it is called and when the actual release date is?
The record is called Life in Cycles and will be released July 23rd, 2013. We’ve been working on it for a year with a good friend by the name Kevin Dye of the band Gates. We recorded the whole the thing ourselves in different spots of all of our houses.
FTY : How do you go about the writing the music, do you start at the beginning of the song? is there one person who does the writing or is it a collective process? and then how do you then go about putting titles on the songs?
Our process is very collective. It starts with one idea from someone being brought to the table, then we all add our own style and flavor to whatever the idea at hand is until we’re all happy with the direction that it’s going in. The song will probably have 3 or 4 different forms before we’re done with it. Names normally come from what was happening in our lives around the time it was written, what it makes us think of, or just something random we think fits the overall theme and mood of the song.
FTY : How often do you play live and are there any plans on doing any tours in 2013 to promote the new release?
We play live fairly often. This year we’ve probably played close to 45 shows already, touring to the midwest and up to Canada for the first time. We have a tour coinciding with the release of our record. It’s a month long tour with a band from Montreal called Gulfer. We’re going to to Canada for a week and then playing around mid/eastern USA for the duration.
July 25 – Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo
July 26 – Peterborough, ON @ Artspace
July 27 – Toronto, ON @ Sterling Lofts
July 28 – Kitchener, ON @ Indigo Plateau
July 29 – London, ON @ Castle Empress
July 30 – Windsor, ON @ Coach and Horses
July 31 – Detroit, MI @ TBA
Aug 1 – Kalamazoo, MI @ The Courthouse
Aug 2 – Milwaukee, WI @ TBA
Aug 3 – Chicago, IL @ GnarFest
Aug 4 – Chesterton, IN @ The Sound Cellar
Aug 5 – Fort Wayne, IN @ TBA
Aug 6 – Cincinnati, OH @ Southgate House Revival
Aug 7 – Columbus, OH @ The Summit
Aug 8 – Pittsburgh, PA @ TBA
Aug 9 – Rochester, NY @ Space Paul’s
Aug 10 – Ithaca, NY @ Ithaca Underground
Aug 11 – Philly, PA @ Hong Kong Gardens
Aug 12 – Virginia Beach, VA @ That’s How I Beat Shaq
Aug 13 – Baltimore, MD @ Charm City Art Space
Aug 14 – New Brunswick, NJ @ The Court Tavern
Aug 15 – Brooklyn, NY @ St. Vitus
Aug 16 – Hamden, CT @ The Space
Aug 17 – Northampton, MA @ The Elevens
Aug 18 – Cambridge, MA @ Cambridge Elks Lodge
Aug 19 – Portland, ME @ Geno’s Rock Club
Aug 20 – Burlington, VT @ Monkey House
FTY : Who or what influences you to do what you do?
A lot of things. Friends and family, our daily lives.
FTY : How do you promote yourself, are you using Social media and to what extent and how successful is that media to the success of the band?
The internet and playing shows has lead us to meet some of our best friends. Without the internet now a days it’s difficult to get the word out about your band and your next endeavors. We use all the typical sites for that and it really does help a significant amount. We’ve met tons of friends over the internet who have helped us in numerous ways in different parts of the country.
FTY : If you could collaborate with any artist/band, who would it be and why?
Sougwen Chung for artwork
Brian Eno for production
Toe to record a split with
Kevin Dye to sing on one of our tracks
FTY : What was the last piece of music that you guys listened to?
A lot of random stuff in the van, different things for everybody.
FTY : What does the future hold for Vasudeva?
More records more shows more traveling more attempts at pushing ourselves musically and artistically
FADE TO YELLOW 