VISTA Talks About Their New EP, "The Ruins"
- Mainstream Magazine
- Oct 30, 2019
- 6 min read
AUTHOR: Dustin Faye
What gave you the idea for the EP trilogy?
Hope: It just kind of made sense. It’s been a while since we dropped a record, but we aren’t in a place yet where a full length is the right idea. Having three EPs allows us the opportunity to tell a complete story from start to finish, continuously write and record music, and keep our primary focus on our craft. The opportunities seemed infinite, so we jumped on it.
Greg: This idea is definitely Hope’s brainchild. However, we were writing to begin with so, it felt like a natural way to use our energy and desire to create to honestly reflect what we’ve been through the past two years and pick right up where we left off.
Where did you get the titles for the 3 EP’s from?
Hope: Honestly, I was driving home from therapy, and the word ‘revival’ kept repeating in my head. It really popped out of nowhere; that’s usually how creative ideas come to be for me. I thought about the word ‘revival’ for a bit, and then I started to think about how people reach a revival. Different ‘R’ words started reeling in my head - I came up with a whole list, words that could be split into stages. ‘Ruins’ and ‘repair’ were on that list, and I wrote out different combinations using those words. Greg decided on the final combination of ruins, repair, and revival.
Greg: It took about a day or so of trying different combinations, but I think we went with the best one. I like when we sort through each other’s ideas. It’s one of my favorite parts about our relationship, I think we do that really nicely. These EP’s and their respective titles are our own sort of little twisted Cinderella story arc, so to speak.
How do you think fans will react to the new EP?
Hope: Of course we hope that they’ll react positively. It’s always quite nerve-wracking for me when we release new music. There’s always a negative voice perched on my ear telling me that people will hate it. That’s just a part of anxiety, I guess. But I genuinely hope that our listeners, new and returning, will connect to our ruins.
Greg: I think people will react well. We’ve played a new song at shows once or twice, and that has been positively received, so I think the whole EP will go good. Who knows though, some people could not vibe with it. I understand how it could be too dark for some people. However, this IS part 1 of a 3 part story. I think that if someone reacts negatively, I would urge them to wait until the whole trilogy is out to judge it.
How would you say that your new sound differs from your old sound?
Hope: I wouldn’t call it a new sound. It’s VISTA, but evolved. Interests change, the industry changes, as individuals, we grow. As an artist and a writer, I always strive to continuously evolve and grow, because if we made the same record repeatedly, we wouldn’t get any better.
Greg: I’d say that things are more peeled back and bare. When making parts, they have to count and serve a purpose to the song, and fill it out in a way that’s necessary. That’s one thing I’ve noticed and tried to do over the years.
Will you be taking “The Ruins” on tour other than the release show?
Hope: We’re aiming to tour a decent amount in 2020. We do have other shows we’re playing this fall around the Northeast to help promote “The Ruins” (all dates on
www.bandsintown.com/VISTA), but we won’t be touring until next year. Touring took our focus away from writing and recording music, but it was also emotionally taxing on us. We had to remove ourselves from the touring environment for a bit in order to find ourselves again, but I’m looking forward to going back out again when the time is right.
Greg: We definitely don’t plan to stay at home while these EP’s come out. However, as Hope said, we’ve been finding a need to be a bit more content focused, which requires less touring. Too much touring, in not the right situation as a band, can be the worst. We’d love to be on tour all the time, but it just doesn’t make sense for our band. So we’ve had to re-evaluate and tour when the cards align.
Are there any sort of stigmas or assumptions you as a band meet as a female-fronted band?
Hope: We’ve never actually been asked this before. Being immediately compared to Paramore can get incredibly frustrating. I have always adored Paramore and have a ton of respect for the path that Hayley has helped carve for women in music, but it’s somewhat infuriating that so many people only see her gender, or my gender, or any other female vocalist’s gender at first glance. I don’t want people to look past all of Hayley’s accomplishments because they can only look through a single lens and focus on her being a woman; that isn’t fair to everything she’s done. On the other end of that, I don’t want to be immediately compared to Paramore just because I am a woman. I want people to listen to the sonic elements of the music and make comparisons based on that, if they feel the need to compare. The branding. The live show. Everyone is trying to establish their own branding and develop their thing. Paramore is Paramore, and they’re incredible at being themselves. We are VISTA, and that’s something I feel very passionate about.
Greg: When people think “female fronted” is a genre, it blows my mind. Whether or not a girl is singing shouldn’t matter. Is it rock music? Cool. Is it pop? Sick. Jazz? Great. No matter what type of human being is singing the songs, it shouldn’t change your perception on how you like the music, if you like it. That’s one thing that I’ve noticed over the years. People I've met change their opinion on me and my band when I let them know our singer is a female. The conversation takes a different turn, not that it’s a negative one, but I notice the difference. But people always act surprised. Why is that? There are so many amazing vocalists, female or not. Just compare music to music.
Are there any bands that you’d love to tour with in the near future?
Hope: Bring Me The Horizon. Don Broco. One OK Rock. New Year’s Day. Set It Off.
Greg: Fall Out Boy would be sick too. Sleeping With Sirens. The Pretty Reckless
Any comments on how the EP will sound, or how the EP trilogy will play out?
Hope: We honestly aren’t sure about the remaining to EPs in the trilogy, because we haven’t even started writing either of them yet. We decided to take it one by one instead of jumping into it all simultaneously. The second EP is going to be branded around repairing our ruins, and then the last EP is a revival, but we’re just focusing on “The Ruins” for now. Burying ourselves neck deep with three records didn’t seem like the healthiest option after what we’ve been through internally and worked hard to fix. “The Ruins” is incredibly sad, dark, and somewhat tragic. It has a desperate kind of edge to it; desperation amidst a mess.
Greg: It’s hard to say what the other two will sound like so I think hope put it quite eloquently. It is on our minds, however. How it will come out is in the infant stages. There’s a kind of beauty in that ambiguity though. I’m excited to just embrace the process again. “The Ruins” is definitely a dark, sad, and tragic start to it all though. I think it's nice that we’re being transparent about that so that there isn’t any surprises when people go to listen. They know exactly what each EP will encompass.
How do you guys feel about dipping french fries in ice cream/milkshakes?
Hope: I am dairy-free, so blegh.
Greg: I love doing that. Shoutout to Wendy’s.
If you were any inanimate object in the world, what would you choose to be and why?
Hope: Oh jeez. Probably a toy of some kind, just because they’re fun. Maybe a Lite Brite.
Greg: This is an extremely interesting question. Maybe a car so I could travel everywhere? A plane, alternatively?
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