Warped Tour Interview #1: The Vincent Black Shadow
Finally! Our first Warped Tour interview is up! In interview #1 Nicky talks to Vancouver band The Vincent Black Shadow about hockey, Davey Havok and Warped Tour cliques. This is a good one. I was skeptical at first, because to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of girl-fronted bands. The girl has to be really good. Well, Cassandra lives up to my standards. She’s not the typical “everyone must love me” kind of girl. Her attitude on stage is “I don’t care what you think,” which isn’t far from her off stage persona. I’m a little intimidated, to say the least. It’s all balanced out by the Kirkham brothers’ amazing energy on and off stage. If you’re looking for something different to check out at Warped Tour, stop by the Shira stage and check them out. If Warped Tour’s passed you by consider picking up the recently released Fears in the Water.
Nicky Agnew: Is this your first Warped Tour?
Vincent Black Shadow: It is our first Warped Tour.
NA: What do you think so far?
VBS: I think it's pretty awesome! We play to good crowds, sell a lot of merch. It's been great. We¹ve met a lot of awesome bands, played Hockey with them.
NA: Where are you from?
VBS: Vancouver
NA: What do you think of all these Canadian bands on Warped Tour?
VBS: They're better than American Bands. Haha!
NA: (to Cassandra) What¹s it like being a girl on Warped Tour?
VBS: I don't know. I don't really hang out with people anyway so it's no different from my normal life back home.
NA: So you prefer to stay on the bus?
VBS: Yeah, and hide and read my Play Station magazine and try to stay out of the sun, but as it's not really working.
NA: What do y'all do other than playing?
VBS: Well, we actually have to build the stage that we play on. I guess that's part of being a newbie band. I mean I love touring but I've also got a construction job! There's not a lot of people doing stuff for you like,
you know, we get kicked out of catering because we don't have star clothes and people are kind of like, well, we don¹t know who you are so you have to go over there now and stuff like that. It's kind of like high school if you're not cool.
NA: Do you think there are cliques at Warped tour?
VBS: Yes! Yes! YES! Everywhere! I'm like all yelling now because it's like you should see the bus parties like after the end of the day, it's like all the people with like the sideways haircuts and like the weird eye shadow (wait, is she talking about MY DAVEY?) like in one corner and the people with like the skateboards and like there was bike jousting the other night so there's like a bike jousting clique. It¹s like anchorman where there were all those stations battling with whips and chains.
NA: What other bands should people check out on Warped Tour?
VBS: Hmmm, who did I watch? I watched AFI the other night and they were pretty good. I've never seen them live before.
NA: Do you get all the hype surrounding AFI?
VBS: Well, kind of. I get why like little girls might like them I think I see Davey like 10 times a day cause there are those guys. It's like back to the clique thing, right. There's like the Davey Havok clique where everyone has like the hair that covers their face and like they have little umbrellas and they walk around and their like, you know, trying not to get tan.
NA: You said you saw Davey in Wal Mart?
VBS: No, I thought he was in Wal Mart and I was going to go up to him and like “Dude, I love your band, “ but it was like a different band called, uh, I can't remember the name actually, they were probably something like Antoher Time I Die on a Friday. I really like Helmet a lot and those are the guys were playing Hockey with. But they left a couple states ago.
NA: Who else do you like?
VBS: I'm a fan more of the old school stuff. I like the Casualties. I like the band that played on my stage when we played like 3 shows in Texas called So Unloved. They were like 3 girls who did old school Misfits meets I don't know who. It's so funny you walk around here and there’s so many kids in Misfits shirt and I'm like “Yeah! One Last Caress,” and they're like, “What? Huh??”
NA: What is your ideal Warped Tour Lineup?
VBS: A reunion of the Misfits, The Damned, Samhain, Danzig, Glenn Danzig. I just want to see the same guys getting back on stage over and over again.
NA: Who else?
VBS: There's a band that's playing the last few shows named Gogol Bordello who were great. The guy has a great mustache, I'm sure he has plenty of small creatures living in there. I really like them, Billy Talent. I also like frog legs too.
NA: To eat or as a band?
VBS: TO EAT. But they could be a band too?
NA: How are Canadian crowds different from American Crowds? Do you think they are?
VBS: Well in Vancouver crowds just stand there with crossed arms and clap briefly when you're done. People don't want to look like they're into stuff. It was really crazy in Dallas and Minneapolis. Vancouver has been getting more spoiled now.
NA: Do you think there are crazy groupies on this tour?
VBS: Not on our bus. Well there were these 15 year old girls in Florida that got on the bus and they were cracking beers open and our tour manager had to kick them out. And then there was this big issue about these 12 and 13 year old girls coming on the bus.
NA: What's the craziest thing youve seen on tour so far?
VBS:When we played in Miami, we were in the middle of a photo shoot, I got a call from my tour manager and he was like you gotta get in here its pouring rain. It was raining fist size raindrops pounding into the ground. And people were canoeing, they were Portaging, they had to portage! And lightening was coming down and someone got hit by lightening at last Warped Tour.
NA: Would you do Warped Tour again?
VBS: Well this is our first American Tour I'd love to move up, Paramore played Shira Stage last year and now They're playing Hurley Stage. I want to come out in a giant robot, or come down in a Giant peach a la Popmart '97 U2. And toilets made of gold in the tour buses that shoot diamonds out.
NA: What’s the most disgusting thing about doing a tour like this?
VBS: I’ll tell you, there was this guy who came out who comes out of the bathroom with the most satisfied look and I walk in there and the toilet was so piled up with shit and toilet paper and doo like piled up, he couldn't have sat on it, it was like a sundae with a shit cherry, I want to know how he physically did that. Like a shit cherry on a shit sundae.
NA: Do you guys compete to see who can get the most repulsive?
VBS: Well he's not here so I can say this, our drummer is the most filthy. But he’s the one who always cleans the bus?
NA: How'd you guys all meet?
VBS: Well three of us are brothers but we all went to high school together so we've all known each other for 6 years.
NA: Do you find that three brothers on tour spell trouble?
VBS: It spells Kirkham. It spells absolute trouble.
NA: What is the most ridiculous thing you've found yourselves doing while
you've been here?
VBS: Our keyboard player got really drunk and started going through all these drawers on our bus and found photos of Elvis Stoyko doing these weird poses and stuck them up all over the bus in weird places. And all the guys on the bus started freaking out cause there’s quite a few homophobic people on our bus.
NA: What are you going to do after this tour?
VBS: Shower. Then we're playing Popcom in Germany which is a 3 day festival like South By Southwest. And then we're going to host a battle of the Bands all throughout the United States.
NA: Is it weird to be a girl on Warped Tour?
VBS: Well we aren't even a girl band, There's 2 girls in the band and 3 guys, so technically we're a guy band.
NA: How’s the BBQ?
VBS: They're awesome, 8 Fingers Down! Awesome BBQ! It's a great way to socialize, we're gonna play hockey with NOFX and we were playing with Helmet earlier on tour.
NA: You guys seem to get along pretty well, is it tough to see the same people day after day?
VBS: You have no choice but to tolerate each other.
NA: How do you factor into Warped Tour? You don't seem to really fall into any genre.
VBS: We're the alternative to the alternative. We are forging new paths, blazing a trail, explore into yonder and beyond, the first ones are always the ones that last look at the Beatles.
NA: Two down two to go.
VBS: Hahahahaha well people walk by us as we're playing and they stop and we get what the fuck faces but a lot of them stop cause we sound different and they buy cds.
NA: Where'd you come up with the name?
VBS: It's a motorcycle, there's a motorcycle company called Vincent that made them in the 50s and the Black Shadow is one of the cooler ones. Hunter S Thompson references it a lot in his writings, in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas he describes it as strange entity. Unknown and mysterious, and we like things that are mysterious and sexy.
NA: So what's been your favorite city in the States? Or are you snobby like the rest of Canadians?
VBS: Texas, I love Texas! And Boulder Colorado, it's probably the cleanest place in the world and there are lots of rocks everywhere. And San Francisco for that good old San Francisco Treat. Rice a Roni!!
Nicky Agnew: Is this your first Warped Tour?
Vincent Black Shadow: It is our first Warped Tour.
NA: What do you think so far?
VBS: I think it's pretty awesome! We play to good crowds, sell a lot of merch. It's been great. We¹ve met a lot of awesome bands, played Hockey with them.
NA: Where are you from?
VBS: Vancouver
NA: What do you think of all these Canadian bands on Warped Tour?
VBS: They're better than American Bands. Haha!
NA: (to Cassandra) What¹s it like being a girl on Warped Tour?
VBS: I don't know. I don't really hang out with people anyway so it's no different from my normal life back home.
NA: So you prefer to stay on the bus?
VBS: Yeah, and hide and read my Play Station magazine and try to stay out of the sun, but as it's not really working.
NA: What do y'all do other than playing?
VBS: Well, we actually have to build the stage that we play on. I guess that's part of being a newbie band. I mean I love touring but I've also got a construction job! There's not a lot of people doing stuff for you like,
you know, we get kicked out of catering because we don't have star clothes and people are kind of like, well, we don¹t know who you are so you have to go over there now and stuff like that. It's kind of like high school if you're not cool.
NA: Do you think there are cliques at Warped tour?
VBS: Yes! Yes! YES! Everywhere! I'm like all yelling now because it's like you should see the bus parties like after the end of the day, it's like all the people with like the sideways haircuts and like the weird eye shadow (wait, is she talking about MY DAVEY?) like in one corner and the people with like the skateboards and like there was bike jousting the other night so there's like a bike jousting clique. It¹s like anchorman where there were all those stations battling with whips and chains.
NA: What other bands should people check out on Warped Tour?
VBS: Hmmm, who did I watch? I watched AFI the other night and they were pretty good. I've never seen them live before.
NA: Do you get all the hype surrounding AFI?
VBS: Well, kind of. I get why like little girls might like them I think I see Davey like 10 times a day cause there are those guys. It's like back to the clique thing, right. There's like the Davey Havok clique where everyone has like the hair that covers their face and like they have little umbrellas and they walk around and their like, you know, trying not to get tan.
NA: You said you saw Davey in Wal Mart?
VBS: No, I thought he was in Wal Mart and I was going to go up to him and like “Dude, I love your band, “ but it was like a different band called, uh, I can't remember the name actually, they were probably something like Antoher Time I Die on a Friday. I really like Helmet a lot and those are the guys were playing Hockey with. But they left a couple states ago.
NA: Who else do you like?
VBS: I'm a fan more of the old school stuff. I like the Casualties. I like the band that played on my stage when we played like 3 shows in Texas called So Unloved. They were like 3 girls who did old school Misfits meets I don't know who. It's so funny you walk around here and there’s so many kids in Misfits shirt and I'm like “Yeah! One Last Caress,” and they're like, “What? Huh??”
NA: What is your ideal Warped Tour Lineup?
VBS: A reunion of the Misfits, The Damned, Samhain, Danzig, Glenn Danzig. I just want to see the same guys getting back on stage over and over again.
NA: Who else?
VBS: There's a band that's playing the last few shows named Gogol Bordello who were great. The guy has a great mustache, I'm sure he has plenty of small creatures living in there. I really like them, Billy Talent. I also like frog legs too.
NA: To eat or as a band?
VBS: TO EAT. But they could be a band too?
NA: How are Canadian crowds different from American Crowds? Do you think they are?
VBS: Well in Vancouver crowds just stand there with crossed arms and clap briefly when you're done. People don't want to look like they're into stuff. It was really crazy in Dallas and Minneapolis. Vancouver has been getting more spoiled now.
NA: Do you think there are crazy groupies on this tour?
VBS: Not on our bus. Well there were these 15 year old girls in Florida that got on the bus and they were cracking beers open and our tour manager had to kick them out. And then there was this big issue about these 12 and 13 year old girls coming on the bus.
NA: What's the craziest thing youve seen on tour so far?
VBS:When we played in Miami, we were in the middle of a photo shoot, I got a call from my tour manager and he was like you gotta get in here its pouring rain. It was raining fist size raindrops pounding into the ground. And people were canoeing, they were Portaging, they had to portage! And lightening was coming down and someone got hit by lightening at last Warped Tour.
NA: Would you do Warped Tour again?
VBS: Well this is our first American Tour I'd love to move up, Paramore played Shira Stage last year and now They're playing Hurley Stage. I want to come out in a giant robot, or come down in a Giant peach a la Popmart '97 U2. And toilets made of gold in the tour buses that shoot diamonds out.
NA: What’s the most disgusting thing about doing a tour like this?
VBS: I’ll tell you, there was this guy who came out who comes out of the bathroom with the most satisfied look and I walk in there and the toilet was so piled up with shit and toilet paper and doo like piled up, he couldn't have sat on it, it was like a sundae with a shit cherry, I want to know how he physically did that. Like a shit cherry on a shit sundae.
NA: Do you guys compete to see who can get the most repulsive?
VBS: Well he's not here so I can say this, our drummer is the most filthy. But he’s the one who always cleans the bus?
NA: How'd you guys all meet?
VBS: Well three of us are brothers but we all went to high school together so we've all known each other for 6 years.
NA: Do you find that three brothers on tour spell trouble?
VBS: It spells Kirkham. It spells absolute trouble.
NA: What is the most ridiculous thing you've found yourselves doing while
you've been here?
VBS: Our keyboard player got really drunk and started going through all these drawers on our bus and found photos of Elvis Stoyko doing these weird poses and stuck them up all over the bus in weird places. And all the guys on the bus started freaking out cause there’s quite a few homophobic people on our bus.
NA: What are you going to do after this tour?
VBS: Shower. Then we're playing Popcom in Germany which is a 3 day festival like South By Southwest. And then we're going to host a battle of the Bands all throughout the United States.
NA: Is it weird to be a girl on Warped Tour?
VBS: Well we aren't even a girl band, There's 2 girls in the band and 3 guys, so technically we're a guy band.
NA: How’s the BBQ?
VBS: They're awesome, 8 Fingers Down! Awesome BBQ! It's a great way to socialize, we're gonna play hockey with NOFX and we were playing with Helmet earlier on tour.
NA: You guys seem to get along pretty well, is it tough to see the same people day after day?
VBS: You have no choice but to tolerate each other.
NA: How do you factor into Warped Tour? You don't seem to really fall into any genre.
VBS: We're the alternative to the alternative. We are forging new paths, blazing a trail, explore into yonder and beyond, the first ones are always the ones that last look at the Beatles.
NA: Two down two to go.
VBS: Hahahahaha well people walk by us as we're playing and they stop and we get what the fuck faces but a lot of them stop cause we sound different and they buy cds.
NA: Where'd you come up with the name?
VBS: It's a motorcycle, there's a motorcycle company called Vincent that made them in the 50s and the Black Shadow is one of the cooler ones. Hunter S Thompson references it a lot in his writings, in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas he describes it as strange entity. Unknown and mysterious, and we like things that are mysterious and sexy.
NA: So what's been your favorite city in the States? Or are you snobby like the rest of Canadians?
VBS: Texas, I love Texas! And Boulder Colorado, it's probably the cleanest place in the world and there are lots of rocks everywhere. And San Francisco for that good old San Francisco Treat. Rice a Roni!!
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