Interviews
Dave Fendick from Vib Gyor talks to Britsound
Interview with Dave Fendick from Vib Gyor, September 2007. Rob Quicke and Kevin Baxter talk to the lead singer of Vib Gyor on the success of their first ever American tour.
Rob Quicke: Welcome back. How did your first tour of America go?
Dave Fendick: It was amazing. I think it was a lot better than we even imagined, to be honest. It was down to a couple of things really: the band we toured with - Transfer - they were just the most down to earth, friendly, helpful guys I think we have ever toured with. And then the support as well: all the fans we met over there, they blew us away. We weren’t really aware of how popular we were or what kind of fanbase we had over there in America. It just completely exceeded our expectations on every level - the whole tour.
RQ: So, in terms of awareness, did people have your music? Were they aware of Vib Gyor before you went? How did they know about you?
DF: I guess most of it must have been through either MySpace or the air play that we have on things like KROQ. In certain places, there were more people singing along to words and stuff. A good example was in Seattle, because we have had a lot of air play on KEXP. It was just weird. I mean, for example, Fallen, you know, when Jonny started playing that riff from Fallen, all the crowd were going mad and people were singing. I was looking out at the crowd and people were singing the words. And that doesn’t happen in England - that doesn’t even happen in Leeds. Well, it might happen in Leeds where we are from but if you go 20 minutes down the road or you go to Manchester or Liverpool or somewhere like that, a couple of people might know the songs but not like the whole crowd singing along. It was really weird.
RQ: And that was obviously because the radio station was playing the song a lot, don’t you think, and people getting used to it so people recognized it instantly?
DF: Yeah, exactly. We haven’t really done a lot of promotion or anything over there in America and it just really blew us away.
RQ: So you played San Diego, San Francisco, Portland - you played 10 dates in all. By the time the tour had finished, how would you say you had done?
DF: I would say without a doubt that it was the best tour we’ve ever done and I would say there were two of the best five gigs of our career - and that’s including playing Glastonbury and the Leeds Festival. I would probably say of those five dates, three of them were in America. It was just amazing.
RQ: Last time I interviewed you - which was way back - you said that American audiences seem to get your music a lot more easily than perhaps UK audiences: did you definitely see that for your own eyes then?
DF: Yeah, just the whole kind of vibe as well for a gig in America. Not necessarily us but we went and saw a couple of bands. We met up with a band called Forward Russia who are over there who are from Leeds. We met them in Seattle and they were saying it as well. Just the whole crowd; it’s a lot more open and I suppose a lot more like a party atmosphere, especially down to our experiences - from what we saw over there. It just makes a much better night; I can’t really put it in words. The whole sort of vibe was so much better over there.
Kevin Baxter: Being slated as our British Band Most Likely to Succeed in 2007, do you kind of feel any pressure to meet those expectations?
DF: Not really, no, to be honest. We’ve got a career path and we know what we want to do and the route we want to take. We’ve got a strong belief in what we’re doing and where we are going. At the moment, there is certain stuff which I would love to talk about but I can’t, which is sort of bubbling under - not just in England but in America as well. We had a lot of great meetings in LA the last week we were there. If things go the way they look they are going to go, then we are going to be very happy and we are going to make some great strides forward. So to answer your question: no, I don’t feel any pressure on us at all as a band.
RQ: You must feel though that you are edging closer to that big breakthrough. What’s the next step in terms of your releases? What are you going to do?
DF: Well, it’s hard for me to say 100 per cent exactly what we are definitely going to do because obviously there is some stuff that has got to be signed on the dotted line before I can say exactly, but it looks like - and obviously this is not 100 per cent - but it looks about 90 per cent certain that we are going to release Tiny Daggers as an EP in November/December time which will follow on with an album in… it’s hard to say! That looks like what the plan is going to be.
KB: How instrumental do you see the Internet as being to your future success?
DF: I think it is really important and I think that maybe five or 10 years ago, it would have been impossible for any band to break through. If I hear the name of a band now...somebody was talking to me in America about Patrick Watson and within five minutes I am on YouTube watching his videos and I went into his MySpace and listened to his stuff, so it’s really important. It stops people being told what to listen to by people on the radio stations which is very common in England. There are probably 10 acts over here that get heavy rotation on Radio 1. If you really are passionate about music and you want to find out more, then within a few clicks you can...normally, to me, I would say YouTube and MySpace are the two sites that I will go and check out if someone name checks me an album or name checks me a band. I think it is essential these days and I think it is going to completely knock everything sideways, I think, in the next year.
RQ: Obviously, people who have been interested and have been fans of you for a long time now, everybody is waiting - including us at Britsound - we are waiting for the debut album. What are your feelings about that? Do you know exactly what you want to do? Will you use previous material or do you think you will just start all over again?
DF: We’ve got a pretty good idea what the album is going to be. At least eight of the tracks...I would say Tiny Daggers, Red Lights, Fallen, Church Bell - all these songs are going to be 100 per cent on that album - and probably a few more that I can’t think off the top of my head that will be. But I would say as a band - if we had to say 10 songs each that wanted to go on the album, we’d all agree on a certain eight and there are a couple of other songs that we are sort of in the middle of finishing. I couldn’t not put them out on an album because obviously I would want them to get to larger appeal. You need the weight of an established record label or...unfortunately, you do need that or you need some sort of financial backing to get stuff out to a wider audience and I definitely feel our songs should be heard by more people.
RQ: Obviously when you come to recording the album, you’ve got a lot of songs that you have written so far that you could really pick from.
DF: Yes.
RQ: Then you go into the studio with a big budget to re-record the chosen songs that you are going to do. Some of your earlier demos and your EPs presumably haven’t had that massive budget behind them but they sound phenomenal anyway.
DF: Those first EPs - if you heard any of the early EPs that weren’t released - they were all done on QBase in our little studio. I mean, Zane plays guitars and keyboards in the band but he is responsible a lot for the production on that. For example, some people have said to us they prefer the earlier demos of Fallen that we did to the one that we did in Parr Street.
RQ: Why?
DF: I don’t know. I suppose a lot of the time we have longer to do it. That first demo of Fallen probably took us a couple of weeks to do and if we weren’t happy with something we would go back. Jonny might tweak a guitar bit or I might think I’m not happy with a certain part of the melody and things like that. Whereas obviously in Parr Street, it’s a top of the range, really expensive studio
RQ: And you’re paying by the hour.
DF: Yeah, you’re paying by the hour and you’ve got to go in there and deliver and do a job. What we all want to do when we record the album is obviously get the right balance.
KB: You were speaking about how important the Internet was to reaching that broader audience and I just wonder at this point in your career, what are your personal feelings about your audience members using the Internet to download your music - possibly for free?
DF: Personally, I don’t mind it. A lot of the time we put songs on MySpace to download anyway and someone sent me an e-mail the other day saying that the Insomnia EP, which was the very first thing that we did - it was five demos that we did in Zane’s house - it’s up on eMule; you can get it on eMule - it’s wrapped up in a RA file and all that kind of thing. To me, that’s quite cool, especially stuff like that, early demos and things like that that you can’t buy. Obviously it helps us get a wider audience. If someone name checks me a band and I haven’t heard of them, I might go and download the odd track off the Internet free and check them out. But if I like them...it’s just like going back to this guy Patrick Watson I’ve just heard. If I really like them, then I will make the effort and support them, especially if they are on a small label, I will go and make the point of downloading their album off iTunes or something like that and pay for it and support them. I can understand people wanting to try something before they buy it. So in that respect, I’m not going to turn into a Lars Ulrich and take you all to court. I think that is a bit over the top!
RQ: But how do feel about record companies where the deals that they give are purely for on-line releases? There will never be a CD for people to buy in the shops. Is that something you could see Vib Gyor doing?
DF: I don’t think so, although saying that someone was saying to me that Radiohead was thinking of doing that. But the way I see it at the moment, it seems that most bands now make a living mostly, so to speak, through touring and merchandise and things like that. This is what the labels that we have spoke to recently have been saying to us. The way the Internet is working at the moment, bands making money from CD sales like they used to is practically on the way out. If that is the case, then obviously it would be a good thing for people to download and listen to music through the Internet and things like that. Where I get my kicks as a singer and as a writer - I found out in America - is going over there and playing to a sell-out crowd and everyone is singing along. That’s why I am in a band; it’s not to scrape every single penny and deprive people of hearing my music for the sake of 79p off iTunes or whatever it costs these days to download a track. But then you’ve got to appreciate that artists have got to make a living as well. It’s a hard one; it’s a bit of juggling act but I don’t go mad if I hear that someone’s downloaded a couple of tracks off Limewire or whatever.
KB: What do you have in your CD player right now?
DF: Well, I’m listening to Patrick Watson. Somebody sent me a track called Luscious Life and I went and checked that out and watched a video on YouTube and that totally blew me away. I was just going to bring up my iTunes actually.
RQ: Go on then!
DF: Here’s what I’ve been listening to…… [pause as he finds his iPod]
RQ: Give us a little insight.
DF: Someone told me about a band called The Album Leaf in San Diego which I am just checking out and a guy called Jacob Golden; he’s got an album out called Revenge Songs which someone told me was brilliant so I’ve just literally got a couple of tracks off iTunes; I am going to be checking him out as well!
RQ: Thanks for your time mate; I really appreciate it.
DF: Not a problem - a pleasure.
Links:
http://www.vib-gyor.com
