Sierra Kusterbeck - VersaEmerge (12/02/2012)
We recently spoke with VersaEmerge’s vocalist Sierra Kusterbeck about their upcoming spot on the Soundwave tour, and their yet-to-be released album.
Hey Sierra, this is Beth speaking.
Hello, how are you?
I’m good. How are you?
Good, just chilling, drinking a hot chocolate!
So to start off, what have you guys been up to since your release of Santa Baby just before Christmas?
We’ve basically just been writing the new record and getting a dose of normal life, which is very weird. But mainly working on the record and really working on our vision for the record and kinda just developing ourselves in a way. We want this record to be in a certain way, so we’re taking the time to develop exactly what it is that we want the record to be and hear and make sense of.
How has your writing process been for this album in comparison to your earlier works?
It’s different you know, on the last album we took so much time on each song because Blake (Harnage) is very particular and he is such a perfectionist. He even thinks it’s a curse but he is such a perfectionist that he would take so much time on everything for the last record so we didn’t write as many songs, we kind of really just worked on a handful of songs and those are what you hear. And for this record we know it’s going to be different but we wanted to try things now that we’re more comfortable writing, we’ve done it before, wanted to let loose and let our shoulders down and kind of just like “alright, let’s chill and lets write some music and see what happens.”
And that’s what we did, and now we have 40 songs. It’s pretty different, and this album is different as well.
Where do you think the biggest inspirations and influences for this album has come from?
Definitely a lot of visual things and not many things that we’ve been listening to. It’s mostly things that we see. A lot of our inspiration is retro-futuristic, from sci-fi like vintage sci-fi movies. A lot of Stanley Kubrick films, especially 2001: Space Odyssey, a lot of Hitchcock films. And just super vintage sci-fi, especially outer space illustrations and just different perceptions of outer space, from back in the day. It kind of has this effect on us and we just really love it. Anything to do with space and science, and twisting and turning buttons, flashy lights, it just consumes us.
So you guys have been getting ready to head down to Australia, and it’s your first time down here?
It is our first time, and I am so flippin’ excited!
Is there anything you’re specifically looking forward to seeing or doing?
I mean we’re just ready to play shows, because we’ve been home for so long and we haven’t been on stage in a while.
It’s awesome that the first show we get to play in 2012 is in Australia so I think we’re doing okay. We’re pretty excited! Like we sit here and talk about Australia, we’re like “oh my god, we’re gonna go, we’re gonna play, we’re gonna see kangaroos and koalas hot surfer boys.” And talking to people that live there, you guys live there!
So are you going to get your photo taken with a koala while you’re here?
I believe so, I know that a lot of bands that go always have pictures like laying with the kangaroo. And I’m just like “I don’t know where they are or how they do that, but we’re doing that too!”
Yeah definitely, it’s one of the things you have to do.
Yeah, I’m really excited! But I do know that on some of the off days we have shows, so I hope we have time.
Who are you looking forward to seeing in the Soundwave line-up?
Limp Bizkit. I actually, you know what I need to Google that right now because I’ve read the line-up but my memory is that of a gold fish so I don’t exactly remember who’s on it. But I do know that a lot of our friends like Conditions and Cobra Starship are playing. I’m looking up the line-up right now. Yeah, a lot of our friends are going to be out there, so it’s going to be a psycho mess of a reunion!
A big party!
Oh yeah, and I’ve heard that Australian’s like to party. Marylin Manson, holy shit, I never thought I’d see him live! Angels and Airwaves are going to be there. Cobra, You Me At Six, we’re good friends with those dudes they’re going to be there. Oh Unearth is going to be there? Holy shit, I need to look at this lineup more. Circa Survive is going to be there, oh god. Circa Survive is one of my favourite bands of all times, that’s going to be amazing!
Now you guys opened for The Fueled By Ramed 15th Anniversary concert. How was that performance?
It was a lot of fun, and it was really just a good feeling because we were celebrating for our label, which is pretty new for us and it was cool to be a part of. I had so much fun there just hanging out with everybody from the label, like Travie, and all the Cobra dudes and A Rocket To The Moon. We’re all such good friends and it was fun to just hang out and play together. And also because we’ve been home writing, we haven’t played in so long so it was really nice to get on stage!
Over the years, you guys have toured with some pretty big names, and had some big tours yourselves, has there been a moment that’s really stood out to you as really memorable?
There are so many, with all the crazy things happening on tour. It wasn’t at our show but since I have Circa Survive in my mind right now, so. At South By Southwest (music festival in Austin, Texas) once, Circa was playing and I made my way to the front of this really little venue called Red7 and I stood up on a speaker singing every word. Anthony (Green, lead singer) signalled me to come down on stage, so I kind of leapt off the speaker and rolled onto the stage, and he was like “alright sing this next part” and I was like “Holy shit! Alright I will not let you down. I’ll sing the sh*t outta this!” And I just got up on stage with Circa Survive. It’s definitely one of those things I’ve checked off my life goal list.
I’ve recently heard stories of some of your fans travelling hundreds of miles and across states just to hear you guys play, how does that make you feel?
I didn’t even realise that was happening until people would tell me about it. Because when we tour it’s rough sometimes, so people would be like “I travelled three hours to come” and I was like “really? I just travelled from Texas.”
But then I realised, if you’re going to the show and you’re actually driving and you’re a kid and your parents are taking you that’s pretty awesome! That somebody wants to see us that bad, and it makes us feel, even though we’re out here busting our ass, running ourselves down, that it’s for a reason. People want to see us. People want to come and hear the music and watch the show and let loose and have a good time. And that’s what it’s all about, and it’s great that people are.
What are your plans for the rest of the year, other than working on your album?
We’re definitely going to try to tour, a bunch more. You know hit up America, go back to Europe and the UK. We want to try to hit a bunch of different other countries, like Indonesia and South America.
And plans to come back to Australia?
I hope so. Please invite us. Yeah I wish it wasn’t so far. If you guys were like our next-door neighbours, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t leave. I’d just move there. I mean I live in Florida and I feel like Australia is just a way better version. More exotic!
The band released a live acoustic EP last year. What was the reasoning behind the release, and how was the reception amongst your fans?
It was kind of to put something out there. A lot of people really like our covers and acoustics and I think it’s because it’s totally opposite of our actual music. Our actual music has so much going on, and it’s a lot to listen to, so I think the stripped down version is a nice perspective to hear Versa because it’s totally opposite. Yeah, a lot of people liked our covers and were begging for us to put them on iTunes and we figured “Hey, we have all this time off how about we put our covers together and put them on iTunes, give the people what they want” and we were like ‘oh yeah, that’s a great idea.’
Well it’s certainly different to your earlier works, but still wonderful to listen to.
It is. It’s different too because Blake is such a perfectionist when it comes to everything, so it’s really fun to listen to because when it’s live like that there are little mistakes, little flaws, happening all over the place. It’s not perfect and there’s something very raw that I like about that.
You were saying that Blake’s rather a perfectionist, has that changed the way you approached writing and recording music, or is it something that you’ve just built into the process?
Oh no, it absolutely does. Versa, if I could explain the music, if you take away the vocals and just listen to the music like when you’re recording. It is nothing but perfection in every beat, in every note, in every chord. In everything. Blake is a perfectionist. He calls it a curse, himself. But I think a lot of people would be like “oh it’s just music, just let it go.” But that’s our thing. When you listen to the record you’re not going to hear anything that’s off. And at first, that’s the difference between Blake and I, because he’s a perfectionist and I’m the opposite of whatever a perfectionist is. So we really balance each other out, sometimes he’ll go a little nuts on the little details and I’ll go “just chill, just let it go’’ and he’ll be like “okay okay, you’re right.”
You guys create a really unique sound. Do you have specific bands or artists that you take styles and ideas from?
In the earlier days of VersaEmerge we had a lot of influence from music like The Receiving End Of Sirens, like Circa, and now that we’re a little older and progressed in what we listen to. We definitely have always tried not to take influence from music because, like you said, we want to create a unique sound. And it’s awesome that people think we have a unique sound. Blake’s the one who said this to me, that “don’t listen to bands and then try to copy it, you’ve got to make your own thing. Mush all the stuff you love together and create something unique.” And I’m not saying we’re creating something totally new, that’s never been heard before, but we’re trying to make our own niche because nobody really knows where to place us and I think that’s really good. I think that’s awesome. But right now we’ve been listening to a lot of Deftones and Nine Inch Nails, and Lana Del Ray and more like industrial rock.
That’s certainly different from your earlier influences.
It is going to be different. Imagine Versa, like the Fixed At Zero record, but futuristic. It’s not like you’re going to be listening to a totally different band. It’s the same voice, same weird tonal changes that you heard with Versa, that stuff’s still happening but different instruments.
Well we’ll certainly be looking forward to hearing that.
Alright, final question, If you could plan your dream tour, who would you take with you?
Muse, Crosses and Shiny Toy Guns. That would be fucking awesome!
Well thankyou very much for talking to us today, and we can’t wait to see you guys down in Australia!
VersaEmerge will be performing at Soundwave 2012 and two sidewaves with Lostprophets and Kids In Glass Houses.
TUESDAY 28th Feb – Sydney – The Metro A/A
http://premier.ticketek.com.au
THURSDAY 1st March – Melbourne – Billboard 18+
http://www.oztix.com.au | http://premier.ticketek.com.au | http://www.moshtix.com.au
Bethany Williams
Hey Sierra, this is Beth speaking.
Hello, how are you?
I’m good. How are you?
Good, just chilling, drinking a hot chocolate!
So to start off, what have you guys been up to since your release of Santa Baby just before Christmas?
We’ve basically just been writing the new record and getting a dose of normal life, which is very weird. But mainly working on the record and really working on our vision for the record and kinda just developing ourselves in a way. We want this record to be in a certain way, so we’re taking the time to develop exactly what it is that we want the record to be and hear and make sense of.
How has your writing process been for this album in comparison to your earlier works?
It’s different you know, on the last album we took so much time on each song because Blake (Harnage) is very particular and he is such a perfectionist. He even thinks it’s a curse but he is such a perfectionist that he would take so much time on everything for the last record so we didn’t write as many songs, we kind of really just worked on a handful of songs and those are what you hear. And for this record we know it’s going to be different but we wanted to try things now that we’re more comfortable writing, we’ve done it before, wanted to let loose and let our shoulders down and kind of just like “alright, let’s chill and lets write some music and see what happens.”
And that’s what we did, and now we have 40 songs. It’s pretty different, and this album is different as well.
Where do you think the biggest inspirations and influences for this album has come from?
Definitely a lot of visual things and not many things that we’ve been listening to. It’s mostly things that we see. A lot of our inspiration is retro-futuristic, from sci-fi like vintage sci-fi movies. A lot of Stanley Kubrick films, especially 2001: Space Odyssey, a lot of Hitchcock films. And just super vintage sci-fi, especially outer space illustrations and just different perceptions of outer space, from back in the day. It kind of has this effect on us and we just really love it. Anything to do with space and science, and twisting and turning buttons, flashy lights, it just consumes us.
So you guys have been getting ready to head down to Australia, and it’s your first time down here?
It is our first time, and I am so flippin’ excited!
Is there anything you’re specifically looking forward to seeing or doing?
I mean we’re just ready to play shows, because we’ve been home for so long and we haven’t been on stage in a while.
It’s awesome that the first show we get to play in 2012 is in Australia so I think we’re doing okay. We’re pretty excited! Like we sit here and talk about Australia, we’re like “oh my god, we’re gonna go, we’re gonna play, we’re gonna see kangaroos and koalas hot surfer boys.” And talking to people that live there, you guys live there!
So are you going to get your photo taken with a koala while you’re here?
I believe so, I know that a lot of bands that go always have pictures like laying with the kangaroo. And I’m just like “I don’t know where they are or how they do that, but we’re doing that too!”
Yeah definitely, it’s one of the things you have to do.
Yeah, I’m really excited! But I do know that on some of the off days we have shows, so I hope we have time.
Who are you looking forward to seeing in the Soundwave line-up?
Limp Bizkit. I actually, you know what I need to Google that right now because I’ve read the line-up but my memory is that of a gold fish so I don’t exactly remember who’s on it. But I do know that a lot of our friends like Conditions and Cobra Starship are playing. I’m looking up the line-up right now. Yeah, a lot of our friends are going to be out there, so it’s going to be a psycho mess of a reunion!
A big party!
Oh yeah, and I’ve heard that Australian’s like to party. Marylin Manson, holy shit, I never thought I’d see him live! Angels and Airwaves are going to be there. Cobra, You Me At Six, we’re good friends with those dudes they’re going to be there. Oh Unearth is going to be there? Holy shit, I need to look at this lineup more. Circa Survive is going to be there, oh god. Circa Survive is one of my favourite bands of all times, that’s going to be amazing!
Now you guys opened for The Fueled By Ramed 15th Anniversary concert. How was that performance?
It was a lot of fun, and it was really just a good feeling because we were celebrating for our label, which is pretty new for us and it was cool to be a part of. I had so much fun there just hanging out with everybody from the label, like Travie, and all the Cobra dudes and A Rocket To The Moon. We’re all such good friends and it was fun to just hang out and play together. And also because we’ve been home writing, we haven’t played in so long so it was really nice to get on stage!
Over the years, you guys have toured with some pretty big names, and had some big tours yourselves, has there been a moment that’s really stood out to you as really memorable?
There are so many, with all the crazy things happening on tour. It wasn’t at our show but since I have Circa Survive in my mind right now, so. At South By Southwest (music festival in Austin, Texas) once, Circa was playing and I made my way to the front of this really little venue called Red7 and I stood up on a speaker singing every word. Anthony (Green, lead singer) signalled me to come down on stage, so I kind of leapt off the speaker and rolled onto the stage, and he was like “alright sing this next part” and I was like “Holy shit! Alright I will not let you down. I’ll sing the sh*t outta this!” And I just got up on stage with Circa Survive. It’s definitely one of those things I’ve checked off my life goal list.
I’ve recently heard stories of some of your fans travelling hundreds of miles and across states just to hear you guys play, how does that make you feel?
I didn’t even realise that was happening until people would tell me about it. Because when we tour it’s rough sometimes, so people would be like “I travelled three hours to come” and I was like “really? I just travelled from Texas.”
But then I realised, if you’re going to the show and you’re actually driving and you’re a kid and your parents are taking you that’s pretty awesome! That somebody wants to see us that bad, and it makes us feel, even though we’re out here busting our ass, running ourselves down, that it’s for a reason. People want to see us. People want to come and hear the music and watch the show and let loose and have a good time. And that’s what it’s all about, and it’s great that people are.
What are your plans for the rest of the year, other than working on your album?
We’re definitely going to try to tour, a bunch more. You know hit up America, go back to Europe and the UK. We want to try to hit a bunch of different other countries, like Indonesia and South America.
And plans to come back to Australia?
I hope so. Please invite us. Yeah I wish it wasn’t so far. If you guys were like our next-door neighbours, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t leave. I’d just move there. I mean I live in Florida and I feel like Australia is just a way better version. More exotic!
The band released a live acoustic EP last year. What was the reasoning behind the release, and how was the reception amongst your fans?
It was kind of to put something out there. A lot of people really like our covers and acoustics and I think it’s because it’s totally opposite of our actual music. Our actual music has so much going on, and it’s a lot to listen to, so I think the stripped down version is a nice perspective to hear Versa because it’s totally opposite. Yeah, a lot of people liked our covers and were begging for us to put them on iTunes and we figured “Hey, we have all this time off how about we put our covers together and put them on iTunes, give the people what they want” and we were like ‘oh yeah, that’s a great idea.’
Well it’s certainly different to your earlier works, but still wonderful to listen to.
It is. It’s different too because Blake is such a perfectionist when it comes to everything, so it’s really fun to listen to because when it’s live like that there are little mistakes, little flaws, happening all over the place. It’s not perfect and there’s something very raw that I like about that.
You were saying that Blake’s rather a perfectionist, has that changed the way you approached writing and recording music, or is it something that you’ve just built into the process?
Oh no, it absolutely does. Versa, if I could explain the music, if you take away the vocals and just listen to the music like when you’re recording. It is nothing but perfection in every beat, in every note, in every chord. In everything. Blake is a perfectionist. He calls it a curse, himself. But I think a lot of people would be like “oh it’s just music, just let it go.” But that’s our thing. When you listen to the record you’re not going to hear anything that’s off. And at first, that’s the difference between Blake and I, because he’s a perfectionist and I’m the opposite of whatever a perfectionist is. So we really balance each other out, sometimes he’ll go a little nuts on the little details and I’ll go “just chill, just let it go’’ and he’ll be like “okay okay, you’re right.”
You guys create a really unique sound. Do you have specific bands or artists that you take styles and ideas from?
In the earlier days of VersaEmerge we had a lot of influence from music like The Receiving End Of Sirens, like Circa, and now that we’re a little older and progressed in what we listen to. We definitely have always tried not to take influence from music because, like you said, we want to create a unique sound. And it’s awesome that people think we have a unique sound. Blake’s the one who said this to me, that “don’t listen to bands and then try to copy it, you’ve got to make your own thing. Mush all the stuff you love together and create something unique.” And I’m not saying we’re creating something totally new, that’s never been heard before, but we’re trying to make our own niche because nobody really knows where to place us and I think that’s really good. I think that’s awesome. But right now we’ve been listening to a lot of Deftones and Nine Inch Nails, and Lana Del Ray and more like industrial rock.
That’s certainly different from your earlier influences.
It is going to be different. Imagine Versa, like the Fixed At Zero record, but futuristic. It’s not like you’re going to be listening to a totally different band. It’s the same voice, same weird tonal changes that you heard with Versa, that stuff’s still happening but different instruments.
Well we’ll certainly be looking forward to hearing that.
Alright, final question, If you could plan your dream tour, who would you take with you?
Muse, Crosses and Shiny Toy Guns. That would be fucking awesome!
Well thankyou very much for talking to us today, and we can’t wait to see you guys down in Australia!
VersaEmerge will be performing at Soundwave 2012 and two sidewaves with Lostprophets and Kids In Glass Houses.
TUESDAY 28th Feb – Sydney – The Metro A/A
http://premier.ticketek.com.au
THURSDAY 1st March – Melbourne – Billboard 18+
http://www.oztix.com.au | http://premier.ticketek.com.au | http://www.moshtix.com.au
Bethany Williams