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Interview by Marco Nicolescu with Bassist Shawn Marquis

“New England post-hardcore group Vanna have spent the last several years on a personal journey, and it’s the experience of living on the road that has helped them to discover who they truly are. After years of relentless touring and musical growth, the band has found balance with A New Hope, both literally and figuratively.

Since the bands formation in 2004 Vanna – Chris Preece (vocals), Nick Lambert (guitar/vocals), Evan Pharmakis (guitar/vocals), Shawn Marquis (bass) and newcomer Chris Campbell (drums) – have built a strong following based on their killer live shows, which helped garner attention from Epitaph Records.” - Epitaph Records

CONFRONT: Can you give us a brief history of the band; how the band was formed etc.?

VANNA: Nick and I both attended and met at Massachusetts College of Art and Evan was dating a friend who went there as well. In 2004 Evan and Nick started writing some guitar parts and recording them on Nick’s computer to drum beats that he made on Reason. I heard the songs and wanted to be part of it so we started writing more and playing to drum machines. From there we just eventually got a drummer and went through other band members for awhile just having fun. We started playing shows in summer 2005 with a different drummer and singer and eventually got heard on purevolume.com by the owner of Epitaph Records and he called us up and everything from there on is history.

CONFRONT: Can you describe what kind of music is at the core of Vanna, for those who are unfamiliar with your band.

VANNA: We don’t have any one genre that we can call ourselves. I don’t want it to sound like we’re SO wacky and reinventing the wheel, cuz we aren’t, but we have been called everything from Metalcore, post-hardcore, screamo, melodic hardcore, etc. In the end all of those are somewhat correct, but you could listen to another band in the same “genre” and they sound nothing like us. We just usually tell people “We’re Rock n Roll.”

CONFRONT: In March of 2009 you released A New Hope. Can you tell us what listeners can expect from this new album?

VANNA: Well, if you have heard our EP and “Curses,” I can describe it as a pretty even mix of both and a little more experimentation, but more catchy hooks. If you haven’t heard us, it’s a fast, heavy, but altogether melodic as a whole. We have songs like “Trashmouth” and “Sleepwalker” that are pretty balls to the wall heavy with some good head-bobbing grooves and some bouncy breakdowns. There are also songs like “Where We Are Now” and “Like Changing Seasons” that are more pop-driven circa 90’s alternative but still have that driving thickness that our heavy songs have too. We really get bored playing any one tempo or style for too long, so we did our best to make this album dynamic so it’s constantly moving you through the songs like a good novel.

CONFRONT: You have been touring the US in support for your latest release. How has the tour been going so far and what is one tour experience you’ll never forget?

VANNA: Tour has been great since we released this album. We were lucky enough to tour with Gwen Stacy, Our Last Night, and In Fear & Faith right before the album came out and that was a great tour with great dudes and really helped us get to more people by the time of the release. We just finished a tour with The Human Abstract, I Wrestled a Bear Once, and Oh, Sleeper which was equally as great and we made a lot of great friends. A great night of that tour was when we played Montreal. After the show we were all pretty much inebriated already so all of the bands went to a dance club to get crazy. Now, we are all metal and hardcore kids so we don’t really “fit in” to the club scene but it was lady’s night so all the girls we were with kept feeding us all free shots and we took over the dance floor by dancing WAY too excitedly to pretty lame music and we even got the whole crowd chanting along with us doing really stupid dances. Then a live band came out that was pretty horrible but we acted like they were rock gods and were stage diving and getting people to chant along and rock out and they were so psyched. Lastly, a really good dj came out and we got real intense and stupid with our dancing but everyone loved it (except for the security who were trying to kick us out) and the dj even stopped and started the music to go along with our idiot chants. I’m not a club type of guy, but with our group of friends it felt so good to know we could step into a foreign club and just own it by being completely confident idiots.

CONFRONT: What can concert goers expect from a Vanna show?

VANNA: Sweat, loud noises, and a lot of energy. We put everything into our shows like our lives depend on it (as it kind of does). We love nothing more than to play our music and go ape-shit on stage and have the crowd put in just as much energy as we do. It’s something I can’t really describe but there is definitely a lot of energy and fun at our shows. We like to get heavy and mean at times and encourage dancing and moshing in every way, but violent kids who just wanna start fights at shows can just stay home. We are all about creating a positive scene and community where people can completely let go and not have to worry about fashion, fitting in, or getting beat up. We just like to fucking party, and we implore everyone to join us.

CONFRONT: As top 40 stations seem to axe on POP how do you get your “name” out there?

VANNA: Constant touring, making friends with everyone, and just being a generally honest person. We realize there’s a lot of ways to “sell” yourself out there and jump on any trend and cash in, but we’re still trying to do it the old fashioned way cuz we still care about what we do and say. I’m not saying we don’t take sponsorships and endorsements, cuz we’re fucking poor and need all the help and exposure we can get, but we realize it’s easy to be hoodwinked by fake bands today and we want people to know that we are NOT one of them. We are 100% honest hard-working musicians who believe what we do completely and that has done pretty well for us so far. We would love to be more popular and on the radio and tv and whatnot, and even though we’re not quite there yet, when we do make it, it will be more on our own terms and that is way more gratifying than making a quick buck and being forgotten about in a year.

CONFRONT: Is there a message you are trying to impart with your music?

VANNA: Like I said before, we are just honest and positive for the most part. Our songs are mostly about life experiences, relationships, coping with death, and tackling personal demons. We have the occasional ficitional song just extracted from a story or thought, but it’s mostly true experience. We haven’t gotten to political as of yet, but that’s not to say we won’t on future recordings.

CONFRONT: How has the notoriety that inevitably comes with a music career changed your lives?

VANNA: Well, we’re still not that well known yet, so we are still cool to walk down the street without getting mobbed by fans. We occasionally get noticed when we’re closer to home or at a mall, but we are still relatively low-key guys who just play music for a living. We don’t ever want to let fame get to our heads because that’s not what this scene used to be about and it’s not who we are. We still talk to and respond to fans online and hang out with people at shows and are always looking to meet more people and make friends. The one thing that is kind of an eye-opener though is when we get emails from fans of our lyrics or likenesses tattooed on their bodies. It’s definitely flattering and we appreciate it SO much, but it also hits a reality check that we are actually connecting and changing people’s lives forever and that’s pretty intense.

CONFRONT: When you are not performing or producing music with Vanna, what occupies your time; be it hobbies or side projects?

VANNA: Well, I had to drop out of art school to do Vanna full time, so I’d LIKE to say that I do my art when I’m home, but I don’t have the money, space, time, or resources these days, so usually I just work a regular job to try to squeak by while I’m not on the road. I also spend a lot of time with my amazing girlfriend and our dog. When your life is a hobby EVERY DAY coming home and living like a regular person IS my hobby and vacation.

CONFRONT: What are some of your musical inspirations?

VANNA: As far as heavy music goes, some of my favorites growing up have been Converge, Every Time I Die, Botch, Glassjaw, Boy Sets Fire, and Cave In. Other than that, I was influenced by a lot of rock bands like Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Faith No More, Incubus, Primus, 311, Smashing Pumpkins, and Soundgarden. I also played a lot in jazz band in high school, so that was definitely and influence on my bass playing style.

CONFRONT: Any future plans you might want to share with the fans?

VANNA: Well, we are about to start a tour as direct support for A Static Lullaby that runs from June to July. After that I think we have August off, and we are working on things that are not set in stone yet for the fall. Hopefully, we will be getting over to Europe by the end of the year too since that’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, and the fans over there have been yelling at us to come over for a long time.

1) First and last album purchased: Michael Jackson – “Thriller”; I don’t have money these days so I can’t even remember the last album I bought

2) First and last concert attended: Radio 104.1 “Big Day Off” ‘96, featuring Superdrag, Orange 9mm, Violent Femmes, Fun-Loving Criminals, Goldfinger, The Nixons, and more!; Taking Back Sunday and Anberlin (we happend to be playing downstairs in the same venue, so we went up and watched most of it)

3) Complete the sentence: I would never…. do heroin?

4) Complete the sentence: I have never… been on a different continent. I would like to soon!

5) What do you want your legacy to be? Something similar to what Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum did in “Independence Day” at the end of the movie, essentially saving the world from complete annihilation.