Interview with Vesta Varro

Interview with Ireland's Vesta Varro – by Mel in Toronto

"Being able to escape into a world that I can't describe," is what Vesta Varro's lead singer Damien likes best about performing live. And for us, the audience, it's a pleasure to watch his escape while the whole band embraces us with their music. Vesta Varro is a rock band with an exceptional and immediate appeal, which naturally carries over to their live shows as well as with their debut album. Last year's Indie Week Toronto winner has played several times in Toronto and all shows were outstanding and very well received.

Vesta Varro hail from Limerick, Ireland, and consist of Damien Drea (lead vocals), Keith Forde (lead guitar, rhythm guitar), Peter Forde (lead guitar, rhythm guitar), Rod Smith (bass), and Shane Lee (vocals, drums). The band has been together in this formation since 2004. In 2007, Vesta Varro released their debut album 'Exit here.' This album contains ten great songs and was produced by Richard Rainey, who has such big names as U2 on his list of clients.

"The idea behind the name ['Exit here'] really just happened at the time," Damien says. "All the songs in one way or another can be linked to each other, from NEWBORN CHILD to REACHING OUT. It became quiet clear that the title would work. Most of the songs on the record talk about certain situations where escape is craved, in other songs escape has come too early."

The band writes the music together, as Rod explains: "the music would come from an idea someone has, mostly Damien, and the rest of the band would add various pieces to the mix." It is Damien who writes the lyrics. He is inspired by "the human race, time and space, death, birth, the afterlife and of course family."

Damien further describes basic themes of their songs WEIGHTED LOVE which is about "strains on a relationship, for example money can lead to tragic circumstances." PYRAMID CLOCKS is about "science of the human race," COMING BACK is about "nervousness everything failing internally and economically," NEWBORN CHILD is about a "death of a friend," and BLUE MIRROR BOY deals with depression.

All five band members in Vesta Varro are highly talented and stand out through their musicianship. Rod says that all of them "are self taught musicians and have been playing music in various forms from a very early age."

Ambitious and well on their way, Vesta Varro would like to achieve global success with their music. Damien says "musically, anyone who starts a band in the first place has got some aspirations to 'make it' and making it means to me getting as many people to hear the music as possible. Anyone in a band who denies this is lying, being successful is important."

Currently, Vesta Varro is in Canada. Before they are going back to Ireland, they are going to play two shows in Toronto today, on St. Patrick's Day. In the future, look out for them on both sides of the Atlantic. Vesta Varro just performed during Canadian Music Week and will be back for the Rogers Spring Music Festival in Hamilton and also for Indie Week Toronto 2008.

 "In your own words" – ONE on ONE with Mel, Damien and Rod

Mel:  Who are your influences?

Rod: All five members listen to very different music and everyone in the band have their own favourite artists, but maybe bands we agree on are Talking Heads, Early U2, David Bowie, some Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Beatles, The Smiths, Velvet Underground, The Cure.. too many to mention really.

Mel: How was it to work with producer Richard Rainey for your debut album 'Exit here'?

Rod: That was a great experience. He focused us on the music and steered us more towards a live sound on the record, where as in the passed working with different producers we layered stuff a lot. Richard Rainey gave a scence of belief to Vesta Varro, one that collectively we did not posess before.

Mel:  What does it mean to you to be an indie artist?

Damien: Having control of the music and you as an artist can make a decision and stand by it. This also means little money at the start of your career.

Mel:  Could you please tell us about the indie music scene in Ireland?

Rod: The scene in Ireland is really starting to take off. There are a lot of bands doing the rounds but it is very hard for bands to break through into mainstream. A lot of the national radio stations constantly play manufactured pop sh*t being pushed by big money major record labels. But with the introduction of internet sites like Myspace, Bebo, Sonicbids and indieSolo type sites, the indie market has suddenly become global and everyone is starting to realise that they don't need big labels to get their music out there and heard.

Mel:  Which opportunities do you see with indieSolo?

Rod: The ones mentioned above, all a decent indie band needs is someone to champion them in order to make a decent go at it and that's what indieSolo is doing.

Mel: How did you hear about Indie Week Toronto and why did you decide to apply?

Rod: I was watching a program on TV here in Ireland, and Canada was mentioned. I just thought, "Sh*te, we haven't checked out Canada yet!" I went online, did a search on Sonicbids and Indie Week came up. We applied and Darryl [Hurs] hit us back almost straight away to come over. We scraped together the funds and luckily enough. We came away with a fantastic experience, more fans and the Indie Week winner's prize!

Mel: Which experiences did you take back home from your stay in Toronto?

Rod: That the people are "awesome" and are a lot more accepting of bands in Toronto than back home, maybe it was because we were a foreign band but the buzz and reaction we got completely overwhelmed us!

Mel:  What was one of your most memorable gig experience and why?

Damien: I can remember recently we played a gig and I just caught someone singing the songs. It's the first time I experienced that. Also, Paul Cook coming to a show in London, that was cool also.

Mel:  Is there anything you would like to add?

Rod:  See you at the end of the hurricane…

-end

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