An interview with The Vim Dicta

· This is your first visit to Llanelli so could you introduce us to the members of the band and give us a brief history of the band.

Cori: I’m originally from Austin, TX. Matt is from LA and Chris is from Chicago. Matt and I are the original members of the band as we had a different drummer when we first started back in 2011. Matt and I met at Coachella in 2009. About a year later, I reached out to him and we started jamming in his garage. I would say my roots are definitely in folk. Bob Dylan is what got me into writing my own music, lyrics mean a lot to me. Matt studied the great guitar players (Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, etc.) and as we started writing together it brought out my tendencies towards heavier music. Chris studied drumming of all kinds by listening to old records and playing with them. Eventually it led to him becoming a hired gun in many major cities including Chicago, New York and Nashville. The three of us together culminate a large array of influences. Musically we are inspired by rock, jazz, soul/r&b, funk, the list goes on…it may be cliche to say but there really are no limits to what can inspire us and our style. To sum it up shortly, we’ve coined the term “Psychogroove” as our “genre” which sort of lends itself to an interpretation that makes sense upon listening to us and especially seeing us live.

· Tell us a bit about the your sound and what we can expect at the gig.

Cori: We are influenced by so much that in all honesty, it’s hard to describe shortly. I think at the root of it, we are drawn to an unruly, raw sound. We hope that is seen as the core and the relatable genres sort of acting as tentacles of blues, latin, soul, jazz, and rock.

· What is your favourite Vim Dicta Song and why?

Cori: I would say it changes. There are also songs that are my favorites to play live. The song we usually end our set with “Teaspoon” gets a great reaction which is great because it’s the first song Matt and I wrote as The Vim Dicta so it definitely is sentimental to me.

· How does a band from L.A. end up in Wales, playing a gig in the Masons?

Cori: On this tour we had a few gigs booked in Wales. One of them was at The Duke in Neath. Greenmailer was on the bill with us and after playing together we all talked about playing more gigs with each other which lead to this gig at Masons.

· You’ve traveled quite a distance to get here, what’s the best and worst things about being in a touring band?

Cori: Let’s start with the worst things. You’re spending a lot of time in a car which can make you restless. Because you’re traveling a lot, you don’t have great options for food unless you think way ahead although sometimes you don’t even have that luxury, so you’re eating food that isn’t the healthiest. It’s ironic because it’s best to be very healthy when performing many times a week. But, because of all the travel, you get to see places you probably wouldn’t see otherwise. You’re getting to meet all sorts of people. Some of which become life long friends. And of course the number one reason, you’re getting to share your music with all kinds of new crowds.

· What is the best gig that you have ever played?

Cori: It’s easy for the context of that question to be misconstrued depending on what you define as the “best” gig. I would say one of our highlight gigs was opening up for Tim Commerford’s (Bass player for Rage Against the Machine and Audiosoave) new band “Wakrat” at The Viper Room. It was pretty wild to walk around after our set and see Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Rick Rubin and Chris Rock in the crowd.

· What have you got planned for the band for the rest of the year?

Cori: Well our tour has been extended until August here in the UK. We’ve been getting a great response so far so we want to make the most of being here. We have a plethora of new songs we’ve recorded so we’re trying to figure out the best way to release them. So hopefully we’ll put out our first full-length. We definitely want to release some of the songs if not all of them on vinyl this time around. We’ve garnered some interest in Ireland and Scotland so maybe we’ll get over there for some shows. We want to keep going as long as we have this momentum.