Blowing up Santa Barbara, La Vasa is an awesome punk band. They have a great live set and have shared the stage with some of California's punk legends. They have limited tour experience have an album soon to be released. I got Don to tell there story, he also added a breif bio...
Bio: La Vasa! was born in Santa Barbara in late 2009 as an unhealthy male punk band weighing in over 500lbs of muscle and beer. At first this new baby of a band had no name and was even forced to perform multiple shows without a name to it's own. So sad. Now with a name and shows under their belt, this group of rebellious heathens formed from bands such as The Irritants, Surrounded By Assholes, Silent Meow, Forgainst It, and Trite, are ready to punch your earhole with energy the likes of which have never been felt. When La Vasa! is near your hair will stand on end, toenails will rot, knees will explode, mouth will go dry, and a new sense of certainty that everything is not okay will take over or something like that. Bringing back old school brutal punk tracks that are needed more than ever, La Vasa! is here...
Introduce yourself…
I'm Don Jebleone the rythm guitarist and singer.
How did the band start?
I had a bunch of songs that I wrote and put an ad out on Craigslist for people who were into playing punk rock. I got the bassist (Patrick) first and after a month or so we got a drummer (Llama). We actually played a show in Las Vegas about 3 weeks after first forming the band, but under a different name. We searched for months for a lead guitarist and finally found Marcus randomly through Craigslist as well.
How did you come up with the name?
We could not decide on a band name. Nothing was original and we had played a few shows under the name Trite, but no one liked it. One day while drinking with a Swedish friend of mine he told me about the Wasa (pronounced Vasa) a Swedish warship that sank during its maiden voyage in the 1600's. It was pulled up in the 60's and they built a museum around it that is still there today. We slapped a La in front of the Vasa cause it was more fun to say and ¡La Vasa! was born.
Who would you say are your influences?
My main influences are Leftover Crack, Star Fucking Hipsters, Misfits, No Cash, Pour Habit, and Hot Water Music just to name a few of the bands I was listening to a lot when I wrote this album. Llama is really into The Dwarves and Michael Jackson, Patrick listens to reggae mostly and Fat Wreck bands and Marcus listens to metal and hardcore mainly and we force feed him punk rock CDs as much as possible.
What is the punk scene like in Santa Barbara?
Punk scene here in Santa Barbara is decent in my opinion. I come from a small town in Florida where we would have to drive an hour to see good bands play. We get a lot of headlining bands that stop through here on their way to either LA or northern California. As well as a lot of great bands that are from here. If you ask people around town though they will tell you it's not as good as it once was. Which I think is probably true anywhere you go.
Describe the song writing process...
Usually I will come up with a melody or a guitar riff and expand it into a few different ideas or parts. I bring it to the rest of the band and each person comes up with their own parts or will change what I've done completely. More and more now that we've been playing for awhile the other guys are coming up with parts for new songs that we as a band are writing together, so it's making our new material different from what we started with. We are all excited with the direction that the new music is going.
What have you released?
We are getting ready to release our first album called "Built to Sink" on Corporate Nightmare. Hopefully, we will be announcing that date soon! For now we have a couple of songs available online.
Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
We've been fortunate to play with a lot of great bands this last year. Some of the more notable ones are: Agent Orange, Pour Habit, Angry Samoans, The Dickies, Mad Caddies, Reagan Youth and most recently Voodoo Glow Skulls.
Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
I guess like most bands we like to play bigger venues that have good sound systems, but that being said some of the best shows we've played are in the backyard of some random house in Isla Vista, or next to a half pipe, or at the Double Down in Vegas. It's not so much the place, but the "vibe" and how the crowd responds to your music.
Have you toured?
We did a tour last January for a few weeks and a couple of weekend road trips to the Bay Area, etc... But nothing substantial yet. We are talking about doing an East Coast tour early next year.
Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
We've played with so many great bands recently it's hard to pick just one or two, but I would have to say I personally like playing with the Caddies, SnakeFist, SwampcocK and Pour Habit. Not only cause I like their music but because they are easy going and enjoy drinking about as much as we do.
Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
If we're playing in Santa Barbara I always like Soho music club for their great sound system, but playing anywhere in IV is always cool cause the UCSB students throw down (and throw up).
What do you see is the future of La Vasa?
Not really sure where this band is headed. All I know is that we've got our first album being released in about a month, we're in the process of writing new songs, many cool shows being lined up and many more beers to be drunk.
How can people contact the band?
Reverbnation.com/lavasa
Facebook.com/lavasamusic
Purevolume.com/lavasa
Lavasa.bandcamp.com
Twitter.com/lavasa
And everywhere else.... Even myspace.
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