INTERVIEW WITH VESPER ROSE
BY ELLA BIANCHI
WE HAD THE CHANCE TO CHAT WITH JACK CASH FROM VESPER ROSE AND CHAT ABOUT THEIR BAND DYNAMIC, INSPIRATIONS, NEW RELEASES, AND MORE!
Tell us a bit about Vesper Rose!
Jack Cash: Right now we're a three-piece. It's me on guitar and vocals and Anthony Fierros on drums, and then GeKko on bass. He's our new bass player.
If you had to kind of pitch the band using a mainstream artist for comparison, like who would you say that you guys sound similar to?
I've been hearing a lot of things like early AFI. I would say we're kind of a horror punk band. And that all kind of came about because I was in a couple different bands around two years ago. I was in a band called Mismiths, which was originally like Misfits and Smiths covers that we decided to do for a Halloween show. And everyone wanted to book that. So I did like that kind of circuit for a little bit. And then I did a little bit of an original album of, just heavily influenced by Misfits and Smiths songs. And then I kind of left the band because I wanted to focus on more original stuff, because I had a band called Jack Cash in the Long Haul. And I didn't quite like being a solo-ish artist. I was like, I still want a band. And so that's kind of how Vesper Rose came about where I was like, you know, I want to do horror-ish stuff, but I also want to do more original things, like not having the sound of just Misfits or Smiths. Like, I want to, like, have the Cure influences or My Chemical Romance and AFI, like a couple little more modern things as well.
Were there any artists that you or the band as whole were influenced by you want to shoutout?
The Misfits, MCR, AFI. I love the Doors. That’s another one. Alkaline Trio, of course, they were a big influence on me when I was younger. Our stuff is kind of a little bipolar, I think, because I didn't want to just be yelling and screaming like Misfits stuff the whole time. And I think that's where the sort of Smiths and the Cure kind of come in. Or even, like, Deftones. We have some stuff in, like, Drop D. So everything in that sort of darker realm umbrella, we try to incorporate.
You just released a single “Autumn Leaves” that came out earlier this year. What was the process of writing it?
The intro is like a minute long. It's just this sort of classical thing I have had forever. It just never fit with any band. I had that little lead I wrote as I was watching Danny Elfman's Batman. I was like, I want to borrow a little bit of this for this but it was too metal for most of the bands. And I’m like, but we could.
And then lyrically, it's like stepping away from the bands I mentioned before. “Autumn Leaves” is is only going to last for so long like the season goes. And then winter comes. And then, hopefully, this spring, something else blossoms out of that. And that's kind of what happened with Vesper Rose. I mean, even getting on our new bass player, it was, like, oh, we have all these singles and stuff ready to go. We're going to book shows, and then our bass player out of the blue two or three months ago was like, “I don’t want to do this anymore”. So, we're, like, fuck. And then we met Gecko. And through Gecko, we met Liz.
I need to give Liz a shout out for getting this interview. She's been helping us be more social because all of us in the band are sort of introverts. I would rather work on my pedal board and write songs, but I know we need to be social; it’s not that I want to be anti-social, I want to just go play shows.
What has been the most rewarding part of your career so far?
The biggest pinch-me moment I think I've had is, uh, I was in a band called Downtown Attraction. We had a show in San Francisco. And it was just a really small dive bar. And this guy was, like, “hey, I like your band. I know Mike Klink and I think he would like to work with you.” And I'm a huge Guns N' Roses fan. So, when he said Mike Klink, I was, like, “this guy doesn’t know Mike Clink” but I said sure, whatever, and I gave him my email. A week or two later, sure enough, Mike Klink wants to work with us from Guns N' Roses.
That was a great learning experience, just working with a pro like that. And then also, I think because we're so young as a band that we didn't really, I mean, social media was getting bigger. And also, we were on a small indie label. So, we were kind of, like, “oh, we're working with Mike Klink”. We were ready to go because we were playing House of Blues and having a great draw. And I think because of all that – not that we didn't take it seriously – but I thought, like, “oh, so people are going to be, like, booking shows for us and doing things.” And the label went bankrupt. That album never came out. Mike was a great guy. But, you know, we didn’t have money to think about it. So, we were kind of like, “oh, we're going to finish paying for the record.”
And, you know, I'll still talk to him every once in a while about things.
But that was also a great learning experience of just no matter where you are and whether you're signed or unsigned or if you're doing big shows, you always have to be working. You can't really take a break. And if you are taking a break, then, like, you better be writing a song or you better be working on a demo. As far as Vesper Rose goes, we have some stuff that is recorded with CVD from Buckcherry that's unreleased because I want a band to release it. We have, like, about EP's worth of that. We have four singles of our newest music ready to go. And from the long haul record, we might re-record some things or change things around just because there are some songs I really like and I need to do something with it because they are your babies. And you want to showcase them. So sorry, that was a long-winded pinch me moment.
No, that's awesome. It is really interesting to hear the part about you always having to be working because I come from the theater industry. It is very much the same thing where you better be auditioning for a show or attending workshops and classes. I like hearing about how that overlaps with the music industry.
JC: Yeah.
And I hear that you guys have some plans to release some more music soon. Is there anything that, like, you want to, like, tease or talk about with some of your upcoming projects?
So, the next two singles coming out, like I said, I think we're, Horror Punk is kind of our catalyst for songs. So, the next songs, I don't know if we'll release two at the same time, but we have “Bloody Mary” and “The Wolf Man:”. “Bloody Mary” is a little closer to a more punkish version of a Smith song. It is essentially about a guy who's just sort of so miserable in this relationship that he calls on Bloody Mary. “The Wolf Man” is basically about a guy who cheated on a girl and then she cursed him and now he is the wolf man. It’s a little more stoner punk, rock ‘n roll so I’m excited.
Speaking a little bit more on other projects, I saw that you have some shows over the next few months in California. Is there anything specific audiences can expect from a live performance or anything that you are really excited to show to people?
I am really excited just to showcase Gecko. He's a great bass player. He fits in really well. After two songs I was like, “this guy’s got the job, I really hope he likes us”. We are going to be playing with Project Skeleton on March 23 which is Daniel DeLeon from Resurrects so if they have any psychobilly fans…
We are also playing with The Decades. They are going to open up the show. We played with them last weekend at Harvell’s and they are really great. It is kind of like if The Strokes were a little more dangerous. They all come out in suits and they make a perfect circle, then it’s this sort of punk thing. The singer comes out in a ski mask and I was like, “this is awesome”.
The next big show is going to be at Bar Sinister with Fangbanger on May 31. We are all really excited about that one just because Bar Sinister has a built-in crowd so it’s probably going to be a bigger show. It’s kind of the goth coliseum of Los Angeles.
Do you have a dream venue?
The Palladium. It is bigger than the club but you can be anywhere in The Palladium and enjoy the show. If you are not all the way up front, you can enjoy it from the corner. I just love the way it’s built.
I love that answer!
What part of doing live shows do you find the most rewarding? Is there a specific aspect that fulfills you the most?
The way I usually gauge if a show is good if we go there – especially if there is not a lot of people — is not if everyone is cheering when you are done playing, but if they are just… watching you. In Hollywood, at least they are interested because usually if they don’t like you they are talking and being loud or on their phone. But if people are engaged or if the bouncer is like, “I hope you guys come back” because they see people all the time.
I think that is a really great gauge.
Is there anything you hope audiences take away from the experience of seeing you live or do you just hope they have a fun night?
I hope it’s something that is exciting. If I go to a show and I see a guitar player or a singer that is just killing it I’m like, “wow, they were so good, I need to go home and practice”. I enjoy that.
What do you hope the future holds for Vesper Rose?
I think we would all like it to get a point where we don’t have day jobs. I don’t want to say get a record deal or something because I don’t necessarily think you need that anymore. I mean, we are lucky enough to have a studio we’ve been recording at a reasonable price that has great production so we have been doing a great job of DIY-ing everything.
As far as the summer goes, we look forward to just releasing music and playing anywhere and everywhere. Hopefully by the fall — like when Halloween season comes around — people are like, “oh, it would be great for Halloween if Vesper Rose came around”. Maybe we’ll do some Misfits or some more horror punk stuff.
We just want to get bigger. It would be nice to get on tours. Maybe Warped Tour will do well this year and they’ll bring it back because that would be great. I would love to get on Warped Tour.
Those all sound like great achievable goals! Is there anything else you’d like to say before I let you go?
Follow us on Instagram (@officialvesperrose) because that’s what the powers that be want. I have gotten a great response from friends in the business but almost all of them say you need social media numbers.
