DIYNJ: SPRINGFIELD ROCKS featuring THE VAUGHNS!
By Matt Chrystal
I recently learned that the Vaughns hailed from my hometown of Springfield, NJ. So, naturally, without hearing a note of their music, I declared them to be my new favorite band. I have to support the home team, ammirite?
Filled with anticipation to see my new favorite band, I walked in to their December gig at the Crossroads in Garwood; and, just as I uttered the words, "I'm here to see The Vaughns," I became filled with dread.
What if my new favorite band sucked?
Was I prepared to face that reality?
Luckily for me, the only reality I was faced with was that of a kick-ass rock show. In fact, it was more than kick-ass. The Vaughns not only shredded and slayed, but they also somehow embodied everything that Springfield, NJ represents to me: a normal, pleasant outer shell, filled with a uniqueness and a quirkiness that is bubbling over and can't be held back.
They had their own inside-jokes, a FTW attitude, and they chugged hot sauce on stage. All that, annnd they covered one of my favorite songs (Nirvana's "All Apologies") and gave out free bottles of the aforementioned hot sauce to the crowd. So, yeah, they held on to the title of my new favorite band.
I looked into the folks that make up The Vaughns: Anna Lies (vox/guitar), Ryan Kenter (drums), David Cacciatore (guitar), and Tom Losito (bass). As it turns out, we have had similar life experiences, I just happened to have had them about twenty years earlier. We all went to the same high school (Jonathan Dayton). Most of us went to Seton Hall University (Losito went to Drew). We developed an early appreciation for The Beatles; and, at some point, we all seemed to crash land into Asbury Park.
The Vaughns were cool enough to invite me in on their Saturday band practice at Tom Losito's residence. As I walked up to the door, I felt some of that familiar dread creep back in. What if that one night at the Crossroads was too good to be true? What if my new favorite band wasn't fun, quirky or cool?
As I entered, I noticed that Kenter and I were wearing similar flannels and sneakers and Lospito had on the same Wilco t-shirt that I was wearing just a day earlier. I descended into their sacred basement practice space. The walls were adorned with Beatles posters. All sense of worry dissipated. We spent the afternoon sitting around my tape recorder, almost as if it was campfire, laughing, exchanging stories about local legends, expressing our appreciation for Courtney Barnett's first album and lamenting our utter disappointment at the follow-up collaboration with Kurt Vile. And, not to be left out of the good time, Losito's dog, Maggie, barked and howled through the door, for the entirety of the session.
Do I still consider The Vaughns, my new favorite band? You're goddamn right, I do. This time, the home team earned it!
Oh, The Vaughns also just released a Valentine’s Day cover of Elvis Presley's "Can’t Help Falling in Love."
Happy Valentine's Day from CoolDad, UnCool Uncle Matty and Springfield's sweethearts, The Vaughns.
Uncool Uncle Matty: Let's jump right in shall we? I came here to get an exclusive for CoolDadMusic, so I want an answer to the question that is on everyone's mind: Did you name your tour van yet?
Tom Losito: Yes! We named it Neal. We bought it from an older gentleman in Union County named Neal. He took meticulous care of this van, did all kinds of custom work to it and just kept in great shape. I met with him and told him our story and about our band and he was super cool and super nice. So when he gave us the van, we felt if we didn't name it "Neal," then it would just be bad luck.
Ryan Kenter: This guy loved this van. It was like his child. We basically adopted this guy's child, so we wanted to do it justice by naming it after him.
UUM: This kindly gentleman's legacy will live on through your adventures. Have you had a chance to break Neal in yet?
Anna Lies: We took Neal out for the first time just a couple weekends ago to play a friend's going away party and to a show in Asbury Park. It was our first little trip with Neal, and this is a rarity for us. It's not typical behavior for us… but, yeah, Neal was already christened with vomit. I won't name names, but it happened.
Ryan: It was me.
Tom: I hope Neal doesn't read this interview and want his van back now.
UUM: I am a sucker for origins stories. We now know how Neal came about, but I also want to know how The Vaughns came together. Your bio states that you all kept running into each other at different places and then boom, The Vaughns happened. But since we are from the same town and went to the same high school and college, I would be interested to hear the details of what brought The Vaughns together?
Anna: Springfield is a small town, so we all knew of each other. Ryan and Tom had a band together in Dayton (High School). Ryan and I actually played football together when we were little. Dave and I competed against each other in a talent show in high school. So we were friendly but not yet friends.
By time we were entering college, Dave, Tom, and Ryan were jamming with each other and I got invited by a mutual friend to come hang and play with them. Right off the bat, we all felt it and were like maybe we should start playing some shows.
UUM: When I caught a recent show, it really stuck out to me, just how good of a time the band was having together. Each of you seemed to be genuinely having so much fun playing off of one another. Can you describe what the band dynamics are generally like? Being that we are in your rehearsal space, I'm wondering if one of you has emerged as a ruthless taskmaster or does that band work more as a democracy?
Ryan: As you can tell from all the barking, Tom's dog Maggie is the bossman who gives all the orders.
David Cacciatore: We are a pretty strong collective. It's not any one person pushing anybody to do anything; we are making the decisions together. And that can definitely make things more difficult at times to get all of us to agree and especially difficult when it comes to making music and booking shows.
Anna: Yeah, we believe it has to be unanimous vote among the four of us. Hey, we are a band, sure we will disagree on some things, but we do have a great dynamic and do have a lot fun with each other. Ultimately, it's worth debating some things, sometimes for what seems like forever, because, in the end, we know that everyone felt good about the decision we came to.
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| The Vaughns by Matt Chrystal |
UUM: Rumor has it, The Vaughns have a new album that is almost finished or just recently finished. Can you share some details about it?
Tom: Hmmm. Ok, yeah. We have it recorded and finished and should be out sometime later this year. We have been taking our time, putting it together for about two years. We are all really happy about how it came out and we are excited for it to finally come out. We have a title … but we can't tell you just yet.
Dave: We recorded it at Lakehouse Studios with Erik Romero ( dollys, The Front Bottoms). He's a genius. He would hate it if he heard me call him that, but he really is. Eric has such a great ear. There was such a great vibe when we worked together and he helped us put out a really warm, tight sound.
UUM: You touched on the recording process… but what does the writing process look like in this democratic society that is The Vaughns? Do you hash things out here in rehearsal or does someone usually present something they have been working on and you go from there?
Dave: Sometimes one of us will be like "Hey, check out this riff I’ve been working on" and then we will jam on it. But, most of the time, we are just jamming and a song will come about out of that jam. It comes about organically and we just go with what feels right for the song.
Tom: We have a whole huge file of songs that just keeps piling up in a Dropbox that is quickly losing space so we are never out of ideas, it's just a matter of which ones finally come to fruition.
UUM: I was blown away by your cover of Nirvana's "All Apologies" and was wondering who else has influenced you, personally or collectively?
Anna: Nirvana is a big influence on all of us, and one of the bands we really pull from a lot. We have spent so much time with each other over the last few years that I feel like we have developed similar tastes. We all really respect the songwriting and the melodies of bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys. For me, personally, I really dig Courtney Barnett and Alabama Shakes.
Dave: I agree with all the bands Anna listed. We have all been listening to a lot of Wolf Alice too. And, for me personally, I am really into Dr. Dog.
Ryan: I am a big Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin fan. And I am really into the latest wave of psychedelic stuff that's being put out today by Tame Impala and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
Tom: Big Star and all power pop stuff. Charly Bliss, The Lemon Twigs, and Snail Mail. We have a Cd player in our new van and The Pretenders and Dinosaur Jr. have also been on a lot.
UUM: Speaking of your live gigs, you gave out custom-made, limited edition "The Vaughns Hot Sauce" to attendees at a recent show. Where did that idea come from?
Tom: I had a subscription to Fuego Box, so I have a ton of hot sauces here in our rehearsal space that we are always trying out. We wanted to do a promotional thing for our recent hometown show at the Crossroads, so we made our own hot sauce. People were like savages that night and took them all. It's all gone now.
UUM: You each chugged hot sauce on stage. That's pretty hardcore!
Ryan: We are hardcore. Every other show we play is a black metal show!
Dave: We chug mayo too.
Tom: We switch condiments at every show.
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| The Vaughns at The North Jersey Indie Rock Festival |
UUM: So, new van, new album… does this mean new tour dates too?
Anna: We have tour dates in the works for this spring. We will be traveling farther than we ever have, but I don't have exact dates to give out just yet. We got the van so that we can do more tour dates and we are excited to take Neal out on the road!
Tom: We will add some buckets and put some plastic down in the van.
Ryan: 2019. More Vomit Tour!
UUM: Speaking of playing gigs, and on a more serious note, Anna recently took part in a NJ.com panel where she spoke out against the sexual harassment of women and the uglier side of the music scene in general. I am curious as to what the response was like after the article came out. What was the feedback in terms of positive reception or was there any backlash from Internet trolls?
Anna: I felt like it was important to talk about it, but I was definitely nervous the day it came out because I wasn't sure what the reaction would be. Nj.com and the writer, Bobby Oliver, went above and beyond with that article. He just let us talk, and it was cool to get together with a network of women to speak about some of the stuff that we face out there.
The response I got was very positive; I guess all the assholes stayed away, which is always good. It really made me realize how scary it is just to talk about it; I was sweating that whole day knowing that piece was going to come out. Luckily for me, the guys in this band have always been super supportive of me and having them there made me feel better. Being part of that panel caused me to gain even more respect for anyone who does speak out cause it's a hard thing to do. But yeah, overall, the response I got was very positive and supportive.
UUM: Continuing on with the theme of "local community..." Springfield, New Jersey is not just another "Anytown, USA" as the name would imply (George Washington slept here once, damn it!). I don't exactly know too many people that would reference "a scene" here, but the town has been linked to some really cool folks: The Forty Fingers opened for the Velvet Underground's first show in 1965. Ninja Sex Party had a number one comedy album in 2018, and legendary session player and jazz drummer, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, was a resident for many years.
Maybe it is something in the water or maybe it was the toxic waste under the old football field, but I think that our Springfield is more akin to that of its fictional counterpart on The Simpsons TV show because there are colorful, interesting, and just plain ol' weird characters nearly everywhere you turn…
Ryan: Bernard Purdie signed my drum kit! It was at one of the first shows that we played at the Crossroads, and he just happened to be there. I walked up to him and said, "Are you who I think I am?"
That’s how excited I was.
Tom: I think Ryan followed that up with something like, "Drum. Drum. Cool. Cool."
Anna: There's definitely something unique about Springfield. I will always be grateful that I found this band here. When you look in the right places, you will find a lot of characters and we have been lucky to find some that are willing to get involved with us. We shot the video for our song, "Bring Your Kids To Work Day" right here in town.
Speaking of videos and The Simpsons, there was this promotional contest a few years back where towns named Springfield from across the country competed for a chance to be named the Simpsons' hometown. And Springfield, N.J., came in dead last! So that's a fun fact I like to tell people when I'm out on tour and people ask where we are from.
Ryan: We live in a small town that no one has heard of, and yet we have one of the world's most famous golf courses (Baltusrol). That's kinda weird, too.
UUM: The Vaughns are coming up on their five year anniversary of becoming a band. What are some words of wisdom you can share from your time together?
Dave: Most people start out with a vision and try to stick with that vision; but, sometimes, things happen organically. Sometimes, you just have to let stuff happen. Put the effort in and be willing to say yes to opportunities. I once heard someone say, "Be stubborn about your dreams, but be flexible about how you get there;" and that speaks volumes to me about what being in a band is all about.
Anna: Getting involved locally is important. Starting out, you want to think big and be big' but don't be embarrassed to take baby steps to get there. Search out the music scene in your community. Search for the basements where people are playing. Those basement shows can be some of the best experiences when it comes to making friends, hearing new music, talking about music and growing as a person and as a band.
Tom: Don't pin yourself to one genre…
Ryan: Yeah, some nights cover Nirvana. Other nights, go with black metal!
UUM: Thoughts on today's America?
Ryan: Oh no! Is it time to get political?
Tom: We aren't a political band, so I'll just say that if there's some good to be found in the mess this country is in, it's that it inspires great art.
Ryan: I think things are crazy right now, but I am hopeful that all this craziness eventually turns into progress.
UUM: Hopes for the future?
Anna: I just hope we can finally get our new record out this year!
Ryan: And I hope that our record can bring positive change to the world!
The Vaughns will be playing FM in Jersey City on February 22, 2019 with ManDancing, Brother Moses, and Fiscal Cliff.
Their new singles, "Coffee Sundae" and "BYKTWD" as well as their Valentine's Day cover, are out now on Bandcamp.
For more info go to www.thevaughns.com.
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