SXSW Interview: Vistas
Who doesn’t love a good pop rock outfit from Scotland? Certainly not us, and certainly not you! Vistas are the latest Scottish outfit to bring huge choruses and big riffs overseas to SXSW. They’ll soon be releasing Everything Changes in the End, so let’s get to know the band a little bit before they hit the States…and before they drop that LP!
ATH: Whats the name of the band/group? Where are you from?
Vistas: Hey! We’re Vistas from Edinburgh in Scotland.
ATH: Describe your groups sound.
Vistas:We play high energy indie-rock.
ATH: What was your most recent release? Any planned releases from 2020?
Vistas: We recently released our new single ‘The Love You Give’ which is one of our favourite tracks to date. This single, and the two previous singles ‘Teenage Blues’ and ‘Sucker’, will feature on our debut album ‘Everything Changes in the End’ which is set for release in May 2020. We’re so excited to share this new music with everyone and to finally get out and play it live to our fans.
ATH: For most SXSW sets, you get 30 minutes to leave a lasting impression. Whats your plan of attack? You have a set list mapped out yet?
Vistas: We were “the support band” for quite a while so we’ve really learned to focus on delivering our set with maximum impact. We try and keep the chat minimal and fire through our material keeping the energy up. We’ve always felt it’s best for an audience to get the most bang for their buck when watching a gig so we try play the songs our fans know and love and throw one new one in too.
ATH: Lets say your band has been booked an official showcase at a pop up venue somewhere in the middle of 6th street. The lineup features thrash metal, hip-hop, spoken word, and you. The sound is horrible, the lineup is not your style, and the crowd is growing ancy. How would your band deal with such a situation?
Vistas: In this situation it would be easy to withdraw from the crowd and not play to the best of your ability. However, out of however many people in that audience wouldn’t like what you’re doing, there is bound to be one or two people who would get on board with it. So if you leave that gig with a handful or even one new fan, its been worth it. In gigs like that you just have to brass neck it and power through because you never know who’ll be into your band.
ATH: There are tons of bands coming into town. Of the 1000+ bands coming into town, who would you ideally like to play with. Which band friends will be here?
Vistas: We’d love to play with Clean Cut Kid from Liverpool. They were one of the first bands we ever supported so it’d be amazing to see that come full circle and play another show with them on the other side of the world. Some other great acts playing SXSW are our Marsicans, Catholic Action and Walt Disco.
ATH: What has everyone in the band been listening to, or, what plays in the tour van/car/bus?
Vistas: It’s such a mix of everything in the van. One minute you can be listening to Lizzo, the next minute Idles and then Gang of Youths. We’re all really into and excited for the new music The Strokes have been releasing.
ATH: Describe your perfect festival, real or not? Whos headlining? Wheres it take place? Etc.
Vistas: We play this game a lot in the van actually! The Strokes are on there for sure. Probably supported by The Killers and then Kings of Leon. I think Adele and Sam Smith for the slower jams, and then maybe The Proclaimers and Calvin Harris to inject a bit of Scotland into the festival.
ATH: Whats on the bands rider? If were bringing you food and booze, what can we bring you?
Vistas: Anything that’s interesting vegetarian food is always great. That’s one of the perks of touring is that you get to try all this amazing veggie food in venues across the UK that you’d maybe never get to sample. Failing that, Irn Bru.
ATH: The band gets to create their own taco pop-up shop at SXSW? Whats the name, and what sort of tacos will you have? Any sides?
Vistas: Dylan and Jamie actually have talked about making a Chicago Punk inspired side project called ‘The Taco Bros’, so I think we’d have to call it that. There’s a pop up place in the Edinburgh festival that makes vegetarian fish tacos so if we could sell that I’d be buzzing!