Balance II vocalist Vince Clapps talks about being the frontman for the diverse new Balance II project.
Time to get into the nuts and bolts behind Balance II! You and Brian are the creative force behind this band, but let's take a trip a little further back first. When did you start out as a singer and for most I would presume, you will be a new name on the scene. What else have you been involved in prior to Balance II? I know the music is not exactly fitting into any one industry category, but the feedback we are getting on the quality of the song writing, the performances and the sound are great. We may not fit into the preverbal box, but we hoped if we did it right we would find people like you, to help us find an audience. I grew up singing and writing music and used almost all my energy and skill to perform live. Brian and I hooked up way, way back in band that eventually became a band called Toys. We played live a couple years and covered everything from Pat Travers and Robin Trower to Skynard and Elvis.
Most of my efforts where trying to build a band the old fashioned way, players + material + lots of rehearsal = jobs & $$Money. All my live work was in the Chicago area where I built up a pretty good reputation as a front man and band leader which led to work. I got hooked up with the band Fingerpaint (This goes back to the 80 s). Fingerpaint grew into the group Secrets and we were committed to an original show. Over a year of working on tunes and the live show along with some marketing, we built a great industry buzz in Chicago. We did all original sets with full costume (Peter Gabriel / Genesis Style) and our only covers where tributes to Pink Floyd and Queen. After 2 years of building and working and only a few gigs the band fell apart (typical band BS) and after all that time wasted in the garage I needed to start making money.
So this is not the first project with Brian? A couple of the guys Brent Bauske & Jeff Boomer Weber from Secrets and then brought in Ted Pitzen on keyboards and my long time guitar player Mike Grzegroeck and we started a band we called Rock Opera, a working band that I played with for many years. We worked hard, played some great gigs but never developed any original material and like all jobbing bands, it got very old and stale after a while. Brian had jobbed with us as a bass player, guitar and keyboard player a bunch of times before he and I decided to re-tool the old band that we renamed Vango (Vince & Vangogh) funny huh? We worked that into the most successful jobbing / money making music venture either of us ever had done.
I also demoed a version of Brian's called Without You from the first Balance CD. That is what made Brian think about using me for Balance II. He told me he would play the 3 cuts (all different singers) and everyone seemed to migrate toward me (i.e. liked my voice best) including the other singers! It was a great compliment and I hoped way back then that somewhere along the way we would do something original together.
I've seen mentioned Rock Opera, Hi-Fi and Van go - can you tell us a little about those projects? These bands were all working bands. This opened a number of doors including some jingle work, and a 4 song original EP I did in CRC Studio s in Chicago featuring my originals. I was going to have Brian play guitar for the project, but I had hired a producer that brought in players with him. The producer was a great guy named Dave Siegel, who composed all the arrangements for Lincolnshire Marriott s music theater and a number of theatres in Chicago. My tunes and the production sounds came off very much like music theater. Although people liked the effort, it did not open many doors. In retrospect I should have had Brian produce it, who knows where we would be today.
Balance II is the first project to make it to official release stage though, correct? This is true; everything else was spec, live or just for fun.
Can you say why now was the right time and the right songs, and why not before? After Brian and I gave up on the live, cover thing (way too much work and not enough fun), Brian built and lived in his studio. He went after original music with the passion and energy we should have given our original ideas from the start. He worked his butt off, hours and hours working and re-working his song ideas, production ideas, his playing (guitar, keys, bass, drums etc) He had played some of his stuff along the way for me and I can tell you the material you hear today in Balance II is the result of all that work and effort.
You have stated previously and I know Brian has said the same thing - that you expected some resistance from some to the music of Balance II as it's more challenging and complex than your usual AOR! Firstly - A comment on that and what can you do to impress people to check out the music before making any judgments? That's easy just listen to it on the Melodicrock.com site. Anyone who appreciates music and musicianship, anyone who considers themselves an audiophile, if you like harmony and poetry you will appreciate some part of this recording. You may not like a song, you may not like any songs but you will appreciate the performance. We determined that the continuity of the performance, the players, the audio, my voice would bring all these very different tunes together. It's funny that Brian writes and thinks in almost every style. He would prefer to have 10 singers for 10 tunes; it is the way his brain works.
Fortunately for me in this case the music industry and fans want a sound, a voice for a band. That is not to say people want everything the same! I am a music fan and I know when I hear a singers voice it is part of the signature for the band. Compilation albums, or movie scores have there place but you need a signature. Brian is a smart guy, and he wanted something different and thought I filled the bill. I am no where near the technician that Thom Griffin is, I don't have that killer high end of a Steve Perry or Lou Gram, but my voice has a range that sits well in Brian's material and is unique enough and pleasant enough that people seem to enjoy it.
Balance II is the kind of album you need to live with before appreciating how much is going on and the depth of the songs. What do you think of that compared with the unfortunate state of the modern pop world where kid's attention spans are so short?
I am guilty of having that same short attention span. We have so much coming at us in every kind of media today that if the song, the sound, the show, the color what ever does not jump out and grab you by the throat, you get lost in the noise. This piece of work has some of that grab you stuff, but it was not written for kids with no ears, or for people who have no appreciation for musicianship. It has hooks that may take you 2 or 3 listens to appreciate - but at the end of the day, it does draw you back. I find myself wanting to put it on again and not just for any one tune, but to sit and take it all in from top to bottom. If they listen, they will come back!
I hope we get the chance to do this music live, I think this has the makings of a killer show.
What were your vocal influences and inspirations over the years and currently? I am all over the board. From Elvis to Elvis Costello, I like emotion in music. I appreciate a killer instrument like Thom Griffin has and also love the lyrical poetry of a Bob Dylan. I love harmony i.e. The Eagles, Little River Band, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. That was what we where thinking about when we did Miracles the 9th cut on Balance II. My least favorite question and most asked is who are my favorites in music? The singers, styles, etc. well, I love a good musical as much as I do a great rock show. Music just works for me.
How was it working alongside the great Thom Griffin? I would start by saying what a great man. Solid citizen, father, husband, musician, technician, this guy has it down. He can spit out harmony and layer it, triple track it and with energy like you and I breathe. He would come to the studio with what Thom called ear candy Todd Rundgren (a Thom favorite) or some little known CD he found for in a dollar bin in some obscure record shop that would blow you away. He is such a fan of music and loves it so much you can't help but get caught up in his enthusiasm. If we don't sell one CD, I can tell you that all the time and effort I put into this CD will have been worth it for the experience of working with Thom. He is that good!
I like that you chose emotional performance over technical perfection. I see a little of both on the album - there are some hard lines to work with. Can you give an example of your best of each example on the album? You are right about the technical Brian likes to use words that are not a typical part of every day language. The one I think is funny and I made him change was the word in When Love Comes we sing youthful endurance and pain. The original lyric was youthful exuberance and pain. Ever try singing exuberance?
Emotion is in the whole CD, but the one that was most emotional was You Asked, that is so plain, so simple, so in your face that you have to feel the song almost as much as you hear it. I wanted to take it up at the end and make a bigger thing out of the finish but Brian and Bryan both felt like it needed to stay down, easy, sad. For me the tune You Asked is that moment when you look back at times in your life and wonder if you made the right decisions. In this case relationship choice but it could be about any decision.
I spoke to Brian about life as an indie - what do you hope will come of the Balance II release? I have felt from the start that if we could find an audience, even a small one that would be cool. If we only sold enough CDs to justify doing another one that would be a big win. We don t have any preconceived idea about selling millions of CDs. We wanted to do this our way and we wanted to do it right, meaning - no excuses. Playing, recording writing, if we spent the time and energy to do it with the best people in the business, using the best tools, strong music material, the CD should be very good in the end.
And now the CD has hit the streets - what comes next Vince? Do you have anything else lined up to go right now? This is it. I have all my apples in one basket and I am OK with it. If people like it we get to make another CD, if they don t I start building another basket.
Ambitiously speaking - what would you like to do (anything) given the chance?! I would love for this CD to sell enough to warrant both a live show and another CD. I am not asking for much, oh I forgot to mention rich. I want to be rich. Just so I can afford to hire the best people and make great music all day, every day.
Anything I have missed Vince? You got it, I hope with your help and with that of all the folks who find us and like what they hear we can make this something special. I appreciate your support and the incredible effort you put into your site and your love of music. I wish you and all the fans of Melodic Rock all the best - keep up the good work!
