With their album Saltwater Circadian out now, VRSA’s front person, Josh, kindly took the time out of his busy schedule to discuss the new album, reflect on its genesis, and what VRSA has planned for the this year.
ATN: You have said, “Living on the coast of Long Island Sound along with sailing and fishing culture has led to a ten-year journey of writing with nautical imagery. Even before our previous release Cvlt of Machina, the seed of Saltwater Circadian started to take hold in my mind.” Why is now the perfect time for the release of Saltwater Circadian?
JOSH: I wish I could say that it was some grand plan but in reality, it’s just when all things finally came together. Besides just the creative process and writing it was things like covid and quarantining that delayed this album a lot.
ATN: What was the creative process like for the album?
JOSH: I spent a lot of time reading and learning about different seafaring traditions and delving into a lot of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories. Together the historical and the fantastical made great subject matter. Then just as always we bang out the song ideas all together and get the arrangements figured out. I think we came up with a good batch of great riffs for this album!
ATN: What can fans expect with the album? Will they be surprised or shocked by anything on the album?
JOSH: I do think this album is a good mix of our previous two albums. The song writing is a bit more like Phantom of an Era but the progression we had during the writing of Cvlt of Machina has led to a lot of interesting ideas on Saltwater Circadian.
ATN: Was there any song that was harder (or easier) to record than others?
JOSH: We have a song called “Born on the Tide” on the album that’s a nine-minute song. It wasn’t necessarily harder to record but we set out to write an epic of a song, so it took us a little bit to complete the writing of it.
ATN: How has fans’ reactions been to the single “Saltwater Circadian”?
JOSH: The reactions so far have been really positive. We love getting the feedback and hearing what connects with people.
ATN: The artwork for the single and album are quite beautiful, who was/were the artist(s)?
JOSH: Thank you! For the single it was just something Josh put together from illustrations in an old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea book. The main artwork for the full album and the Coral logo we are using for this album was done by our friend Michael Miglietta, parlay_droner on Instagram. We are very happy with what he did and how it came out. He does great work! Check him out!
ATN: How involved are you as a band in the artwork?
JOSH: We have a lot of friends who are artists, so we always reach out to the people in that community to do our album art. Every one of our album covers have been a different artist.
ATN: Nowadays, there’s so much more involved than just the music and playing but marketing, social media, etc, when creating Saltwater Circadian (album), did you keep this in mind or was it music first, marketing later?
JOSH: It always has to be the raw creativity and song writing first! Marketing is a necessary evil and we try to navigate it while still keeping the integrity of the art in check.
ATN: Speaking of music first, what comes first – music or the lyrics?
JOSH: I usually know what kind of things I want to write about for any given album, but the lyrics do tend to come after the song is written.
ATN: What do you hope fans will take away from Saltwater Circadian?
JOSH: I hope when people listen to our music, they get inspired and turn that energy back into something that they are passionate about!
ATN: What’s in store for 2024?
JOSH: VRSA plans to keep spreading the infection! We have a bunch of shows lined up for the first half of the year and are going to keep adding new dates all over the region. We are already well on our way with writing our follow up to Saltwater Circadian!
SAME 3 QUESTIONS WE ALWAYS ASK
ATN: Artist / band that you feel is the most underrated and why?
JOSH: Bands that are out here with us hustling and grinding it out all over the independent music scene. Definitely too many to list them all but here’s a list of some that we love. Afghan Haze (CT), NorthStar The Wanderer (MA), Guhts (NY), BASK (NC), When the Deadbolt Breaks (CT), Bent (MA),
ATN: Artist / band that you would like to collaborate with and why?
JOSH: We would love to record at God City with Kurt Ballou!
ATN: Artist / band that you would like to tour with and why?
JOSH: The Melvins or Cave In would be a dream and we would fit pretty well with them!
