Getting to Know… VAYA | Interview

For the 21^st interview in our ‘Getting to Know…’ series, the Musical Hype taps VAYA, an ‘Ameridian’ rock band based in Canada.

It’s been a couple of weeks but never fear – we have another interview for you my Musical Hype dears! Corny AF, but whatever.  We are ‘into the 20s’ on The Musical Hype, and we’ve tapped VAYA, an ‘Ameridian’ rock band based in Canada for our 21^st ‘Getting to Know’ interview. VAYA is comprised of Victoria (vocals), Philippe (guitar), and Raphaël (drums).  In one of the most unique interviews, Frontwoman Victoria, with some contributions from Philippe as well, gives up some background about this distinct musical collective.  Without further ado, here’s Getting to Know… VAYA!

Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype (BF): Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes Vaya distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

V. VAYA: Hey hey hey Musical Hype J Do you know a lot of Wolf pack on the stage? 😉 Well rocking [the] audience for VAYA is simply sharing the stage with it! We love to share powerful, authentic and deep energy from the ground to the sky. Traveling together on VAYA musical prism is heavenly high 🙂

BF: “Powerful, authentic, and deep energy from the ground to the sky” – sounds quite intriguing! Moving on, how did VAYA form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

V. VAYA: There are no hazards. Step by step, after my trip [to] a forest, meeting myself under a tree with my leather book, we have connected [with] each other and met each other. This are the Universe Laws; make moves, energies, and energies come back to you J. The most important goals in VAYA is being ‘ourselves’ through music and listening to each other to be one on stage.

BF: Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

V.VAYA: Life is evolution, so we are 🙂 but the goals are staying the same: Conquer the all Universe 😀

BF: Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

V.VAYA: My big [influences are] Jim (Morrison) and David Bowie, Nirvana, Queen of the stone age, NIN, Jack White, Black Sabbath, Classical music, Chet Baker, and… Power of Nature? And finally, yes, People 😉 

Phil (guitarist): My biggest musical influences are guitar players and there are many, lol! I would say Nuno Bettencourt the guitar player of The Great Band called “Extreme” coz I love the way he plays, his technique, his feeling and his virtuosity he’s so amazing and I like his look! I also like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai for the same reasons almost!

BF: Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

V. VAYA: When you have to maintain drunk people focus: Give them the tambourine! It’s clearly working 😉

Phil: The wackiest thing was somewhere in Poland, while we were playing in a bar, some people came to us and wanted to play with us! They wanted to borrow our instruments from us and after, they were strange!

BF: Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

V.VAYA: Difficult. I like to go into the power of our intro bleeding then “VAYA” J And finishing our landing on “Elephantus”; strong between cold and warm energy; its crystallizing your blood!

Phil: Well I’d say my favourite song I recorded is one of my songs called “In Your Mind”! It’s a slow rock ballade and a bit more than 3 years ago, I played in a power blues trio and I wanted to play this song to give something different from the other songs in the band! I didn’t expect that but when I first played this song to my fellow musicians, they were so impressed, and they immediately loved it! The drummer even said he was hallucinating, lol! Yeah, this song means a lot to me and I wrote it when I watched a movie called For the Love of Game with Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston! It’s a very beautiful movie about love, passion and it touched me! So that’s why I wrote this song and I dedicate it to all the beautiful girls and the people who are in love with somebody! And when we were about to record a souvenir demo, my friends told me we gotta record this one!

BF: Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about VAYA? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?  

V.VAYA: I can see the future 😀

Phil: Oh, I never thought about taking part in contests like these! All I want is play for people having fun and give them fun too! If that works, then I’m happy!

BF: Closing this thing out, what is VAYA currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

V.VAYA: No secret, only the truth. Working on the second VAYA album and making growing our story everywhere in the world!

BF: Thank you so much VAYA for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.   

V.VAYA: It was a real pleasure to answer of all your questions. All the best! – VAYA

Photo Credit: VAYA