Lily Vakili playing Smalls
Tonight, New Jersey songwriter Lily Vakili is performing in Hamtramck at Smalls.
The blues rock artist is out promoting her new six-song EP Live Wire, which was released on May 8th.
Last week, Rock Life spoke with Vakili about the show, the EP and what’s next.
Rock Life: You’ve got the show in my area coming up on Monday?
Lily Vakili: Yeah, I’m super excited! It’s our first time playing in Detroit
and it’s like alright, come on guys! Here for the first time, just show up, make some music and see what happens. I’m looking forward to it and we’re staying not too far away from the area too. It’s always super cool to kind of land in A new place. We were just in Pittsburgh and now we’re in Cleveland tonight. You want to see things, but it's hard when it’s only for 24 hours.
RL: And how is the tour so far?
LV: Well, we just launched it. Last night was the first show and so tonight we’re playing Beachland Tavern here in Cleveland and the exciting thing today was that we were invited to do this V.I.P. tour at the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame, which I’d never been to. So we’ve got this tour and they take you to the vault where they are curating stuff. I got to see Jimi Hendrix's pink satin pants. It’s cool because there is so much there and it actually got me really curious to go check out the archives, which they said were across town. It’s pretty amazing. Just seeing all the instruments and I was taking notes about costumes.
RL: Your music really does draw from many different genres. You come from Honduras, but were raised all over the place from Florida to Thailand to Puerto Rico, do you find being exposed to all those different cultures has been absorbed into your music?
LV: Yeah, that and I’m the sixth of six kids so basically being before everything was streaming, it was whatever was being played on the radio or the turntable. And you know, it may have driven me a little bit crazy sometimes as a kid, when I think back on it, I’m like that’s really cool because I got to hear all these different artists and that was just because of my siblings choices. So yeah, I think it just crops up in my interests. I don’t want to be pigeonholed and I think as a musician and as a songwriter I’m just really curious about how to explore different ways to express a storyline. And why not access all these things. I think that’swhat artists like Blake and Prince did. They really experimented a lot and didn’t stay in one genre, which is totally cool if that’s what you want to do, but that’s just not my bag I guess.
RL: And do you see that in your variety of audiences as well?
LV: Well, for sure and I know sometimes it’s probably a little bit of a challenge. People like to kind of understand by categorizing what you’re doing, but on the other hand, I have people come up to me after a show and say wow, I loved that ballad in addition to some of the kind of punk rock stuff and I just feel like the way we live our lives is not just one way so I like to try to mix it up.
RL: And what has the response been like towards the new music?
LV: You know, the new stuff from this Live Wire EP that I did was really a way to pull attention to and capture what the band does live and to give a listener a sense of that because I think that’s really where it’sat. We’re not using a click track and we’re not cutting and pasting and I think it really captured what the band does live.
RL: What has been your favorite new track to perform live?
LV: Well, I mean I really enjoy two of them. One of them is “Anybody Knows,” which is a slow burn and I love what the band does with it. I’m playing with some really terrific musicians. The guitarist is Eric Burns, Joseph Young on drums and on bass is Drew Hart. Then there’s “I’ve Been Hiding, “ which is another one that has a deep blues feel to it. The feedback I’m getting is like oh, that’s really blues rock. I think that blues rock has such a rich history and there’s so many terrific artists to kind of reference in performances or vocalizations and in what the band does. These two songs I enjoy performing because it’s not the same thing every night. I feed off the audience with how they’re responding and that’s fun.
RL: And looking forward, what’s next?
LV: Well, I’ve said before that when I go out on tour that when I come back it always gives me so much new material. I just find I start writing and so I’ve already got a batch of songs that I’m trying to roll out with the band. We’re starting to experiment in rehearsal just to see like where can these go? So we’ll be working on that and like all musicians will be trying to get more gigs. You’ve got to be out there.
RL: And now that you have the band, do you find the process of making music easier rather than just solo?
LV: I mean I still do a lot of solo work all the time with my guitar in the basement, but having a really generous group of musicians is really cool.
RL: Yeah, I wax actually thinking more along the lines of when you are writing how you have the band and now know their styles if you picture their parts as you’re creating?
LV: Yes, absolutely! And sometimes I actually bring something to the band and will say okay, this is for you, the bass player, or this is perfect for an extended guitar solo. So that’s a great thing to have and some of it is luck and some of it’s hard work. And then just sticking with it and continuing to find the optimism to think positively about what can be done. It’s very easy to listen to the no's because they’re everywhere. I love yes! Let’s try it and go for it because that attitude helps in many other ways in life.
RL: The more positivity right now the better!
LV: Oh yeah, the more emphasis on how people can be supportive and kind and compassionate and collaborate to make things of beauty or just express something that’s universal is important. Why not do that rather then dragging things down and attack one another.
RL: And your music is very emotional. Has that always been the case?
LV: I think I wrote and still write poetry. It’s just a way of expressing myself and I journal. I think there’s a lot of value to being emotionally transparent in certain circumstances. I think as an artist if you aren’t doing that then why ate you doing this at all? And it doesn’t mean that you’llbe well received or that you’ll be “successful,” but it means that you will stay true to a vision that you have that is unique to how you think about the world and what’s valuable. Of course album sales really help!
RL: And what made you want to do this?
LV: I mean I had no idea what I was really getting into, but I just trailed along a path in my own life long enough to decide that I wanted to create this body of work. And the encouragement from the people around me, mostly my mother who has passed on now, but my father is an artist too and was a scientist. He’s still with us and is retired, but he was also very encouraging about sticking to your guns when it comes to a particular vision that you have creatively and to see where it leads you. One of the places it leads you to without a doubt is a guaranteed chance to meet many wonderful people. People who are like-minded even though they come from vastly different circumstances. To me that’s deeply hopeful. That’s my philosophy in a nutshell.
RL: And what was the biggest thing you learned in your travels growing up all over the world?
LV: One of the things I think I absorbed was that what you think is the right way isn’t necessarily the right way. There’sno one way to do things and also just paying attention and observing has value. My mother said her greatest accomplishment was that she raised compassionate human beings. That made me look at all the kudos that one can gather around the bars of success in society or online or whatever and that’s nothing if you haven’t given something and helped someone and cared for someone.
RL: And what can people expect from your live shows?
LV: When I’m onstage it’s all about communicating with the audience. Everything is for the people who show up whether that’s just the sound guy or a hand full of people. I’m hoping my offer resonates with them in some way and I hope they see a reflection of their own life. I don’t yammer too much and we’rejust there to rock and roll.
RL: And anything you want to say to the fans?
LV: Number one, thank you if you listen to the music. Thank you and let me hear from you. I’m on Facebook and Instagram and the others and yeah, just take a listen. If you haven’t, just give it a try because you never know!
Comments