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Vain was formed in the 1989 by lead vocalist Davy Vain. The bands first release “No Respect” received much critical acclaim, and was recently voted as one of the top 5 essential albums of the 80’s era by Kerrang magazine. However, despite a loyal following of fans from the San Francisco Bay Area and a quality record, Vain failed to reach the level of success they worked so hard to attain. As the record companies spawned commercially produced hair metal clones, Vain resisted moving to L.A. and surrendering their creative works to the “man.” They felt they were good enough to get signed right from where they stood. Looking back, Davy feels this may have not been the smartest strategy, but it did give them the opportunity to make the record they wanted to make, and the band has remained a band, as well as friends, for close to 17 years. Plus, their legion of fans has never forgotten them. For that they are grateful and consider everything they do from here on out a “gift.” The band line up consists of Ashley Michell-bass, Jamie Scott-guitar, Danny West-guitar, Louie Senor-drums, and the uncompromising Davy Vain on vocals and guitar.
I talked to Davy about the new record “On the Line,” their live shows and the future of Vain. So kick back, and stay awhile…
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So what prompted the re-union?
It’s not really a reunion, it just seems like it. People think it’s a reunion but, I’ve been playing with Ash and Louie this whole time. We had another guitar player that played some tracks on our last album, which was just called “Davy Vain.” He left to go do his own band, and I was doing some studio production stuff and I started producing some stuff for Danny (West) that he was working on and I said, “yeah, we don’t have a guitar player right now, so if ya wanna come down and jam sometime…” so he did and jammed on a couple of tracks. In the meantime we got offered this tour, we were putting out this record anyway, so it really wasn’t a reunion.
Of the songs that are on the new record “On the Line,” is it all new material or are there some songs that may have been shelved for a while and then resurrected?
Mostly all of it is new material, but “Slave” is an older song, and “Lie for Love” is a song we were playing around ’92, but the rest of ‘em are all new.
Have you been touring/playing recently, and any plans to get to the East coast?
We’d like too. Maybe next year, but right now, we’ve just been playing around here because of the European tour, so…
How have the crowds been? Have there been new, younger fans as well your older, core fans?
They’ve been really, really cool. We’ve been surprised by how many kids have been coming to the shows. Actually Kerrang magazine put out an article last summer that listed their Top Five choices of “essential” rock records from the 80’s era, and they were Def Leppard’s “Pyromania,” Motley’s first record, Poison’s “Look What the Cat Dragged In”, GnR’s “Appetite for Destruction” and then our album, “No Respect.” So, a lot of kids were like, “I gotta check this out!” So that’s really cool. We did have a lot of really young fans and of course those people who were at our first shows in like ’89 who were like kids and now they are 10, 13 years older. So, it was great. (Ed note: More like 16-17 years, but who’s counting right?)
On your solo album, released in 2000, “Davy Vain-In from Out of Nowhere,” did you work with other musicians outside of the members of Vain?
Everyone calls it a solo album, but it was really just another Vain record. I didn’t do anything different on that one than this one except I played a little more guitar maybe on the last album. We just called it that because of the rock resurgence thing going on with the bands from our era. Some bands were going out and playing these really shitty shows and not caring. They were saying “Hey, people wanna see our band, why don’t we re-group, practice 3 times and maybe we can get laid or something” (laughter). We didn’t want to fall into that category. We’re in it for music and the love of doing it, not just for the sake of trying to “make it” or for attention or anything. So we said why don’t we call this record “Davy Vain” so this way we could play some new songs at the shows and well, I guess we over thought it a little, but if people wanna call it a solo record, that’s fine, but it really isn’t.
In regards to writing, how does the band approach getting new songs down?
I write the music. I write the song like on guitar then let the rhythm section guys throw their vibe in on it. The lyrics we get done about 50%, and then I’ll keep working on them.
Your vocals are outstanding, what do you do to keep your pipes in top form?
Thank you. I just try to take care of myself, ya know. I try not to fry it or damage it too much by screaming too hard. I take big breaks. I’m really careful. I pace myself at rehearsals. Especially when we do older songs at the live shows, my voice has naturally gotten lower over the years, and it’s a lot thicker sounding now compared to those earlier songs off “No Respect” which were mostly higher all the time. So I have to try to stretch them out. It’s kinda like if you’re running, or working out. If you go out and sprint everyday, you’re not gonna make it, but if you slowly build yourself up, it’s like perfect.
When did you discover your vocal talent and at what age did you decide music was the road you wanted to pursue?
It’s kinda strange, cause I grew up in a family of singers. My Mom was a professional singer and she’s from Holland. She was touring these European cities with her sister (who was also a singer). They both met American Military guys and moved back here.
My Mom’s sister’s daughters became singers too. I always appreciated it, but I wanted to mess around on guitar and stuff like that. But I think when I really, really got serious, like around age 18, I decided this is really what I wanna do.” Before that, I was around so many pros, I just thought “I’ll don’t know if I can do it like them,” ya know? So I really just tried to belt it out, and started singing and playing the guitar. My first band was with these two other 18 year old guys. We hooked up with this older “Hendrix” kinda dude who was burnt out and high all the time, but he ripped it up on guitar and he had a rehearsal place and PA equipment and stuff. We were just kids, so we thought “Oh cool!” We called the band “The Brats.” When we got together and this guy just jammed riffs I asked him, “Well what do I do?” He said, “Just make something up.” We never copied anything or played covers, so my first musical experiences were writing and playing original stuff. Then we found out that there was a band in NY called “The Brats” so we changed our name to “The West Coast Brats.” Unfortunately, things didn’t work out and we all got in a big fight and I was really pissed and I wanted to get revenge on the guys who betrayed me. I couldn’t just sit around the house, so I thought, “I’ll start my own band!” I picked up my guitar and practiced and practiced everyday and wrote songs until I formed Vain. At that point I said, “Okay, this is it, we’re gonna do everything exactly the right way and everyone in the band is in it all together.” This way if for some reason I never make it I won’t look back and say, “Oh, I should’ve done this or that differently or played with that guy or I shouldn’t have compromised.” So it was us 5 guys, all friends from our little home-town. It was really cool.
Why did you resist moving to L.A.? That seemed to be the place to be to get signed at the time?
Well the main reason was, we had created a buzz in the Bay area. People would come to the shows and have so much fun. They loved all the songs. When we’d write songs, we’d write songs for them, we could see how they reacted to it. We got offered to go to L.A. by labels. We just thought we would be betraying all our fans. We thought we should be able to get signed out of here (SanFrancisco). We’re good enough. Strategically, looking back now, it probably wasn’t the smartest idea, because it took us longer to get signed. The record company we went with didn’t have that much power as far as promotion to compete with other labels. But, they did give us the freedom to make the record we did, and you probably wouldn’t be talking to me right now if it wasn’t for that. Most of the major labels interfered with a bands creative control.
I really dig the song “Slave” tell us about that.
That almost didn’t make it to the record. That was one of the last one’s we recorded. It was an older song. We had played it at practice but never recorded it, except for on a cassette. We played it about 50 times and kept listening to it. We played it a little more dreamy, not quite as up tempo. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It was pissing me off. It just wasn’t working for me, I said “let’s forget this one.” The guys in the band were like, “Dude, just keep fucking doing it, it’s so fucking cool, you sound so powerful, just keep trying it.” I kept getting more and more pissed. So I sang it as hard as I could and made it more and more raunchy.
Well, it turned out great! What about “Drag Me”?
That’s probably my favorite. The way it came out sonically. I look at songs more like an artist, how it was recorded, sound and texture and stuff. “Turns to Sand” is the rhythm section guys favorite song. They said I could not record without them present for any part of that song. They drove me crazy, cause a lot of times I’d be going in there by myself or with one other person. They were so intense. In fact when I did my guitar solo (the one at the end) I did it at like four in the morning. It was one of the last things, and they were like “you gotta do it again,” like they were producing me. They’ve heard me play it so many times cause we’d been playing that song for a long time at like jam sessions and stuff. Finally my drummer went and crashed on the couch, he was all spaced out from playin’ all night and couldn’t drive home. That’s when I laid down the guitar solo. I woke him up at like 5am and said “It’s done, it’s cool I’m outta here, let’s go Ash.” He was like “No man, let’s hear it, I wanna hear it.” So we listened to it and he goes, “Oh dude, you can blow that away.” I said, “No way man, you’ve been asleep for two hours, I’m not doing it again.” “Come on dude, one more time, I know you can do it better.” I was like, “FUCK!” So, I strapped the guitar back on for a few more takes. He was like “Yeah, that’s how you usually do it.” Now every time he hears that song he calls me and says “Just listen to that solo, aren’t you glad you re-did it, you’ll never do a better one.”
What about the tour you did with Skid Row back in the day?
That was a great tour. A cool thing was the show we did with them at Hammersmith Odeon in London, it was the fastest sell-out ever (next to Queen) cause they announced the show at the last minute. The review we got afterward was that we had the best crowd reaction for an opening band since Van Halen opened for Black Sabbath. It was pretty cool. And hey we didn’t have Bon Jovi helping us over here…so…!!! (laughter) I bump into “Snake” Sabo once in a while. He’s a really nice person & cool guy.
What bands do you have the most respect for?
From back in the day, probably Guns n’ Roses, who I thought did it right, ya know. Their first record especially. The classic bands like Aerosmith and the Stones, and stuff that was so good. I listened to the Cure too. I tried to explore more of the stuff I hadn’t listened to, like old Beatles records, and stuff. It was hard to get jacked-up on the new Love/Hate record, or whatever.
Is there anything you’d still like to accomplish in your career?
More producing, and keep making even better records. We feel that everything we do from here is like a little “gift.” When you play rock & roll at the intensity level we have for so long, like our shows are really “athletic,” (ha, ha) Everyone is getting older and who knows, they may decide to go off and do something else, or “retire.”
But, ya know, it’s sort of like there’s more purity to it now more than ever. We were always really careful when we were younger, we really wanted to be rock stars, we really wanted to make it, but on our own terms. We were arrogant. That’s why the early stuff was so good. We didn’t sign with anyone who was gonna turn us into a commercial band like Warrant.
So when we go out there now, it’s not to prove something. It’s just for the purity of playing. We know if we tour and do some great shows, we’re not gonna end up the biggest band in the world. We know the reality. That’s just not gonna happen.
But we mean a lot to a lot of people, and we have a lot of love for them. We don’t do this just for us, but for them. They stuck with us for so long. We don’t ever want to sell them short, we keep the quality high. We don’t ever wanna say, “hey we can save more money if we record this fast and put it out.” We don’t want people to buy the record and go “Awe, this sucks.” We thank everyone for the extra love & support they’ve always given us.
Any words of advice for our readers?
If you’re thinking about going into the music business kids, stay in college! Don’t make the same mistake Davy Vain did. (Laughs)
Thanks for talking with me, Davy. Good luck with the new record, like I said I love it and it’s been in my CD player for weeks.
Thank you.
Davy asks where I’m from and we get on the topic of Vain possibly playing a show in NY City next year, and then on to the Buffalo Bills, and how football must be like a religion up here. I don’t argue that point, cause unless you ski or snowmobile, there’s not much else to do all winter except get drunk, watch football and of course, visit glam-metal.com as often as possible, jam the new Vain record and as the last track off “On the Line” states…Keep Shining On!!!!!
visit www.davyvain.com
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