VersaEmerge
Sam Panasuik caught up with Sierra Kusterbeck and Devin Ingelido of VersaEmerge before their gig at the Cockpit on February 5th.
Me: This is my first interview so I'm a little nervous.
Sierra: Ah cool!
Devin: Don't worry about it.
Would you be able to describe your band in 5 words? For people who have never heard of you before.
(Both laugh)
Devin: Erm, ok 5 words... Adjectives of course? I'm gonna say, er, progressive.
Sierra: (long pause) Er, I had one in my head but it went! Orchestrally.
Devin: Orchestral?!
Sierra: Yeah!
(Both laugh)
Devin: I'm gonna go with different.
Sierra: Colossal!
Devin: Colossal? Ah you made me look like a jackass! And as far as the last one, I'm probably gonna go with Universal. Spacey!?
Sierra: You said my word before it even came out.
Devin: Spacey, spacey. We don't have that word... We've never been asked that question before!
You're back in the UK to promote your album. Are you excited to be back here?
Sierra: We haven't been back here for 2 years now and of course the record has already come out in the states so it's sorta like starting all over again. So it's actually really exciting.
Devin: Brand new here. There's EP with 5 songs and it's just amazing that people already know us!
You call your fans Vultures. How did you come up with the name?
Sierra: Of course the lyrics from one of our songs Fixed At Zero and we were just thinking about fan club names and basically we took all the ideas, like the double V's and we just decided to stick with it! Kinda like Lady Gaga with the Little Monsters and kids err, I think, don't really like being called fans all the time and we've made them more part of us and on more of a personal level.
Me: Unique, too, isn't it?
Sierra: Yeah it is, you don't hear that very often. Like what's with the Vulture thing?!
Devin: They rock!
Are there any UK festivals you'd like to play this summer?
Sierra: Err, Download.
Devin: Download. That'd definitely be one; we think that'd be really awesome. We played Reading and Leeds a couple of years ago too, which was fricken amazing.
Me: I went to Download last year for the first time and it was so, so good!
Devin: Really? Yeah that'd be good. We're shooting for that. We'll see if that's er, for sure.
Do the comparisons with other band with front women annoy you or are you proud of the fact we've got women in rock now?
Sierra: It doesn't really annoy me 'cause there's so much to cover, whatever. But it's definitely cool that there are women in rock! I think the competition is inevitable so you don't really think about it, we're just doing out own thing. We're not taking keys from any other band or anything like that. So the comparisons really mean nothing to us. But people are gonna comment no matter what.
Devin: Definitely. Everyone is always gonna get compared. But like even the whole women thing, i think that is not even weird to have a women/ front women or being part of a band. That's just awesome.
If someone was to listen to you for the first time, what song would you recommend?
Sierra: The album?
Devin: Definitely you'd have to check out the album and the main title track and the entire album kinda sums up this whole feel that we're trying to do. This whole message that we're trying to send. Like everything teeny bopper stuff, and you know relationships like that. You know everyone can take a piece of it and translate it however you want.
Sierra: And looks like a bigger picture.
Devin: Definitely. And it's great that's how we sum up the album. And we're touring in Europe, starting at the bottom. I think it's good.
I heard, on the internet, Sierra, you're working on a Hyro Da Hero song - is that true?
Sierra: A what song?!
Me: Hyro Da Hero
Sierra: No, that's the internet! (laughs) I've not heard that!
Devin: Well there you go, don't believe the internet. (laughs)
By the end of 2011, what do you hope to achieve?
Sierra: As a band, you know, we sorta wanna get out there and get to our fans and just acquire a wide variety of people listen to our music. Just keep touring and don't give up as much as you can.
Devin: It's all we do, if touring and building the fan base. If you don't have a fan base, that's the thing that is gonna drive you to your end. Also we have the AP tour coming in spring in America and hopefully we'll be coming back here sometime later in the year.
Me: For Download.
Devin: Yeah! That'd be great so...
You must be really happy that there are all those people outside waiting to see you?
Sierra: Yeah it's really cool.
Devin: Definitely, definitely. I think it's really different over here to over the states. The guys get more excited about things, about seeing us live and coming up afterwards and, and reciting the lyrics. And someone came up to us who had made a really cool fan book.
Sierra: Yeah!
Devin: 3 days to make that book. You ought to see that book!
Well thank you for the interview.
Sierra: Thank you, too!
Devin: You're welcome.
