The Detroit pop-rock band chats with Local Spins about its latest release ahead of Saturday’s shows at Original Gravity Brewing Company in Milan and The Loving Touch in Ferndale.
The Vig Arcadia: Emotive vocals, mesmerizing electric guitars and infectious pop-rock on ‘Morph.’ (Courtesy Photo)
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The Vig Arcadia is experiencing a transformation.
The Detroit pop-rock group focuses on self-discovery and growth for its latest album, “Morph.”
The album’s nine tracks explore personal experiences about life and love from the band.
“That’s how I try to approach the lyrics that I put into it,” said Yasmine Guajardo, lead vocalist. “There’s definitely a lot of love experiences. Johnny [Scott] had a lot of lyrics on that album as well.
“His [lyrics] were also from relationships and from life. He’s had a hell of a journey from what I understand. I think every one of those songs is like a real experience that happened to one of us or a combination of us.”
The band also brings those collective experiences to life sonically on “Morph.” It features the talents of drummer Chris “C.A.” Jones, rhythm guitarist Kevin “KB” Blakita, bassist Evan “Digs” DiGennaro, keyboardist-vocalist Etai Schnitman, former vocalist-guitarist Johnny Scott, and Guajardo.
Together, they provide emotive vocals, mesmerizing electric guitars, and infectious pop-rock instrumentation on “Morph.”
“That was a learning curve for all of us,” Guajardo said. “And also, we knew going into that, we were gonna have to shape our sound a little bit to make room and to be able to collaborate. We knew it was going to be a little bit of a different direction.”
“Morph” soars and evolves through a memorable collection of tracks, which range from powerhouse interludes to fiery ballads to groovy jams.
The Vig Arcadia shaped those tracks with engineers/producers Josh Karpowicz and Paco Higdon at Tuxedo Avenue Recording Studios in Roseville.
“It was a little different because we were building the album as we would go into the studio,” DiGennaro said. “We would come in with half-written stuff and then Josh and Paco would help us shape it. It was cool watching that happen. Johnny would come in with a riff, and we’d all put our grubby little hands on it and try to shape it into something.”
VIDEO: The Vig Arcadia, “MeanGirl”
‘MEANGIRL,’ ‘TODAY,’ ‘RIGHTSIDE’ AND MORE INVITING TRACKS
One of the tracks they shaped was “MeanGirl,” a wistful, yet fearless ballad about confronting toxic friendships.
Backed by mighty electric guitar and drums, Guajardo sings, “Oh, but you messed up too many times / Cause your drunk thoughts, your sober mind / And you never really did / No, you never really did change.”
“It started from a friendship,” she said. “When I started writing that song … I [had] encountered more of those people and started changing lyrics and things to represent these other toxic people that I kept encountering in my life.”
The Vig Arcadia illustrates that struggle in a new video for “MeanGirl,” which features the band performing in a school cafeteria while a teen girl confronts her former friends.
After abandoning toxic friendships on “MeanGirl,” the band contemplates the end of a relationship on “Today.”
The soaring track features cathartic electric guitar and piano alongside Guajardo’s soulful vocals.
“This song I originally wrote very quickly, which is how I write personally in this band,” she said. “Something will happen that makes me real pissed or sad … and I’ll go to the piano, and the melody and everything comes out at the same time. This is the first song we wrote together with Johnny from scratch.”
Guajardo and Scott also shine on “RightSide,” a heartwarming ode to finding the right person and feeling hopeful about the future. Their uplifting vocals intertwine with carefree electric guitar, bass, keys, and drums.
“This is a pretty Johnny song through and through,” Guajardo said. “He definitely had the guitar riff, he had a vocal melody in mind, and the lyrics were written on the spot at practice. I’m going to [assume] for him that it’s based on [the] relationship that he’s in now.”
Last week, The Vig Arcadia released a video of a live medley for “RightSide,” which includes snippets of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” and Paramore’s “Ain’t It Fun.” The band’s spirited performance was filmed at The Loving Touch in Ferndale.
VIDEO: The Vig Arcadia, “Rightside (Medley)”
PLAYING SATURDAY SHOWS IN MILAN AND FERNDALE
The Vig Arcadia has played an increasing roster of shows in Michigan and the Midwest since forming during the pandemic. It’s known for its energetic live performances featuring catchy original songs and edgy renditions of covers across an array of genres.
“We’re in full swing still playing a couple of shows a month,” said Guajardo, who attributes the band’s name to references in nature and nirvana. “I feel like our regular schedule is starting to pick up now that the weather is warmer and bands are playing out and about all over.”
Part of that schedule includes two shows in Metro Detroit on Saturday (April 26): one at Original Gravity Brewing Company in Milan and another at The Loving Touch for the Detroit x Detroit XIII showcase.
“We’re trying to get this thing going this year … called The Vig & Friends,” said Guajardo about the Gravity Brewing show. “We’re playing a ton of covers, and we will let everyone know what covers we’re gonna play so that they can come out and they can come up and join. We’re hoping it catches on … [and] I would just love it to be like a community thing.”
As for the Detroit x Detroit show, The Vig Arcadia is playing a set of three songs by Slowfoot, a blues-rock band from Waterford. The premise of the annual showcase includes having a lineup of local acts perform songs by other artists with Detroit ties.
“We just love Slowfoot,” DiGennaro said. “They always put on a good show [with] a lot of energy. [The] musicianship is out of this world, so it will be fun to test ourselves a little bit.”
Outside of performing shows, the band is writing new material for an upcoming release.
“We’re trying to do two or three songs,” Guajardo said. “Digs was so kind to write a little riff … that turned into a vocal melody. That became, I think, what is gonna be our next single—TBD on that.
“But we have two that we [have] gotten pretty far with, as far as writing. We want to workshop it a bit, perform it live, and make some tweaks. I could see us recording one or two in the summer, so hopefully, that works out.”
VIDEO: The Vig Arcadia, “Today”
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