VAST Interview

By Casey Blakeney

Peon Culture

Jon Crosby of Vast was kind enough to chat with the bird online about his enlightened perspective on music and online communities.

With 7 albums being promised on his own label, Vast is set to invade the airwaves once again, just like they did in 2000. Now with Jon becoming incredibly involved with the online movement, and with his equally amazing devotion to his fans...who knows how far Vast will go?

Peon: What's been happening with Vast since the latest release "Music For People” was unleashed in 2000?

Jon: A lot. The record (MFP) came out in September of 2000. I toured straight through until May of 2001. During the tail end of the tour (early 2001) I started to argue with my management and the label. Basically they started to push me in more of a pop direction and I told them no. Two of the musicians I was touring with sided with the manager and I stopped talking to my label and everyone around me.

Then...

When I got off the road things never improve with my label, so I wouldn’t record a record with them, and eventually they let me go. Around February of 2002 I

took the settlement from them and recorded two albums. We are going to release one online ourselves as soon as our new site is up in a month, and we are going to release another in stores in spring with full-scale promotion. We are starting our own label with major distribution. We will also be releasing another 7 records online.

Peon: All 7 of these albums are from Vast?

Jon: Yes. The first is called "Monday". The rest will correspond with each day of the week

Peon: In the span of time from the last release, you already have a wealth of material pouring out of you in order to record 7 albums. How do you approach your writing?

Jon: I have recorded about three records, the rest are not recorded. Basically I just do nothing but work. In the 60's musicians used to release records every 6 months. The new system doesn’t allow you to release as much music, which is one of the reasons we won't sign a standard deal.

Peon: What will be the span of time in between the release of each of the 7 albums?

Jon: It will change between each release. We want to get three out before August.

Peon: What are your plans for upcoming live appearances? And can you describe for people out there that haven't seen Vast live yet what it is like to experience it?

Jon: We are going to tour more than last time. I had to cut it a little shorter last time because of all the problems with my label. The tours tend to change allot from record to record. The first tours I did featured a multimedia projection show. The tours on MFP were more emotional and high energy (and there was more turn out LOL).

I think the shows on this record will have a more revolutionary feel. Like everyone is part of something. I feel like Vast means more than it did on previous tours.

Peon: What are your primary influences in creation of new material?

Jon: Usually music isn’t what inspires me to be creative, unless it's really good. Reading, culture, trying new things, having new thoughts, going to new places. That’s what seems to inspire me the most.

Peon: Your songs seem to build on iconographic or religious themes, as well as childlike fairytale element. How do these themes or interests incorporate into your writing process?

Jon: I have a general interest in larger than life themes. Drama. Stanley Kubrick...I have an interest in the beyond. You won't hear any Vast songs about sweaters or fat chicks. It's just not me.

Peon: Wanted to ask you some questions surrounding your current promoting. What made you decide to get involved in online communities like www.livejournal.com for example?

Jon: Well I can't lump all the things I'm doing online into one reason or motive but the live journal thing was pretty specific. People were not really filling out their profiles on our message board which made it hard for me to know them and really hard for people to meet each other. It made it hard for it to be a community, but with live journal there is more of a community vibe.

But to answer the question..."Why" in a more philosophical context

I think all musicians should (and will eventually) use the Internet this way. The reason there aren't more artists on the public scale of Vast using it this way is because they are told not to do so by labels. Labels don't want artists to draw attention to the Internet under any circumstances. They are deathly afraid of file sharing.

Peon: What do you think of the rampant doubt from many on live journal that it was really you?

Jon: It meant to me that I am part of a completely new thing. To me that is what Vast has always been about. It’s about doing something new musically, artistically, or whatever.

Jon: Too many to mention really. All of them. I won’t mention names because I want it to be a surprise but there are sites out there much bigger than traditional press that we are going to advertise through. The Internet is destroying traditional press. The funny thing is that the majority of labels, bands and publicists don't know this, which is a good thing for now.

Peon: It seems that a lot of bands that go through the process of disconnecting

from a major label are usually the first ones to realize this...that online forums are growing further each day. Why do you think it takes something like a breakup for them to realize this?

Jon: Well I can answer that a few ways. When I was with Elektra the Internet had not taken off so much. Like I said before, the atmosphere was not positive at Elektra regarding file sharing.

Metallica is on Elektra *laughs*.

But to me, file sharing is not the reason the Internet music scene is getting so big. It's stuff like IM, web cams, hotmail, text messaging, profiles, and especially instant messaging. It’s through the technology itself that people are getting so much information. I was paying attention to it while I was on a label, but it just wasn’t as big. High speed wasn't nearly as common etc. My buddy list was 15 people. Now it's 1500 people and that’s just friends I chat with. But to be totally honest...we asked Elektra to let us do an MP3 promotion and they said flat out no, which is one of the reasons we left. In our case we didn’t "see" the online thing getting bigger after we left as much as we saw it getting bigger and moved toward it.

Peon: So now with creating your own label, how are you going to approach these things differently than the majors? And is this going to be just a label solely for your music or also other artist releases?

Jon: Well, the difference is we will approach them. We couldn’t before.

We most likely won’t be signing bands to release CDs. This week we did decide to start a coalition of artists who are interested in selling downloads. But I don't know how it will go because most artists wont be able to do it. The idea is to empower artists as much as possible. I could go on for days about it. It's a little ways off though.

Peon: With everything going on, with all of these new avenues and albums being released. What are your feelings today surrounding your music and the near future of it?

Jon: I feel very good about it. Much better than I did before...

I can make music and videos anytime I want. Exactly how I want. I can release it in seconds, and anyone in the world can access it. I can also release as many videos and records as I desire. What could be better than that?

Jon: A lot of musicians write me. A lot. Wondering how to "get into the industry”...The thing about what I am doing this year is that not only is it our choice to do this, but anyone can do it. There are no doors we are going through that aren’t available to every single person reading this interview. But people somehow look at me as a "star". If that’s true, so be it, but this kind of stardom is available to anyone, so long as you make music that connects to someone out there.

Indie bands used to go up against labels, and fail because the scales were so tipped. It's just not the case anymore. I urge every band out there to release music themselves. I think they will be surprised at how quickly they quit their day jobs.

Peon: Very well said. Thank you very much Jon for the interview.

Jon: Thank you too.

Comments: