Video Dead Interview
Q: Can you talk about the history of the band?
A: (Jay) - I had just gotten out of a four-year relationship and moved into an apartment on my own and became terrified. I was concerned that if I didn't do something other than work, I would do nothing but think about the end of my relationship and drive myself crazy. I thought Jon and I should make a horror movie. We are huge horror film junkies and we had similar backgrounds growing up and watching Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Phantasm and a plethora of other films as kids. So, when I asked Jon, I thought this would have been an immediate yes, instead he turned to me and asked, "I actually have always wanted to start a band, you want to do that?" So, I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Sure."
(Jon) I had been in engineering school for four years, had a wife and two kids, I just turned 30, and I stopped caring about looking stupid. I went to my friend’s show. He’s super talented. The girl after he played was not so great, but everyone clapped and was having a good time. So I was like, “I don’t know if I can be as good as my friend, but I can be as bad as that girl.” Before Jay asked about the horror movie, I had already had it in my head to ask him to start a band. We originally started with a different bass player and drummer, but once those guys left due to schedules not ever aligning, we brought on Jay’s friend from college, Carl on drums and my brother, Joe on bass.
Q: You mention the songs on EP One are about heartbreak. What are some of the details?
A: (Jay). Jon writes 99% of the lyrics so I don't want to speak for him, but I can say that "Empty Love" is about my ex-girlfriend according to Jon, (I didn't know this till years after we had been playing it). I did come up with the "What a Fuckin Mess" line as well as the repetitive "Empty Love" Chorus, but I honestly wasn't thinking of my ex specifically, Jon took that opening line and ran with it. But "Empty Love" is pretty gut wrenching if you listen to the words. "Prom Night" is also pretty heart-breaking and sinister, but Jon could dive deeper into that.
(Jon) I’ll typically write from empathy and other perspectives. Though I may share some experiences and emotions, it’s easier for me to write as someone else. I put myself in their situation and go through the phases they may be going through. "Empty Love" is about Jay’s one-sided relationship, but as everything I write, it has a dark twist. “Mermaid” was more personal. It was written after I had a dream I got swallowed whole by a shark, died, and there was no afterlife. "Muck and Mire" is a story song about the 1973 Marvel comic, Tales of the Zombie.” “Prom Night” was just this idea of going though the weirdness of puberty and the commonalities with becoming a werewolf--both are predatory transformations. I really try to leave interpretation to the listener and even keep it gender neutral. I'd love for people to listen and think it's about what they want.
Q: Post-punk seems to be an important aspect to your sound. Can you talk about how it runs through your music?
A: (Jay) One thing I love about the post-punk sound is the atmosphere. It's moody but it's also danceable. It has a nice ebb and flow between being somber and atmospheric to chaotic and joyful. I think that's something we figured out - how to balance between writing slower groove songs and more up-beat bangers. One thing I think we've been able to do that bands like Joy Division did so well was have the guitar and bass take sort of non-traditional roles. We always say Joe is "lead bass." While I focus more on creating an ambient dream-like atmosphere with more riffs and leads than traditional rhythm guitar playing.
(Jon) We have a great respect for post-punk and it is a passion. It can be soft and hard and it fits us best. We grew up in the eighties where Billy Idol could rip your face off with “Rebel Yell” and then show his sensitivity with “Eyes Without a Face.” We all have individual influences. However, our sound comes from a combination of INXS, The Stooges, The Cure and a myriad of other post-punk bands. Jay and I didn’t really get into Joy Division until people started comparing us to them. Our sound is similar but I think that is a result of sharing some common influences and not using synth.
Q: Can you talk about the history of the band?
A: (Jay) - I had just gotten out of a four-year relationship and moved into an apartment on my own and became terrified. I was concerned that if I didn't do something other than work, I would do nothing but think about the end of my relationship and drive myself crazy. I thought Jon and I should make a horror movie. We are huge horror film junkies and we had similar backgrounds growing up and watching Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Phantasm and a plethora of other films as kids. So, when I asked Jon, I thought this would have been an immediate yes, instead he turned to me and asked, "I actually have always wanted to start a band, you want to do that?" So, I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Sure."
(Jon) I had been in engineering school for four years, had a wife and two kids, I just turned 30, and I stopped caring about looking stupid. I went to my friend’s show. He’s super talented. The girl after he played was not so great, but everyone clapped and was having a good time. So I was like, “I don’t know if I can be as good as my friend, but I can be as bad as that girl.” Before Jay asked about the horror movie, I had already had it in my head to ask him to start a band. We originally started with a different bass player and drummer, but once those guys left due to schedules not ever aligning, we brought on Jay’s friend from college, Carl on drums and my brother, Joe on bass.
Q: You mention the songs on EP One are about heartbreak. What are some of the details?
A: (Jay). Jon writes 99% of the lyrics so I don't want to speak for him, but I can say that "Empty Love" is about my ex-girlfriend according to Jon, (I didn't know this till years after we had been playing it). I did come up with the "What a Fuckin Mess" line as well as the repetitive "Empty Love" Chorus, but I honestly wasn't thinking of my ex specifically, Jon took that opening line and ran with it. But "Empty Love" is pretty gut wrenching if you listen to the words. "Prom Night" is also pretty heart-breaking and sinister, but Jon could dive deeper into that.
(Jon) I’ll typically write from empathy and other perspectives. Though I may share some experiences and emotions, it’s easier for me to write as someone else. I put myself in their situation and go through the phases they may be going through. "Empty Love" is about Jay’s one-sided relationship, but as everything I write, it has a dark twist. “Mermaid” was more personal. It was written after I had a dream I got swallowed whole by a shark, died, and there was no afterlife. "Muck and Mire" is a story song about the 1973 Marvel comic, Tales of the Zombie.” “Prom Night” was just this idea of going though the weirdness of puberty and the commonalities with becoming a werewolf--both are predatory transformations. I really try to leave interpretation to the listener and even keep it gender neutral. I'd love for people to listen and think it's about what they want.
Q: Post-punk seems to be an important aspect to your sound. Can you talk about how it runs through your music?
A: (Jay) One thing I love about the post-punk sound is the atmosphere. It's moody but it's also danceable. It has a nice ebb and flow between being somber and atmospheric to chaotic and joyful. I think that's something we figured out - how to balance between writing slower groove songs and more up-beat bangers. One thing I think we've been able to do that bands like Joy Division did so well was have the guitar and bass take sort of non-traditional roles. We always say Joe is "lead bass." While I focus more on creating an ambient dream-like atmosphere with more riffs and leads than traditional rhythm guitar playing.
(Jon) We have a great respect for post-punk and it is a passion. It can be soft and hard and it fits us best. We grew up in the eighties where Billy Idol could rip your face off with “Rebel Yell” and then show his sensitivity with “Eyes Without a Face.” We all have individual influences. However, our sound comes from a combination of INXS, The Stooges, The Cure and a myriad of other post-punk bands. Jay and I didn’t really get into Joy Division until people started comparing us to them. Our sound is similar but I think that is a result of sharing some common influences and not using synth.
Q: What is it like recording the band DIY style? Do you plan on hitting a studio or continue to of DIY?
A: (Jay) It took a lot of time, probably a lot longer than four songs should have taken, but it was more trying to get schedules to line up than anything else. I asked a good friend of mine, Robbie Percente, if he would be interested in recording an EP for us. He had never recorded a whole band before, so I think it was a lot of trial and error on everyone's part. He was great to work with; he had some really good ideas on some of the songs - double tracking the backing vocals on "Prom Night" to running one clean guitar track right out of the amp and than having a second guitar track with all the effects out of the amp. Robbie produced, recorded and mixed the EP and we thought he did a good job. We will probably record a full album in the studio, but we definitely want Robbie involved in the process.
(Jon) Word.
Q: What is your creative process like?
A: (Jay) I think what has worked best is either Jon brings lyrics to the table and I write the guitar line and everything else fills in, like on "Mermaid" & "Empty Love" or I write the guitar line and Jon writes lyrics and everything else fills in, like on "Prom Night." We've tried writing collectively as a whole band and it rarely works. There's just too many things happening at once. Joey could be wanting to write a banger and I want to write something slower that builds up, Jon tires to write lyrics on the spot, and Carl is caught in the middle. It turns into four guys getting frustrated and ends with a bottle of bourbon being consumed in entirety.
(Jon) Yeah, we have learned that piece by piece and starting with lyrics is the way to go. Otherwise nothing sticks or it’s unstructured. I'll usually sing the chorus over and over until everyone figures out their part. Then the verse over and over and we figure out transitions.
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: (Jay) The review that Divide and Conquer conducted (which had some very kind words, so thank you), mentioned we used synth. I would like to state for the record that no synthesizers were used in the making of the EP. I've had a pretty hard stance on not using any keyboards or synths, so the sound you are hearing is my guitar running through my pedal board and amp.
(Jon) The thing to know about us is we grew up in a time where horror was everywhere. You could rent Monster Squad from the video store, get a Universal Monsters activity book at the checkout line in a grocery store, and there was something wonderful about that Elvira standee in the liquor department. Video Dead points to the death of that “video” era, also it is taken from a a classic 1987 zombie comedy by the same name. Our intent is an auditory revival of that time when you stay up late watching Tales from the Crypt with your friends, chugging Dr. Pepper and popping pizza rolls.
A: (Jay) It took a lot of time, probably a lot longer than four songs should have taken, but it was more trying to get schedules to line up than anything else. I asked a good friend of mine, Robbie Percente, if he would be interested in recording an EP for us. He had never recorded a whole band before, so I think it was a lot of trial and error on everyone's part. He was great to work with; he had some really good ideas on some of the songs - double tracking the backing vocals on "Prom Night" to running one clean guitar track right out of the amp and than having a second guitar track with all the effects out of the amp. Robbie produced, recorded and mixed the EP and we thought he did a good job. We will probably record a full album in the studio, but we definitely want Robbie involved in the process.
(Jon) Word.
Q: What is your creative process like?
A: (Jay) I think what has worked best is either Jon brings lyrics to the table and I write the guitar line and everything else fills in, like on "Mermaid" & "Empty Love" or I write the guitar line and Jon writes lyrics and everything else fills in, like on "Prom Night." We've tried writing collectively as a whole band and it rarely works. There's just too many things happening at once. Joey could be wanting to write a banger and I want to write something slower that builds up, Jon tires to write lyrics on the spot, and Carl is caught in the middle. It turns into four guys getting frustrated and ends with a bottle of bourbon being consumed in entirety.
(Jon) Yeah, we have learned that piece by piece and starting with lyrics is the way to go. Otherwise nothing sticks or it’s unstructured. I'll usually sing the chorus over and over until everyone figures out their part. Then the verse over and over and we figure out transitions.
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: (Jay) The review that Divide and Conquer conducted (which had some very kind words, so thank you), mentioned we used synth. I would like to state for the record that no synthesizers were used in the making of the EP. I've had a pretty hard stance on not using any keyboards or synths, so the sound you are hearing is my guitar running through my pedal board and amp.
(Jon) The thing to know about us is we grew up in a time where horror was everywhere. You could rent Monster Squad from the video store, get a Universal Monsters activity book at the checkout line in a grocery store, and there was something wonderful about that Elvira standee in the liquor department. Video Dead points to the death of that “video” era, also it is taken from a a classic 1987 zombie comedy by the same name. Our intent is an auditory revival of that time when you stay up late watching Tales from the Crypt with your friends, chugging Dr. Pepper and popping pizza rolls.