Via Audio Answers 5

Last month I reviewed “Animalore” by Via Audio (link), and, to quote myself, the music was “alluring and … infectious.” Expanding on a great NYC musical tradition, this Brooklyn band is the evidence that when musicians/artists are given control of their product, what is produced is high quality and astounding. My personal thanks to bassists David Lizmi for taking the time and answering 5.

Via Audio / Photographer: Lev Kuperman

1. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

My personal music influences are Motown, old time country, Michael Jackson, Prince, Earth Wind and Fire, Fleetwood Mac, Deerhoof, Beatles, Buddy Holly etc…

My non-musical influences are Kanye West, NAS, and Dragonforce. Not that I don't like those groups, I just am not musically inspired by them.

2. On your debut album, "Say Something," the songs were more consistent in style; this time around, "Animalore" sports out many different musical references, including a bit of disco. In fact, it seems that song-to-song your approach was different. How did this process, writing to recording, come together with such an effect?

The recording process was different than "Say Something" because we got to spend as much time as we needed at the same studio with the same producer, Jim Eno. "Say Something" was a bit more rushed, we had a third of the time with Jim and we recorded in five different studios. It’s funny that "Say Something" sounds more consistent, probably because we were playing those songs on the road and recorded the parts almost verbatim the way we did it live. On "Animalore," some songs we didn't try at all on the road; we had much more time to flesh out and explore. I think also our musical tastes broadened from "Say Something," so we wanted to try new things other than your standard Indie Rock fare.

3. What would you say to critics/listeners who question the shift in sound from your first and second album?

It's not a deliberate choice to play songs in many different genres. It really comes from the broad range of music we are in love with while writing or recording a song.

Via Audio / Photographer: Lev Kuperman

4. What's up with the ram on the cover?

We think it's beautiful and encompasses the theme we were going with this record, Animalorem,

5. Undertow Music Collective released “Animalore”. How did the move to your new label come about?

Undertow is our management company. We decided that we wanted to release the record ourselves. We wanted to have full artistic integrity with the help of our management and the wonderful music biz people we met along the way. We felt we could do the same or a better job than what music labels were offering. So we went for it; the risks are much higher but the rewards are much [greater].

Keep up with Via Audio at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.

Here is the link for Lev Kuperman’s (photographer) homepage.