| |
 |
|
|
| a vague sound |
A Vague Sound; A Specific Plan
Wichita City Paper | Jan 11, 2007
"This started, basically, out of pure boredom," said Corey Gingerich, A Vague Sound's main (and, virtually, only) member. The Iowa City resident started off the electronic-intensive project by collecting sounds with his computer. "I just started experimenting with things I'd always thought about. I wanted to experiment with my menial knowledge of 11 different instruments and out of that came A Vague Sound."
He was a veteran of the usual round of high school and college bands and came from a musical family (including an uncle who held down bass duties in a latter-day version of Steppenwolf). "I played hip-hop, punk rock, heavy metal," he said. "Whoever wanted me, I'd go play with them."
When it came time to put together AVS, he focused on things he wanted to hear. That didn't translate into a broad audience. At least not at first. "It was the usual crowd of about 10 friends," he said. "After it was over, they just sort of stood there gaping at me. They didn't know what the hell was going on. It blossomed from experimentation with looping to me starting to form pop songs and starting to take influence from older bands. It became my own sound."
Among the things he used to create his own (vague?) sound were pots and pans, beer bottles and even his pet cat. "I toyed with that a lot," he said. "You can't tell it's a cat's meow but when I hear it I kind of chuckle."
With two recordings to his credit-Everything You Have Ever Hoped For and a self-titled affair-he's taken to the road along with keyboard-toting pal Jonah Nemec. "I get a better reactions in bigger cities. But here in Iowa, people are more often likely to ask, 'What the hell is going on?' But I wanted something where I didn't have to rely on other people. I just wanted to get up and go whenever I felt like it."
Gingerich (a double major in genetics and Chinese literature at the University of Iowa) chose to book his current tour by using MySpace.com. He found the tool invaluable and said that it helped land him a gig with local act Hearts in Bondage. Gingerich will share the stage with HiB on Friday, Jan. 12 at Kirby's Beer Store. "It's so easy to find bands now," he said. "I can just do a Google-esque search of who's around and come up with a band like Hearts in Bondage. You don't need to worry about booking agents. You don't have to give club owners an inflated estimate of what you think you can draw."
"If you're a musician operating on the margins, you should come and check out the show," he said. "You'll be amongst friends." |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
