Summer may be coming to an end, but you can hold onto a little bit of sunshine with the dreamy sounds of Vows, a Burlington and New Jersey-based duo.
Jeff Pupa, the Vermont half of the pair, joined VPR to talk about the band’s most recent release, Soon Enough Love.
On how the band has evolved since its start in 2011
“Quite a bit, I think … With each album, we’ve kind of learned a lot on our own. We do all of the mixing, recording, production [ourselves]. We’d like to progress more with the live aspect for sure. And with the writing, especially with this new album, we sort of purposefully went in a different direction than the previous two [albums].”
On Soon Enough Love’s summer release
“This was actually the first album that was recorded in the summer, and so we spent the winter mixing it and then had it prepped to be released in the summer. It just sort of worked out because this is our first vinyl record, so we were kind of at the mercy of when we would get the release back. The previous two [albums] we released on our own and had sort of full control as far as when it came out.”
On making music with the band living in different states
“James and myself started in 2011 writing together when I was living in New Jersey, and the two of us just immediately hit it off with our ideas for how we wanted to proceed and it just kind of stuck. Even our first record was recorded separately because James was finishing school down in Baltimore and I was in Jersey, so we would constantly just send these skeletons back and forth for ideas. We would get together and do these mixing sessions.”
“Its been tough to maintain and certainly I think a lot of people think I’m crazy for going back and forth so much, but its very important to me, its very important to the guys in the band, too, to keep it going. It’s worked out really well and it certainly vibes with being in a relationship, in all the good, the bad and the ugly, but there is also some really awesome things that happen with it.”
How does this affect live performances?
“I moved up here about two years ago, and prior to that we had been playing very often, basically every weekend, every show we could get. We just kind of operate on a bit of a slower schedule, I think, than some bands. We rely heavily on Internet presence and social media to cover a lot of bases for us as well.”
What’s next for Vows?
“This weekend, we’re playing on Saturday at this great spot called Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey. Then on October 16, we’re playing a show at the Skinny Pancake in Burlington, Vermont, which we’re super stoked about. That will be our third show in Burlington and I think each one has progressively made a good impression, so we’re really hyped about it.”
Vows was featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered in 2012. Read the article, Second Stage: Vows, 'Winter's Grave.'
