In honor of the launch of not only their LVDMs new myspace page but also the offering their ep All Is Fair In Love and Dance, we took a pause to find out exactly what they were all about.
These guys are not your garage type musicians but rather students and the prestigious Berkelee College of Music. And that is where Alex Badanes, Izaiah Yelle, Eric Grave, Jimmy Coberly, and Lyle Shaw (Lyle plays the keytar.. the FREAKIN KEYTAR!!), sorry about that… met up.
The name Love Via Dance Machine really has no meaning but I think it’s a good indication of the upbeat and positive vibe these guys are about, downloading their ep, shows their genre as ‘bad ass’, we asked what that was about
Apparently when you create this you get to chose the genre.. Bad Ass was chosen by Eric (who to me could very well be the prankster of the band), “at the time we were putting it up there we were just so excited we used that. We could have used digital pop punk, but we were all just so excited about it, we called it bad ass”
So we have a fun name, excited new and strong musicians and a sense of humor. So far.. I’m loving them even more. With influences of Blink 182, and New Found Glory and with Taylor Swift playing in the van, diversity doesn’t seem to be an issue. What does seem to me as fascinating is the scope of imagination within this band.
LVDM although not a concept band ala’ Ziggy Stardust claim to be from the future returning back to the present. Alex advises, ‘We tried to keep with that theme of a future band coming back in time with the new ep. We wanted to play that up using sounds to push that futuristic theme even more.”
But wait wait.. its not all fun and games. What may have started as a fun thing to do has really evolved into a strong determination and quest with a plan. In April the band got together to record with Boston producer David Adam Monroe,Alex again: ” Before that we had never even played out. But it was then when were were like ‘yeah, this is something we really want to do” It was during this recording that Love Via Dance Machine ‘found their sound’, and made the determination to be their #1 goal.
But 2010 is the year of getting the new ep into as many iPods as possible and playing as many shows as they can. The ultimate goal being to get on one of the mega tours that happens so frequently in this genre. But how is that done in 2010? Apparently the same way as its always been done. “It’s who you know. The industry now is about what other bands are your friends and who you befriend higher up in the industry.” Now working with band managers Adrian Amodeo, Evan Peters, LVDM can now be in the ‘in’ crowd of bands including Say Anything and Receiving End of Sirens. The managements connections are how your pushed to and marketed to labels.. labels..(are you listening Edge?)
But how do you balance college and a career in music? Well that’s where Berklees unofficial motto comes into play ‘if you want to play gigs, play gigs- if you want to stay in school stay in school, they don’t really want you to do both” So if a hiatus is required for LVDM to tour or play then so be it. They’re committed to it, and will to do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Its funny really to hear as many new bands as we do and to find one we really cant tuck into a category. I adore the vibe I am excited to see them in January I want more bad ass genre and I want it now.
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