Introducing Interview: VIDA - GigslutzGigslutz

VIDA played their first ever Manchester gig on Saturday (10.12.16). After the show, we congregated in a cluttered greenroom upstairs at Oldham Street’s Castle Hotel. Surrounded by instruments and empty stubbies we spoke to them about their big plans for the future.

Obviously you’re a new, young band. The generic question to start off with, how did you meet and how did you get here?
N: I’ve been in bands since I was 15 or 16 years old, and there was always people coming and going through the bands because of fall outs and stuff like that. You meet different people like Jamie (Vocalist), and Vida just came together.
JPO: A few of us went to the same school. Greg (Keyboard) was at the school too but he was a few years below. Craig (Bass) only just recently joined the band.
C: Aye, I recently joined the band but everyone else is from Alloa, and I’m from Falkirk.

So you’re the foreign one in the band then?
G: Aye, he’s from over the water

This is your first gig in Manchester tonight, where else have you played so far in England?
JPO: Birmingham, Sheffield, North Allerton, Carlisle.
JPI: We’re looking forward to seeing a lot more of England though. And Wales and Ireland…

That’s a good answer that. How does it compare playing gigs in Scotland and playing here, is there a different feeling?
N: Scotland’s a bit wilder.
C: Scotland’s a bit wilder, aye
JPO: Anyone would say that though…
C: England is a cool place though!
N: I think the music scene is better here than it is in Scotland, but there’s a lot going on in Scotland too. Manchester is the place to be though, it’s continued to be the hub for great music for many a year.

Your last EP was Masquerade – what’s the plan going forward, some more EPs on the way?
JPO: We’re recording in January, recording another single and B-Side and we’ll look to have that released by February. We’re looking to tour around February and March then really.

Have you got a catalogue of songs ready to record then?
All: Aye!
JPO: We must have 50 or 60 songs, we’ve got a lot of stuff sitting there ready.
C: Aye, like four books.
JPI: A whole library really. It’s just picking the right ones.

Do your gigs feel different now to when you first started? Can you feel more fuss around you?
N: Aye, you can see people turning up now. We’re attracting some crowds even in England. We played for This Feeling in Birmingham, and there was a crowd of 80 people there chanting “Vida!”. We’d never been to Birmingham before. It’s like I dinnae ken you.
JPO: ‘I don’t know you’ – that’s what he’s saying by the way… (Thanks)

You closed the set with ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, is that something you intend to keep doing?
N: I’m a great believer of putting a wee version in there. I couldn’t call it a cover it’s more of a version. We take the basis and we make it our own, I like the idea of that, a lot of great bands have done that. Beatles, Oasis they played them live. To let people in a city you’ve never been to hear something they’re familiar with right at the end of the set, they may think that’s amazing and if it sticks there’s a knock on effect.

Would you say The Verve have been an influence to you personally then?
All: Oh aye. We went to see Richard Ashcroft at the Glasgow O2 Academy and it blew us away. That long on the game, that long doing what he does.
JPO: He’s underrated, what a songwriter.

Who else have you been influenced by?
All: Oasis, Stone Roses, Beatles, even some Tame Impala.
JPI: Basically all of the music you want to listen to, that’s us.
C: We want to basically make endless classics that people want to listen to. Big sound, stadium sound.

Do you want to define yourself as a Scottish band or do you want to get away from that?
JPO: We wanna stick to our roots.
N: We all love Scotland and we all love where we’re from, but the key is to spread the music as far as we can and if folk like it it’s a bonus.
JPI: As a band we have a sound that English people can enjoy.
N: It’s not deliberately English though, it’s just what it is.
C: With Jamie’s vocals in there you can hear the Scottish.
N: You can definitely hear where it’s coming from.

You’re putting your twist on something that you like, and it’s been successful…
N: We’re regurgitating it in a different way
JPO: Eating it and shitting it out.
JPI: Aye but it’s nice shite.
N: It’s cinnamon.

Huge thanks to VIDA for answering our questions!

So, there you have it. If you like nice shite, VIDA are for you. In all seriousness though, this is much more than regurgitated Britpop as they jokingly suggested, it carries much than that. Find them on Spotify to hear more. Otherwise, the full ten minute interview is available here.

(JPO: Jamie Pollock – Lead Vocals, N: Nathan Evans – Lead Guitar, C: Craig Scobbie – Bass, JPI: Jamie Piggott – Drums, G: Greg Ballantyne – Keys)