Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: We all came from Langley, BC, Canada (kind of a burb of Vancouver). We were all drawn to playing because our parents were such huge fans of music and it was a good way to stay out of trouble.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: I’ve had a handful of lessons and I know Kirk (guitar) and Nolan (drums) were taking them for a few years as youngins, but I think we really started honing our craft when we escaped formal training and were simply left to our own devices. That’s where it starts to really get fun, and that feeling goes on forever.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘The Vidos’?
A: For me it was Fall Out Boy, Nirvana, and the White Stripes. I remember when I met Kirk he was really into supershredders, like Joe Satriani and the guy from Whitesnake hahaha. And Nolan was really influenced by Chad Smith from the Chilis. We decided on the name The Vidos when we were in high school and watching “Viva La Bam”; Bam has this uncle he calls Don Vito and we all used to joke that Kirk’s grandpa looked like him. The name stuck, and we 100% still call Kirk’s grandpa “Vito”.
Q: You have just released your new album, ‘Right In The Kisser!’. Is there a story behind it?
A: There’s certainly a lot of recurring themes in it, but once again we were just trying to stay out of trouble, this time during the pandemic (stop me if you’ve heard that before) in our Toronto apartment. For the most part we avoided topics that were too on-the-nose about the state of the world and focussed more on the effect it was having on us mentally, or I’ll at least speak for myself — how it brought forward some stuff I may have been repressing because I’d previously been staying busy enough to compartmentalize it. A lot of the album ended up being us trying to GET busy again by working through all that stuff, kind of killing two birds with one stone. It worked, for the most part. I feel better now. Stuff gets way less scary when you turn it into a catchy little tune.
Q: What is the message of your music?
A: Hmm. Don’t take it, or yourself, too seriously. This is supposed to be fun.
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: Well, I think we want it all to resonate for whatever reason suits the individual listening to it. We wanna connect to people in a very honest way, we wanna make em laugh and stuff. The fact that we are looking for validation and gratification is absolutely present in the songs a lot of the time and we want that to resonate, too. We’ve been jokingly describing our sound as “sludge pop” but I think it’s beginning to stick. We might start a movement!
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: That really depends on the day. It’s easy to get distracted by the Instagram algorithm hiding your stuff from your fans all the time and stressing about deadlines (sorry we’re late for this interview, by the way) and all that but when I ever get a day, usually once or twice a week, when I’m able to just enjoy the fact that I’m making the music I wanna make with my two best boys I don’t really need any of that other crap. Pretty simply answer, I know, but I mean it. And I am a simp.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: It’s changed over the years, but typically either Kirk or I will bring an idea to the table and we’ll sort of just email it around to each other with the parts we come up with for it until it’s either a jumbled mess or a complete banger. From there Nolan and I will have what’s called a “beer couch” where we drink beer on his couch, open up the song in GarageBand, and start cutting all the fat until we have a product we’re comfortable approaching our producer with.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: It’s tough to say. None of us love being on social media that much to begin with and the diminishing returns that are starting to come with it (lower engagement, needing to sponsor posts just to reach our fans) can be a pretty big bummer. I don’t know if that’s the most difficult thing but it’s definitely what makes me want to sleep all day sometimes.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: Finishing this record was probably one of the biggest feelings of accomplishment we’ve ever experienced as a band. It was a long journey from conception to reality and it still feels trippy that it’s out in the world. I feel like I’ve heard a million bands say that before but it doesn’t hit until it’s yours. We’re extremely proud of this album and we hope you’ll like it very much.
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