CheekyChicago

Kansas City band Vedera played in front of a packed House of Blues Monday night. The pop-rock group (Kristen May – vocals, piano, guitar; Brian Little – guitar; Jason Douglas – bass; Drew Little – drums) performed songs from their debut album, Stages, including “Loving Ghosts,” “Satisfy,” and “We Sing.”

After their set, Cheeky sat down with the band to discuss their love for Chicago, their favorite reality TV shows, how the band has grown, and – of course – their cheekiest moment the week.

Cheeky: What do you love about Chicago?

Kristen May: Shopping! There’s a lot more shopping in Chicago than Kansas City. The second time we came here, we just rode the El all day and night, and got to check out all the cool shops.

Brian Little: The El itself is a super cool thing about Chicago – you can get anywhere – it’s like New York in that sense. Kansas City (where we live) wants to be [that accessible] but it needs that transportation!

Cheeky: How’s the tour going? Do you find that you appeal to a certain demographic when you’re doing all-ages shows like the one tonight?

Vedera: The tour so far has been amazing. It’s been a great fit for us; the bands have been diverse. Jack [Mannequin]’s crowd is cool – very receptive. We’ve done a lot of different tours. We did a short run with The Wallflowers where the majority of the audiences were older and the crowd was awesome there too, really receptive. And The Fray tour had a really good mix of all ages. It’s hard to say what our actual demographic is.

Cheeky: You’ve been signed to Epic since 2007, but you had an independent release before that. What are the differences between being on your own and being signed to a major label?

Vedera: More opportunity, period. But for us, we weren’t on a big indie [label] and then went to a major label.  Our friend signed us. It was literally, like, he put money into the recording and then we went on tour. That was our agreement. The difference between that and signing to a major [label] – we’re still just touring and doing our own thing. Labels – there’s no easy street. You still have to be proactive.

You still have to have ideas. They have money to put toward those ideas, which helps! But they’re not gonna set up the path for you, so you still have to know what you want, what you want your music to be, what your image is gonna be. A misconception with labels is that they’ve got everything put together and you get in there and they’re making something for you.

Cheeky: You got a lot of exposure from [reality TV show] The Hills. What are some of your favorite reality TV shows?

Vedera: Project Runway or Top Chef. Deadliest Catch was pretty good. Jersey Shore (laughs) – that’s the worst show ever.

Is there a song on Stages that speaks to your growth as a band?

KM: For me, I think “Loving Ghosts” has kind of remained. Ever since we wrote it and finished it – and now I still love playing it live. I still relate to the lyrics.

BL: “Satisfy.” It kind of symbolizes what we’ve gone through as a band and what we’ve done and what we’ve changed and been working toward. A piece of that song was on our last album, and we felt like that song was great, but that there was something else that we could do with it. On this new album, we really feel like we’ve hit our stride. I feel like that’s symbolic to how our band has come into its own on this record.

KM: We’re spending a little more time on the melody of things, and the crafting of songwriting. On our last album, we just kind of hopped in the studio and jammed stuff out. It wasn’t as much like, ‘How can the guitars go around the vocals; how can the drums mix with the bass?’

BL: And now I can say we’re really musicians.

Cheeky: So you feel like you’ve really defined your sound.

Vedera: Right now, this is definitely what we’ve been trying to get to. Especially the feeling of the energy of the live sound and the interaction with the crowd. We’re getting closer to getting that energy on a recording.

Cheeky: Does being around each other all the time fuel your creative process?

Vedera: Oh, yeah. A lot of the times we’re driving and someone will want to listen to something. So we’ll all hear what each other are listening to and tap into what we’re feeling. So that translates into writing as well.

Cheeky: Last but not least, what’s the cheekiest thing you’ve done this week?

Drew Little: Today we couldn’t find where we were going and it was freezing – we were waiting outside forever. Brian tried to stop Kristen from walking into an office building.

KM: I was just trying to get warm!… We’re a pretty polite bunch.

DL: Oh, that was crazy.

KM: I know, right? Whoa, rockstars!

JD: Here’s another thing that’s equally as crazy – and by equally I mean not at all – but if we’re in a crowded place like a hotel lobby or something and Brian’s on the other side, we’ll yell, ‘Later Brian!’ to embarrass that person.

KM: We’d rather embarrass someone in our own crew than mess with other people.

DL: The cheekiest thing I did was right before we went on stage – I did a one-hand beer bong.

JD: That was definitively bold, my friend.

Vedera is currently on tour with Jack’s Mannequin.