VivaVoce’s Kevin and Anita Robinson hit the road earlier this fall on their first nationwide headline tour in support of their newly released Vanguard Records debutThe Future Will Destroy You.
The 10 tracks on The Future Will Destroy You represent some of Viva Voce’s strongest songwriting and musicianship to date. The husband and wife duo combine heartfelt songwriting and walls of guitars, with their own unique recording methods (done entirely in their home studio) to craft a barrage of psychedelic and straight-ahead pop-rock hits. Anita Robinson took time from the tour to chat with me about the album.
There is a lot going on in this record. What were your inspirations?
I was listening to a lot of Classic Rock which really is my favorite music. It’s hard to find Classic Rock that you haven’t heard over and over so it doesn’t always thrill you consistently. I was really on the prowl for Classic Rock that hopefully is awesome but that I had never even heard. I found a lot of hard to find out of print bands like Master’s Apprentices from Australia and a little Chilean band Congresso. I also revisited some timeless favorites. The production of mid-late 70’s and really early 80’s FM Rock that was so self-indulgent, decadent and probably drug fueled is a huge influence on the sound of this record.
Your vocals take on a real Mazzy Star sort of feel in a lot of the tracks. It’s incredible!
Thanks, that’s a great compliment. I love Hope Sandoval’s voice and they always work hard to make it sound as clear and pretty as possible. We really wanted to get the fidelity as good as we could and worked hard to do it. We really wanted an album that was a bit left of center, a bit eclectic. We try to get a real homespun feel in our records but we also wanted a vibe of reckless abandon this time around.
How do you manage to replicate such a full sound with just the two of you?
We do it all ourselves without a band by using triggered loops to make the wizardry happen. The chemistry has to be there and we do everything in our power to make that happen every night.
Is it difficult keeping up your marriage full time and working together full time?
It does seem sort of like a daunting thing. We’ve never known anything else as a band. Before I met and started recording with Kevin I don’t feel like I was ever in a band that was my own. All I can call it is kismet. We were really fortunate to get on the path together at the same time. We gel and write together so well that the only real challenge is being together all day every day. That’s an amazing thing but when we are both down or we are both really tired and discouraged it can be tough. I don’t think we could do this if we weren’t together.
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