Hello readership! I like how that sounds! but it begs the question of who “readership” might be? is it 47 or two million? or is it eight? (hmmm… five of us in the band, Sam, Simone, Erin…Duff’s mom maybe?). it doesn’t matter – I write for one, I write for all. Welcome to our first blog post. I’m Looknesu – vocalist, guitarist and co-conspirator in Erwin Vesper, and I am your narrator for this post.
The Band
I describe Erwin Vesper as a creative and expressive music machine. We have one album about to be released, and a second in the works. We are architects of perspective, by way of rock band. We’re channellers of mojo and cultivators of subconscious. You could put us somewhere in the same galaxy as radiohead, pearl jam, frank black, Wilco, Rheostatics, etc… We are more poet than parrot, more whole grain mustard than creamy, and more Picasso than Rembrandt. Clear as mud, right? It’s best to just have a listen and form your own opinion of who we are, and if we’re worth a second look. Maybe there’s story for you in one of our songs… maybe not. We’re not for everybody, but we are for some. We are proud of what we’ve accomplished, and we’ll continue to create music that we love to play. We are Erwin Vesper.
Chemistry
The five of us are in the band together for all the right reasons. We love creating music together, and love what it feels like when it “happens”, when everything gels in a jam and you know your brothers are feeling it the same way you are. I live for those moments. And the more we do it, the more it happens. Another biggy is the moment when the idea transforms into the “song”. Fairly early in the process, the idea gets it’s legs and starts to run on it’s own. It becomes a character in the story and the evolution of the song. I love experiencing that! I’m sure the other guys would each have their own version of it, but that’s why we do this together. We love the magic of the mojo. Maybe you can feel it too, in a live show, or from the album. That’s really what our goal is, to share the experience of music as best we can, and in a way that feels right and real.
The Songs
We are stoked for our weekly jam sessions. It’s where we delve into ourselves and the music, escaping our worlds for a few hours. It’s a period of timelessness because being creative with music demands being only in the moment. It’s where we write, evolve and refine our songs. A song typically starts with an idea. It’s the seed that gets magically planted by the muse. Then the band takes over, watering it with love and mojo. It grows into a song with it’s own energy and drive. It’s like we’ve raised a dragon and are riding on it’s back, not knowing where it will take us. Luckily we have some fairly grounded band members that reign in the artists and dreamers in the mix (I fall into the latter description). Patch and Mero are both Red personalities that like to get things done. They pull out their scalpels and dissect the songs down to their ingredients, and reassemble with garnish, paired wine and served with declaration. Everyone participates in the evolution of the songs. We record every jam session and have hundreds of hours. It’s fun to listen to old jam sessions to hear songs coming together – how about these lyrics? Can we try it faster? What if we played it in Am instead of Bm? Let’s try the augmented 5th chord in the bridge… Our motto is: All ideas are to be heard, even the stupid ones. Because sometimes the dumbest idea inspires the most awesome outcome. The nice thing about the five us is that our minds are always open to trying different things, and we’ve got huge respect for each other. For me personally, I feel blessed to be together in a band with these guys.
Who is Erwin Vesper?
We get asked if Erwin Vesper is a person. Who is he you wonder? Well, he’s
a bit of a recluse. We know him as a creative, contemplative and curious
detective. Hes an optimist, but he’s also bashful, frustrated, and maybe even a
little damaged. One of the archetype cards Erwin Vesper draws is the
shape-shifter. He has a unique personality and set of life experiences for every
story there is to tell, and then some (but not always escaping his demons or
desires). The brow-raising moment is when you see him in line at Starbucks, or
moving in next door. Leaves one to wonder if Erwin Vesper isn’t the
storyteller… rather he is the stories. You didn’t hear that from me though…
You’ll get to know him and can decide for
yourself.
That’s all for today. In future posts we’ll
talk more about the recording process, songwriting, and get behind the scenes in
how some of the songs on the record came to be. Stay tuned!
Over and out….
Looknesu
Erwin Vesper