Brightest Young Things

A bluesy, garage rock band from Richmond, VA, the Vermilions make their DC circuit debut tonight at Velvet Lounge. Their songs are filled with heavy bass and crushing solos that will melt your face onto the floor. If you don’t believe me, have a listen below.  This is truly a performance you will not want to miss!

BYT: How did the Vermilions come about?

Vermilions: I met both Dan and Evan at VCU and we formed the band in late 2007.  Dan and I were in a history class together and were into the same music, so when I found out that he was a really good drummer I asked him to join.  Evan I’d seen play in another band called the Norman Rockwells and we had a lot of the same friends.  And said he listened to the Sonics so I knew we could make something work.

BYT: What could one expect from a Vermilions performance?

Vermilions: We tend to make it plenty raucous when we play live, but we’ve become so comfortable playing with each other and the songs that we’re still able to keep it pretty tight.  I’ve said before that I’m not the best lyricist, so when I play the songs live I just try and scream and play really tight guitar solos.  Definitely going for shock value in a way.

BYT: Being a band on the rise, I am sure that you guys have had a fair share of house shows...how did the craziest one play out?

Vermilions: The house shows haven’t been too crazy… but we did do a show at this place called the Meridian in Williamsburg (which is pretty much a living room) where we were billed with a couple of hardcore bands.  Most of the audience was pretty receptive of us but it was still kind of strange to be on that bill.  We also did a house show that we’d organized but the people living there had added bands to the bill without telling us and that made things a bit complicated.  They’ve all been fun though.

BYT: Rumor has it that your bassist and frontman swip-swap on a good night...what prompted this?

Vermilions: When we started we each picked a cover that we wanted to do, and Evan chose this obscure 60s garage number called “Sweet Young Thing” by a group called the Chocolate Watchband.  It’s got a really cool guitar riff but I can’t really play it and sing at the same time, so when we play that song we switch.  It’s a fun song to play, but sometimes I get jealous that Evan’s a better guitar player than me.

“Cold Choir Blues”

This is the first song I wrote for the band and it’s probably the best representation of our overall sound.  It’s a fast blues-punk number with howling vocals and really frenzied guitar—really encapsulates everything I want the band to be.  Really fucked up Americana.

“Second Time Around”

This is our standard live killer; it’s a minor key song about love lost.  I’ve never been much of a lyricist so I tried to make up for any meaning lost in the words by making the guitar solo really out of control.

“Letter By Wire”

Our sound tends to recall 60s garage, and I think “Letter By Wire” hits on that theme in the most pop sense we’ve explored so far.  The Jerry Lee Lewis piano and backing vocals are a total throwback, and we were fortunate enough to have some of our friends contribute those aspects to this recording and I think it really benefitted from that.

Want more:
Befriend them on myspace here and check them out at Velvet Lounge tonight (they're opening for DONORA)