Vanna Singer Davey Muise: ‘Kids Bleed Music When They Are From Boston’ (INTERVIEW)

After speaking with Vanna vocalist Davey Muise for 20 minutes, it becomes abundantly clear that everything about the band is visceral. It's about the live experience, about the interaction between the band and the fans, the vibrations between the people playing the instruments and the ears processing them.

"I want to smell you, and feel that sweat," the singer tells Noisecreep about Vanna shows. "I want broken bones. That's how you know you been to the show." The vocalist was not advocating violence,but merely suggesting that any sort of accidental show injuries are war wounds that lead to memories of your youth and passion for music. "You can tell that story forever," he said.

Vanna will release their latest album, The Few and Far Between, on March 19.

Pick one song on the new album and put us inside it. Share an intimate detail or a writing or recording story.

The song that I want people to check out is 'I Said I'm Fine.' That whole stereotype of young, angsty kids wearing a lot of black and separated from the norm has parlayed itself into our adult life. We're okay with us not being part of normal society and doing things different. We are those people. Maybe we were subconsciously rebelling but that's how we live our lives now.

It's basically saying, 'We're good. You can stay away from us. We're not going to change. Maybe you're what's not right.'

We have a guest vocalist, Great American Ghost, from back home, who is one of my best friends. He is a dude at home, in a band that doesn't tour much. He used to tour manage our band. He lives his life that way at home and we live that way on the road. It is how we all live and we don't make apologies. We're not rebellious teens. We are adults living our alternate lifestyle. [The song] is telling you, 'It's fine, it's okay, leave us alone, we're cool, this is how we'll be forever.'

You wrote the new record on the road -- how did that factor into the end result and the product that's about to make landfall at record stores.

We were on the road for 10 months of the year on 2012, and that is reflected in the record. Being tired. Being angry and out of our minds. Dealing with people at home and with family. We had a mobile rig on whatever van or bus we happened to be on. We wrote angry riffs and it's reflected in the music.

I was writing lyrically on the road, too, but wasn't setting it to the songs. We recorded at home. We prepared while on the road, but we actually recorded at home. All the on the road stuff and at home stuff got to me and converged into one big mess of whatever. That produced such a fast and angry and hard record for us. I am glad it happened the way it do. We didn't take a month off to write and record.

And you got a visceral record out of it.

Yes, it was the best way to produce something. Who knows what it would have been like if we had time off. It would be an entirely different record.

What else do you do besides Vanna. Do you have any hidden hobbies or talents or skills?

I have been barbering and cutting hair for two or three years. I cut hair on tour. I apprenticed for a while. I worked in a shop, but we tour so much that I stopped. I cut hair at home and on tour.

When you are in a band, you don't make money. That might be a news flash for some people. When you tour, you find other ways to survive. You find things you love to do that will make money outside of the band. You discover things about yourself that you didn't know, when you have time to discover them.

Boston is such a fertile musical ground. From your perspective, as a native, what's going on in that scene right now? It's always so burgeoning.

There is always something there. In the late '90s, it was violent and the hardcore scene was overrun by violence, which is not to say that's not part of angry music. Kids bleed music when they are from Boston. They are more dedicated, and playing shows is there is like coming home to a giant family. When Vanna first started, the scene needed something, and the bands that came out, like On Broken Wings and Therefore I Am, those acts, helped mold this niche, that gap between post-hardcore, hardcore, metal and brought it altogether. We would not choose to be from anywhere else but New England.

From what you've said, Vanna are a band best experienced in the live realm.

I'd rather have our band be respected than be huge. It's aggressive, hard and fast and if you can relate to that passion, then this is the first Vanna record you should pick up, if you haven't already. As for our fans, read those words. But come out to a show and make that connection with the band, over that song you spin nonstop in your room or in your car. Let the aggression out with the people who made that song you love. You can share it with us live. Yes, CDs are great, but if you don't go to the live show, you're not going to get that same feeling.

The Few and the Far Between will hit stores on March 19 and is now available for pre-order at the iTunes Store.

Vanna tour dates:

Every Time I Die, The Acacia Strain, Hundreth, No Bragging Rights Tour

March 14 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza

March 15 – Boston, MA – Royale Boston

March 16 – Allentown, PA – Crocodile Rock

Vanna and Norma Jean Australia Tour Dates

(w/Safe Hands)

May 2 – Brisbane, Australia – The Hi Fi

May 3 – Brisbane, Australia – The Hi Fi

May 5 – Melbourne, Australia – The Corner Hotel

May 7 – Adelaide Australia- Fowlers Live