How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
We didn't really plan to form a band, we just wanted to work together in the studio. Andy (Rourke) came over to LA from NY to record bass on one of my solo tracks. We enjoyed working together in that session so much that he suggested we start a band. I mean we'd talked about it for years but it was just talk for a while. Then when it happened it just clicked. The energy felt right and we loved working together. Asa Brown (our keyboard player) helped put a band together and Blitz Vega was born. Although we didn't announce it for a couple of years.
We didn't name the band until a few months in. I was bouncing ideas back and forth with Andy. Vega was connected to the stars & power and came up in some research I was doing on ancient languages and how they connected. Blitz represents energy, explosion & speed. So these two words together felt like they represented the music we were making.
Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
I've loved music as far back as I can remember. The Stones, The Beatles, Neil Young, The Band, Led Zeppelin & Bob Dylan were artists I was playing from my aunt's record collection when I was around six/seven. But I grew up around the grunge era or at the tail end of it, so I was a Nirvana kid really. I picked up a guitar because of Guns n' Roses and Hendrix & was heavily influenced by anything from New Order, The Stone Roses, Beastie Boys, RATM, Chemical Brothers, The Stooges, Primal Scream & The Velvet Underground. My Mum bought me a £50 guitar at 12 or 13 and I just played along to all my favourite bands. Then I started writing & pretty quickly started creating my own songs. I was in a garage band with my friends by the time I was 14. It started from there. Playing shows from the age of 15 & here we are, I'm still doing the same thing after all of these years. Band after band working with so many different people over the years. But working with Andy, my friend, in Blitz Vega has been the highlight, the greatest experience of my life.
First concert that you ever went to?
First concert I ever went to was Beauchamp College band night in my hometown of Leicester when I was 13 I think. It was a line-up of lots of bands from school playing. We played the following year. John Deacon from Queen played at that same band night many many years before I think. He was a student at the college. So that was our big talking point as kids, feeling proud we'd followed in the footsteps of an iconic musician haha. The first major concert I remember going too was Reading Festival. We were still kids so it was absolutely mind blowing! I remember seeing Hole, Blind Melon, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Pavement, Foo Fighters (I think it was their first gig?) and the highlight was seeing Neil Young backed by Pearl Jam.
What's your writing process like?
It changes all the time as it's based on the way I'm feeling or what I'm being inspired by. It could be anything - an experience, a movie, a show, interactions, people-watching and travelling, just life in general. There is no plan, it comes at any time. It could be while I'm sleeping or driving. So when an idea pops into my head I try to pick up a guitar as quickly as possible. If I can't do that then I'll sing a melody and ideas into my phone.
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
There are so many artists, there are no limits. It could be rock, hip hop, dance music, funk, jazz it really doesn't matter. To list artists would probably take up a few pages. It's not one group of artists, it's just music in general. But if I go back to the artists that influenced me as a teenage kid then they are the artists that influenced my early stages as a musician. And these are the artists who continued to influence me over the years I guess:
The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and their solo projects, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Metallica, The Velvet Underground, Pixies, Nirvana, Joy Division, New Order, Burt Bacharach, GNR, Beastie Boys, Kenny Rogers, Echo and The Bunnymen, The Smiths, The Cure, Oasis, Stone Roses, Fleetwood Mac, BRMC, Primal Scream, The Sound, Chemical Brothers, The Charlarans, T-Rex, Public Enemy, David Bowie, The Zombies, Stevie Nicks, Iggy & The Stooges, The Band, The Who, The Prodigy, Ananda Shanker, Unkle, DJ Shadow, The Specials, Ride, Space Monkeys. To name a few haha but the problem is there are so many more and these are just the early ish influences.
What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be its own thing?
I think you go with the base of the recorded version. That's what provides the backbone of the performance. But then the live energy takes over and it's important to allow the freedom to just go with it and express how your feeling / the vibe at the moment.
Has the band toured?
We didn't tour while Andy was fighting his illness. We cancelled three/four tours as the illness would come back. We played two full band live shows around that time. One in L.A. and one in London. Since Andy passed we've played once in London and just got back from two shows at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. But the best show will always be the L.A. show in July 2019. L.A. is where we recorded the album & where we felt at home. I'll never forget that show. People had travelled up from Mexico and down from San Francisco to watch the band and meet Andy in person.
What's up next for the band?
The album release in September and taking the album on the road next year