Vinyl Theatre Interview

[EXCLUSIVE] INTERVIEW with VINYL THEATRE | “Never give up, never surrender.” | March 2, 2016

by • March 3, 2016

Calmes’ cheeks are stained an aqua-teal as dye drips down his grinning face, a sweat-soaked t-shirt adorning his figure. A sure juxtaposition of the stark GQ-esque pictures from the band’s latest press photos. These images find the lead singer lounged in a mod white chair, leg draped over the edge with a hand cooly rested in his hair; James Dean if he had entered The Matrix.

“Yeah, I definitely have a social media persona and a stage persona and then a real me. People don’t want the real me, I’m too cynical. So you put on a face and make it work. The songs are real, though, that’s what really matters.”

Keegan Calmes, vocalist and guitar for Vinyl Theatre, gives an answer to my prodding of a tweet I extracted from the depths of his feed, “Twitter me is not the real me.” A strikingly simple statement under 140 characters that tears at the facade of social media. Calmes’ knows the media world is akin to a game of telephone. Everything created in the well intent of your parent’s basement is subject to the criticism of a cruel audience veiled behind dimly lit computer screens.

“Honestly, the music industry isn’t beautiful if you don’t produce a big hit right away. They start to question how you write, what you write. They lose confidence in you. But you have to stay resilient. Stay true. It starts with bending you again and again. Bending what you believe in or distorting it. And then they can break up what you feel songwriting should be and insert their beliefs, what they think will sell. What they think we should be. Who to copy, who to be like. When the only thing that ever works is being genuinely creative and unique on your own.”

  … the only thing that ever works is being genuinely creative and unique on your own.” 

A distortion of ones’ own art is enough to make any artist jaded, to feel as if creating might not be worth it. Art is still art even if we don’t share it, right? The singer turns a bold face to the beast as he poignantly states,  

“I’m not afraid to create or share as long as I believe in it. There are some people out there that don’t even like the Beatles, [and] they aren’t wrong to have an opinion. People don’t have to love us. We are only trying to give meaning to our time here. That’s all, create, share, inspire, compel. That’s all you can do with your time here, create something worth creating. Worth sharing. Giving the people around you a moment to live in and share with you. And I mean create in the widest sense of the word.”

It’s insulting to use the word brave to define his outlook on the process of creation, as if his journey with the band were only a far fetched dream that hometown locals could pat his head for trying to achieve. It’s not brave. It’s authentic. It’s perhaps, better to say, the pursuit of one’s(his) true self is admirable in the gusting winds of today’s times that we so often have to push against. A path which took him a while to find.

“I’ve hit my breaking point recently. I don’t want to spend my life compromising. I want these songs to be real. I’m excited for the next record. It’s going to feel real.”

Chris Senner, keyboardist, animates the same feeling that the new album will be a closer rendering to the foundation they started the group on.

“The new material is a lot more personal. We’re spending more time digging into deeper concepts, not that we haven’t before but it’s been a different process now that we are a three piece.”

The shift in numbers is due to Josh Pothier, former bassist, amicably splitting from the band at the beginning of this year. Senner states, “It was definitely different preparing as three people but there’s room on the stage now to move around, a bit more, and we have to rely on each other to keep up the same energy which is a good challenge.”

A change in personnel usually constitutes cause for concern. Will the remaining members overcompensate to distance themselves from the former? Will fans rally around a new sound? Chris alleviates any eyebrows furrowing with worry. “It was cool playing the new song, ‘My Fault’, because we weren’t sure what to expect and about 30 seconds into the song we were getting the reaction to it that we get to ‘Breaking Up My Bones’, except no one had ever heard this one.” His features are lit by a small, buzzing green room light and lightened even more by the obvious warmth the crowd’s response has given him. It might be easy to get distracted in the tight quarters The Social in Orlando provides for bands to rest between sets with stickers of other artist’s vulgar monikers assaulting your eyes. However, Chris sits patiently with me, unaffected by the dizzying display around us.

Chris Senner and I inside the green room at The Social Orlando.

Chris Senner and Sarah Schumaker inside the green room at The Social Orlando.

It is a one-on-one session at the moment because Keegan and Nick are out buying a new van due to lack of space in their old one.

“Yea, we got here to Orlando, our second stop on the tour so far and we opened up the van and our gear just started falling out,” Chris laughs. “Keegan had spent so much of last night packing the van so perfectly and it all tumbled out on us when we pulled up,” he says with a smile, unphased by the unexpected wrench in plans.

The soft spoken keyboardist gets animated as he tells me that this tour, as promised in November, sees them with a lot more onstage: lights, amps, equipment … the works! It must feel like a good problem to have, a sign of growth in performance. Hard enough to believe is the part that these road warriors are still in a sprinter van (like The Fricke Brothers).

With larger tours under their belt, it’s easy to become naive to the arduous journey still ahead for them. “We miss Josh a lot but it was the best decision for him and we are all still close friends but it was always kind of Chris and Keegan and I in the beginning,” drummer Nick Cesarz lets me know while catching up with him after the show. “We’re excited for what’s ahead. It feels like we are getting back to our roots. We would love to play some festivals this summer. Lollapalooza would be huge.”

The Chicago festival is famed for its three, now four, day musical extravaganza housing some big names. Huge, indeed. And as I hear him say that, my mind reels at the absence of their name from already announced festival lineups for 2016. It occurs to me, in this moment, that I’ve spent the majority of my time since discovering them, making them superhuman (Chris’ ability to play the keyboard in a one-hand handstand is pretty impressive), placing them on a pedestal of having already achieved their version of monumental success. It’s easy enough to project, as fans, concert-goers, consumers, onto our favorite bands a skewed view of how “all fun and games” their lifestyle may seem. We can be blind to the fact that these people onstage, who turn us out hoarse and so full love have lived a lifetime before we knew them in this identity.

Keegan found success as a distance runner early on in life. Success that could’ve easily led him to a stellar career and some shiny shelf candy.  

 I think running is one of the most selfish sports in the world, honestly.” 

“I put my training before anything else, my run, my future in an individual sport came first. I feel like in those years I slept and trained, I didn’t live as much as I could and I definitely didn’t share enough happiness with my family. The day I pursued music for good I found myself with my family more and spending time I didn’t even have with the people I care about. Running is a great sport, it’s something that takes tireless dedication whilst being constantly exasperated. But there is not much more to it but the fact that you will find yourself doing it for self-improvement. It rarely improves the lives of those around you. You get used to saying no to a lot of people and things because it could compromise your training you’ve worked so hard to maintain.”

“I feel whole now. And, for the record, I don’t regret my selfish time as a runner.”

His candid nature is lemonade on a hot Summer’s day, a well-earned outlook he’s forayed into his musical endeavors.

“I had enough miles in my life. I just wanted to have the energy and time to create. I spent so much time in my head all those miles, I needed to get it out there and share what I had gone through in my head.”

All these past experiences have brought the band to an organic place of creation. Chris and Keegan, both name the new material a bit edgier but more themselves than ever before.

“Yeah, the darker side. I suppose that’s a good way to say it. It’s real me,” the vocalist conveys.

Raw and unapologetic. They’ve dipped into some inkwell inspiration taking notes from fiction novels such as 1984 by George Orwell and Anthem by Ayn Rand.

“Ayn Rand’s Anthem, I had been meaning to read for years and then Nick one day just handed it to me on a flight after he finished it. Seemed kind of destined. It always resonated with me. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because there’s such a fine line between where we are and being right in their shoes. Some dystopian version of our current society is only so far away.”

Themes such as these have stayed with the singer since high school and influenced their latest music videos, “Gold” and “Shine On.” Although we no longer have an MTV countdown to plop ourselves in front of post-work day, music videos are an important medium for us to be able to peer into the band’s brain for approximately three minutes and forty-two seconds and peep a look at just where they were coming from when writing a song. Another platform for connection, (no, not Tinder), is the beloved Instagram. Each of the guys have their own account for which I suggest a swift follow for good thoughts, updates, and a few laughs. Within the past couple of months a pattern emerged on Keegan’s page, a common theme of advertisements that were, erm, reaching for the stars; Mars, to be more exact. Posted for all his followers to see is his fascination with recent advances in making space travel more attainable for humans.

“I wish I could be an astronaut. I have just dedicated my life to something else and it isn’t feasible,” he spills.

I quote back to him the famous line my Dad never lets me forget from widely (UN)acclaimed 1999 space film, Galaxy Quest. “Never give up, never surrender.” An inspiration at the time, considering the Millennium’s impending doom, I think. He concurs it’s a true quote.

Looking at the three guys in front of me, an unsettling feeling of deja vu creeps in; a feeling like a haunt — an overwhelming sensation that I have met them in this form before. I recognize that it’s no accident I have spent the past few months combing over festival lineups that always seem to leave me with a sense of emptiness when I come to the bottom of the list. Every lineup is bereft of that spark sure to make the saved money from late-night shifts, early morning calls, and lunches skipped, worth every second. I hold them to the promise of seeing them at Lollapalooza 2016 as we hug goodbye — smiles abundant in a sweaty room.

Perhaps, it’s a tad unfair of me to cuckold them into the pressure of performing at this event, but this band is more than a festival slot, bigger than its members; unbothered by Earthly possessions. Their sights are set on the intangibles, not of this world. The ideas we can feel rather than hold. 

A concert on Mars?

“The so very distant future,” Keegan chuckles.

Another famous spaceman once said, “To Infinity and beyond.”

I’ll be there with bells on.

Catch them on the rest of the “ONES TO WATCH Tour” with Finish Ticket and IronTom!

Grab your tickets here >> Vinyl Theatre Tickets 🙂

Vinyl Theater Interview 2016 by Sarah “Sweaty Septum” Schumaker.
Vinyl Theater Live Concert Photos from The Social Orlando by Elizabeth Bates. Check out her work at Elizabeth Bates Photography

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