March 2009 music feature 1: Verna Beware
Last modified: 12:54:47 CET on 18 Mar, 2009 |
Verna Beware (formerly named Run Rabbit Run for about a month) was formed May 29th, 2008 by members of The Donner Party (circa 2007). Verna Beware was then created about a month later, on July 1st, 2008. Members include Kyran Million (vocals and guitar), Taliesin Cook (guitar), Bret Noel (trumpet and percussion), Michael Million (Bass) and AJ herald (Drums). Even after all the effort to push their music, the five students will find time for their studies at UCLA and Santa Barbara City College. Well, sometimes - building a sturdy fan base takes priority. If their enthusiasm for the present is any indicator of the future, good things certainly lie ahead for this young band. With their combined efforts, Verna Beware produces a sound all its own, it's experimental aspirations backed by it's rock roots, delivers a sound that will make you feel yourself floating away into the sky. :O Visit the Myspace page for more dates.
What are you doing aside from music?
We have a pet sulcata tortise who will live at least 50 years longer than any of us. We spend much time with her in between band rehearsals. This year we have actually spent a lot of time evacuating Bret, Tali and friends from their homes due to the increasing amount of wildfires which threaten our homes and lives. We hike the mountains when they aren't on fire, we swim in the ocean when they are on fire. We spend quality time with our families and prophesize with our band shaman whom you can find through our myspace link. We all go to school at Santa Barbara City College, besides Bret, who attends UCLA, as he is the intellectual pioneer of the band. We all study music along with other general educational classes in our pursuit of being good students and faithful musicians.
What is your approach to recording music?
Well, for our recently released 3 song EP, we spent 3 months living in a coffee shop called Java Station in Santa Barbara when we weren't recording in Phillip Rogers' home studio. We believe to get a good sounding demo, you must eat bagel melts daily prior to each and every recording session. That seemed to work in our favor really well. We used Pro Tools for the actual recording process, and had mastermind Dan Moore (friend and sound engineer in Los Angeles) mix and master our demo. All the micing was done in a single room for drums, vocals and trumpet, while the guitars and bass were recorded via direct feed.
On our next cd, everything will most likely be mic'd to go for a warmer, live sound.
How do you cope with a lack of inspiration?
Whenever we feel like we can't justify our songs musically we will ask the advice of our listeners and/or split up and individually work on parts, come back and see what everyone has come up with. Often a song will spring out of nothing but a beautiful jam session at our island we practice on, where some riff or melody will appear out of thin air and be realized that, that riff, could possibly change the lives of millions.
It's team work...so, who has the final say in the team?
The final say usually comes from all of us compromising on a band decision. Some people may be upset with the decision, but out in the jungle, majority always rules and life is determined by survival of the fittest. For example, on a recent song we have been working on, we wrote this really badass outro and everyone liked it except for one member. That member's thoughts were that it was boring and that it was unnecessary to the song. We decided to cut that part of the song to ease his mind. A few days later at band practice, our band shaman, Nate Carleson was listening to us practice the song, without the member who did not like the outro to that song. We decided to play it for fun and at the end, Nate asked us why we cut that part out. We didn't know. So we called the missing band member and told him that part of the song was back in action. Mmmmm...
If you had to tour, where would you go first?
We are never going to tour. Just kidding. Iceland. Being that Sigur Ros is possibly one of the most influential bands to us and the rest of the world, we would love to go to Iceland to experience their home surroundings. Realistically though, we plan on our first real tour starting in San Diego, California and finishing either in Seattle, Washington or British Columbia, Canada, then going back down. Currently we are saving money for recording a full length album so when the time comes that will eventually happen.
Many thanks to the band for this interview!
