Vadoinmessico Interview: SXSW 2010

Vadoinmessico's international blend of music conjures up images of forgien lands. This five member band plays mediterranean alternative folk with a bit of psychedelic rock thrown in the mix and have been featured at festivals all over the world. Spinner had a chance to sit down with Salvador of Vadoinmessico during a recent trip to New York to talk about SXSW and the band's bright future.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Originally there were three of us in the core of the band, Giorgio, Stephan and I. We go for something like Mediterranean alternative folk with a bit of psychedelic rock in, it is a mash up of all of our nationalities which ended up in the UK. The singer Giorgio is Italian, he is from Rome, I am from Mexico, Stephan is from Austria and Allesandro is from Italy as well. Our new drummer Harry is English, but we have had other drummers from Venezuela, Canada all over the place.

How did your band form?

Giorgio, Stephen and I met at music college in London and actually the band started off as a music project for school. We said before that we wanted to make music together and then started the project for school. We started off with that and we started listening to the music that we were all into, and music from our origins, and so we thought that we would do something mixing all that together and taking ourselves into a sunnier place. When in college, it is a bit melancholic, missing the sunny places that we had come from and we were in grey, grey, rainy London. We were remembering, hoping that we were by the beach again or in the desert.

What are your musical influences?

A lot of Latin and some kind of European rhythms, our music is very rhythm based. We listen to a lot of 50s and 60s music from our own countries and from the US and UK. We love their rock and roll, mashed up with Latin American rhythm, with a lot of guitar based rhythm - quite uplifting and a lot of percussion going on. At the moment, we are listening to a lot of the Italian singer called Rita Pavone -- with a V -- she has a very good melody. You can find a lot of videos of her on YouTube. She has such amazing personality and charisma I think that is something that we like: something that has a unique personality.

How did you come up with your band name? [The name Vadoinmessico means "I am going to Mexico"]

It is a funny story, it was one time when Giorgio was out running in Rome with our friend Allesandro, they were trying to go home. They were waiting for the bus and the bus had changed its final destination to Vadoinmessico, so this guy was really, really hoping and dreaming that his bus was going to take him to Mexico, so that is where the name came from and Giorgio and I were sitting in a tiny little flat in London and it was pouring rain outside, making music and so we decided to use that name.

Who are the members of your band?

Giorgio Poti plays the guitar and fronts the band, I play the melodica, glockenspiel, keyboards and do some back-up singing. Stephan B plays banjo, percussion, keyboards and sings back up. Alessandro Marrosu rocks the bass and the newest member of our band is our drummer Harry Sullivan.

Your sound is so unique, what are the other instruments you use?

We have a couple of tin pans with coins in them in back that we use as shakers, we have a melodica and a banjo. we are always trying to find little toys that we find around that we can use on the recordings. A toy keyboard and things we find on eBay.

What's your biggest vice?

Whenever someone asks us if we want to go for some good food and fun - we just go for it. We love relaxing and enjoying life, in a nice way, good food, good wine and hanging out with friends is what we like to do. We do not spend enough time doing this. That's our vice that we can't get enough of; so we are always searching for it.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Well, we are not bringing much. We are only bringing whatever we can fit in our bag. We have some good music and most of all, we have asked all of our family and friends who are here in the US to come meet us over there. So we are going to be hanging out a lot with close ones. I have family coming up from Mexico and they are going to be driving around with us and going to all the shows and my mom came to NY to see a show.

Who was your first celeb crush?

My first celebrity crush is the girl from the movie that I saw when I was a kid. This girl is always singing a song and her loved one -- they were kids -- he died from a bee sting. My Girl, I believe it is. The girl from My Girl. I was quite fond of her. [Vada Sultenfuss, played by Anna Chlumsky]

Beatles or Stones?

I would go for the Beatles, I believe that the rest of the band would go for that as well. I grew up with the Beatles and I never really listened to the Stones until I was a teenager. I think all of the harmonies are beautiful, cute little quirky songs is why I really got into. It was a bit something more magical for me as a kid - listening to the Beatles than the Stones.

Musical guilty pleasure?

Interesting question, I think that you should enjoy all music. I have always been a quite - I love kids pop. I love it and I always fall for it. I always end up singing the tune. Whenever I have this guilty pleasure - my wife hates that -- whenever one of those songs come on the radio I sing it.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

The scariest thing; we saw a guy fainting in front of us when we were playing a song and it was a bit scary and frightening to see somebody pass out in front of us but he was alright in the end.


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