Kristen’s ’11 Mix – Track 13 – Vanaprasta

13. “Nine Equals Nine” – Vanaprasta

The best night to go out in Los Angeles is Monday night. So many great shows and most of them are free. Venues like The Satellite (formally Spaceland) and Silverlake Lounge had some pretty choice Monday night residencies this year. Taylor Locke and The Roughs, Youngblood Hawke, Big Black Delta, Indians, etc. Vanaprasta at The Satellite was one of the residencies I enjoyed the most. It centered around the release of their album, Healthy Geometry, which has been getting quite a bit of play in my stereo. LMN also started doing a feature this year called The Band Exam and Vanaprasta was one of our willing participants.

~ Kristen

LMN Band Exam: Vanaprasta

If you have yet to see LA indie rockers, Vanaprasta, dominate the stage at The Satellite during their November residency, you have two more opportunities (tonight/11.21 and next Monday/11.28). Don’t miss out!  Over the last year or so, I’ve watched this band really come into their own and with the recent release of their album, Healthy Geometry, they have become one of the most buzzed about bands on the local scene.  What amazes me about this band is the depth and energy of their tunes and the visceral impact they can have on an entire audience (we can call it the Vanaprasta effect). Witness for yourself. Monday nights in November. 11pm.

We wanted to get to know the band a bit better, so we had them take our Band Exam. Here are the responses we got from Steven (Vocals/Keys), Collin (Guitar/Vocals/Keys), Taylor (Bass/Vocals/Keys), Cam (Guitar) and Smiley (Drums)

 

Multiple Choice:

Favorite superhero: superman, batman, spiderman

Smiley: Batman for sure.

Favorite subject in school: math, science, history, recess

Steven: SCIENCE

Vacation destination: beach, mountains, moon

Steven: MOON

No-shave November: I’m in!, nooo way, what?

Cam: I’m in!

 

Fill in the Blank:

If I were a character from The Wizard of Oz, I would be__Toto (Taylor)___.

My karaoke song is       The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil” (Collin)  .

One weird talent/skill no one would expect from me is    I’m a helluva driver (Steven)   .

Two words to describe Vanaprasta’s November residency at The Satellite   Chick Central (Cam)   . 

 

Essay/Short Answer:

If you weren’t rockin’ out as a musician, what would be your ideal job?

Smiley: I guess if I wasn’t the multi-millionaire mega rock star that I am…I’d want to be Walker Texas Ranger. He’s s real American hero in my book. Not a fan of Chuck Norris but Walker Texas Ranger, now that’s a guy with his priorities straight. I guess I would want to be a (walker) Texas ranger.

What does Vanaprasta mean to you?

Taylor: To me, it means “a moderately sized moat surrounding a cottage or shack.”

Tell us a story about one of the songs off Healthy Geometry

Collin: G- is a special song for me personally because it was a song I wrote on acoustic guitar about 2 or 3 years before VANAPRASTA even existed. When I first got a chance to hang with the guys and we were just kind of jamming songs that we had written I started playing G-.  Cam and I had done very little guitar playing together at the time but as soon as he started jamming to it I was like “shit, that’s it!”.  I must have played that song with a million different people and lots of people had cool takes on the song but for some reason Cam’s parts struck a chord in the song I didn’t really ever see.  This song also helped Steven’s voice develop into more of a rock singer.  Overall I think the song taught us something about our sound and what we were capable of which I try to never forget.

 

 

~ Kristen