The V Project features guitarist Dave Vaccaro plus some familiar
vocalists including James Christian (House of Lords) and Robin
McAuley (MSG).
1. What are you currently up
to?
Right now I'm starting to write and record new ideas. Some are just
riffs that still need to be worked into something. Others are
complete arrangements. All they need are vocals. I've picked up
some new recording gear, a Yamaha AW4416 recorder. It's a 16-track
hard disk recorder and it sounds great. Now I can make some decent
sounding demos to present to singers.
2. Who were your
influences?
That's a hard one to answer really. There are so many incredible
players that I used to imitate while I was learning to play. The
biggest though were probably Jimmy Page and Joe Perry. But Peter
Frampton, Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, were right in there too. And
who doesn't like the lead melodies on Tom Schultz's first Boston
record?
3. Which band would you like to
see reform?
With bands getting back together, one fantasy has already come true,
and that was Aerosmith getting back together. Zeppelin would be
great...of course that will never be again. Not on this planet
anyway. I think though, sometimes it's better if bands don't get back
together. A lot of times it's better if the band members just move
on, instead of reforming to recapture past glories, or even worse,
just for the money.
Fantasy Band...I don't know, but I can give you a bizarre one. How
about John Paul Jones on Bass, Dean Castronovo on Drums, Jimmy Page
and The Edge on guitars, and Lou Gramm on vocals. Now THAT would be
wild!
4.
How did you manage to get such top-notch singers as James
Christian and Robin McAuley to sing on the demos?
James Christian was a friend of Nancy Krasn. Nancy wrote the words to
the song that James sings on the Lost Demos CD called, Rattle Your
Cage. The original vocalist on the song however was Arthur Micheev
formerly of the Soviet band Avtograph. Arthur and I had already cut
a demo of Rattle Your Cage with a band we were doing called Siberia.
Arthur's Russian accent was pretty strong on that demo.
Nancy, in the mean time, was shopping the song to people she knew.
A music supervisor doing an HBO production heard the song and wanted
to use it on the soundtrack. He asked that the lead vocal be
rerecorded.
Nancy and I went into the studio and pulled Arthur's lead vocal and
replaced it with James. Having James on the track was just a lucky
break. The first singer who was hired just wasn't right for the
song. As a last minute effort to save the recording session, Nancy
said she could call another singer friend, James Christian.
As luck would have it, he was home and offered to help out. 2 hours
later, all done.
Robin McAuley I met through singer Chris Post. Chris and I have been
friends for many years and go way back. Having been in various cover
bands back in Boston Massachusetts, we sort of learned our musical
chops together.
When I moved out to L.A. from Boston I really didn't know anyone
except Chris, who was already living in the San Fernando Valley. So
whoever Chris knew, I eventually got to know.
Chris and Robin had already worked together on MSG's Save Your Self
CD and had become good friends. Chris would often get invited to MSG
parties and in turn, would invite me to go with him. That's where I
met Robin McAuley.
After a while I got to know Robin well enough so that when I heard he
was looking for material for a McAuley solo CD, I asked if I could
send him some demos Chris and I had worked on. He was up for it.
The six Robin McAuley tracks on Lost Demos are, for the most part,
those songs. All originally recorded on a cassette based 8-track at
my house in North Hills, CA.
5.
What has been the reaction to the 'Lost Demos'? The reviews I
have read seem very favorable. Is it feasible to tour on the back of
this CD release?
The reaction to Lost Demos has been a bit of a surprise to people in
the respect that outside of the Boston area, no one has ever heard
anything I've done. So when they see this CD with 2 well-known and
respected melodic rock vocalists on the same CD, it catches their
attention.
In all but James Christians case, the singers are writing their own
vocals and lyrics to either my own, or Chris Posts and my
arrangements. Lost Demos has been really helpful in letting people
know I'm out here. Most people say, "Who is this David Vaccaro guy?
And what is the V-Project?" "How come I've never heard of this guy
before?"
I should point out that most people key in on McAuley and Christian
cause they're widely known, but Chris Post and his band Dillinger had
started to pick up a good following till Nirvana came along
and....changed the musical landscape.
Dennis Gresham is a good buddy of Chris, Robin, and myself. I liked
the John Cougar-ishness of his performance. Many of my friends who
are not music people would often pick Coupe Deville out as one of
their favorites. I'd give people a cassette with several cuts, and
after a week I'd ask them which were their picks. Coupe Deville came
up more often than not. Good enough for me.
The reviews on Lost Demos have been really good. Which is the best
part. I say that because the music is standing on it's own. I don't
care who is on a CD, most music reviewers these days don't cut anyone
any slack. If a CD sucks they're going to dog it.
I've been lucky. Only a few songs on Lost Demos have had a mixed
reaction. And what's interesting to see is if you read through enough
of the reviews, one review will dog one or two songs. The next
review will say those same one or two songs are great!
6. What are your views on the current state of rock music? Is
radio still supportive of rock music in the US? Has the Internet
helped or hindered rock music at all?
I feel that rock is starting to make its way back ever so slowly.
Right now it seems that pop music has become so big that some people
actually think that Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys and bands like
that are "rock acts". You know, I'm not a rocket scientist but I can
safely tell you that those bands/artist are not Rock. And either are
the hardcore rock/rap bands. I think I change the station faster on
those bands than I do on the Pop acts.
Bruce (The Boss) is back with a new CD. U2, still happening.
Aerosmith, still happening. Nickleback, good songs and writing. POD,
Youth of the Nation, great song. (That song had my attention the
second I heard it) Puddle of Mud, good songs. Those are the type
of bands I consider rock. I think people are growing tired of the
artists who are just performers and don't really write much of the
material they sing. It seems people are starting to look for artists
with a little more substance and vibe to them.
Even in Pop, artists like Michelle Branch are starting to pull fans
from the Britneys and N'Synchs.
I don't know about radio in Europe, but radio here is a joke.
There's plenty of info on the net about what has happened to radio.
Radio likes to lead the public into thinking that they are always on
the lookout for the hottest up and coming acts to play on their
station. But the truth is, that every new song you hear is basically
a paid advertisement for the artist.
The Internet I feel is both good and bad. It's great for new people
like me. V-Project is known more in Europe than here. Lost Demos
did well at about 20 or so colleges here in the US but almost all
sales and airplay have been in Europe and a little bit in Japan. That
would have never happened had it not been for the Internet.
The bad side of the net is file swapping. I'm not going to sit here
and tell you that I didn't pull my share of tunes. But I will say
this, in the long run; I think it's hurting everybody who is in
music. Not just the record companies, but the artists too. And who
wants that? Isn't the artist the one we want to support so they can
write more music that we can all enjoy? You can't really write much
when you're getting robbed blind. Think about it, whatever it is you
do for a living, would you go do it for free? That's what people are
asking musicians to do when they rip music off the net through
Napster-like software.
7. What music are you currently listening to? Any new bands (or
bands that have been overlooked) that you would recommend?
To be honest with you I really have not been listening to much of
anything lately. I've been trying to get new material down. It seems
I never get a chance to put a CD on and just listen. I wish I could
play CDs in my car, but my 96 Taurus has a nice radio and cassette,
but no CD. And with 110000+ miles on the car I'm not going to get a
CD installed. It would probably be worth more than the car!
Sometimes I'll listen to the radio in the car but half the time if I
hear a song I like, I never seem to hear the name of the band. Oh
well.
I have been listening to the Zeppelin catalog of late however. For
some reason I always listen to them more around the fall than any
other time of year. Don't ask me why cause I have no idea. Must be a
primal thing.
8. Who would you like to work with
in the future?
Robin McAuley of course. Robin has such a distinctive sound to his
voice and he's such a great writer. Who else??? Well, I'll tell you,
if I could manage to get in touch with just a few people who live in
the Boston area and get them on a CD I'd be doing all right. Think
about all the bands that are near here, Aerosmith, Boston, Extreme,
The Cars, J.Geils, Til Tuesday. Most of those bands are no longer,
but many of the members still live in the area, I'd be happy to do a
few songs with any of them.
9. What was the last thing you
read?
Walk This Way, by Stephen Davis
10. Message for your
fans...
Yes, a sincere thank-you to all. I really appreciate the interest
people have shown in V-Project and the response to the Lost Demos
CD. The reaction has been great and it has certainly helped to build
some awareness of me as a guitar player/writer etc. That always
helps when you're trying to get your next CD out there, and I'm
workin that right now. Until then, Peace to all and keep it rockin.
See you soon!
