We spoke with Brett Hornall of The Vidos..
Where are you currently based?
I’m currently in my broken down 2001 Civic on the side of the highway waiting for a tow somewhere in Surrey, BC. The band, however, just recently moved our HQ to beautiful Mission, BC and I’ve never been happier. I mean… besides that time ten minutes ago when my car was working properly.
How did The Vidos form?
Kirk and Nolan met during their golden years playing for the Langley Eagles hockey team when they were 11 years old. At the start of the season Nolan’s dad had just had his driver’s license confiscated by the RCMP due to a DUI (who knew a bong would look bad in your front cup holder?). This posed a problem from their first tournament trip down to Bremerton, WA as Nolan was their star-studded goaltender. Kirk’s grandpa offered to take both of them down so they convoyed all together; made for a hell of a time at the border I hear… The four of them shared a hotel room together which is where Kirk and Nolan got to know each other while the future Vidads were out facedownin a pile of nachos at the local pub. This gave the boys lots of time to talk about music and share their love for Ronnie James Dio. When they returned, Kirk and Nolan spent years scouring and posting ads on Craigslist which is where they found a ton of weirdos — including the one and only ME, Brett Hornall.
What’s been happening recently?
Kirk (guitar) was living on the band bus for the last four or five months until we sold it, now he’s living in the rehearsal space washroom, Nolan (drums) just bought an apartment with his cats, and I moved back in with my dad when we got back from Toronto (guess which one of us is good at Monopoly). We also just signed a record deal with our longtime friends Danny Craig and Dave Benedict on their new label Rock Is Dead Records here in Vancouver, which is a very exciting thing for all parties involved.
What or who influenced the sound and songwriting for your latest single ‘Boomshackalacka’?
Kirk and I had been listening to a lot of r&b at the time and I was particularly into The Internet, so the main skeleton of the song I think was me trying to do something they might do. Then I got self-conscious about it and was like, “okay this is cool but what if a band like Mother Mother or DFA tried to write the chorus?” In terms of structure we ended up going for that laid back, vibey verse and Impossible Beef chorus thing going on that Tame Impala or like Tegan and Sara do so well.
How did you go about writing ‘Boomshackalacka’?
Like I said about trying to lean into some r&b type stuff, I think at a certain point I got nervous about how different it was and tried to contrast that with a big, sorta riffy chorus that had been somewhat of a hallmark for us in the past. The lyrics of the chorus kinda cop to the fact that I chickened out on going fully outta my comfort zone to instead rest on my laurels, haha. The whole song has this “hey, look at me, I‘ve got no game” quality to it that I think is pretty par for the course if you’ve ever met us.
Where and when did you record/produce/master and who did you work with?
We recorded this entire puppy last July and August with Danny Craig in his garage in Chilliwack, BC. From there the completed record was sent down to Tom Baker in Cali for mastering.
How did you approach the recording process?
This time around was different than any session we’d previously done — we recorded a whole record from front to back in track listing order, one instrument at a time. We decided on the song order during pre-production and stuck with it. It’s pretty neat because you can hear the record really develop as it goes on. That being said, “Boomshackalacka” was the first song we cut so we spent a lot of time on that one! The sounds and lyrical themes we found for “Boom” really shaped the identity of the rest of the record.
What can we expect from the upcoming music video for the track?
It’s a six-minute epic — we’re calling it our “Thriller”. It’s incredibly ridiculous, highly entertaining and is absolutely our magnum opus.
You’ve just signed to a brand new record label ‘Rock is Dead’ how did this come about and how has the experience been so far?
They call it “Rock is Dead”, we call it “Two Dads and a Laptop”. We absolutely adore Danny and Dave, we’ve been friends and collaborators for almost ten years now so it was absolutely a no-brainer to do an entire record with them for imaginary future money. In this economy? Get outta here.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
We’ve been on a big 1975 kick lately; Nolan’s rewatching the OC, so every song from that; the Tarzan soundtrack; Upsahl; Remi Wolf; and I’ve been getting back to my roots with some Fall Out Boy and that first Specials record. There’s also a great, virtually unknown band from New York called The Prigs that I ask anyone who will listen to check out. Specifically their song “Crush”.
What do you like to do away from music?
It’s no secret we all like to enjoy some fine (and not so fine) spirits here in The Vidos camp, which has slowly developed from a problem to a passion. We’ll often get together and crack open my great grandfather’s WW1 cocktail book and see what we can do. Of course, it’s a luxury for us to use a shaker tin instead of gramps’ old lead canteen container and we respect our privilege immensely.
What’s planned for the remainder of 2022 going into 2023?
Finishing our new tour rig has been the big focus for the last 5 months and we’re just about at the finish line. We’re going to be rolling around with the most efficient rig ever conceived by people kind. Once finished we look to take aim at dominating the Christmas scene while dropping another Vidos heartthrob. Santa’s never looked so good. In 2023… it begins.
Favourite food and place to hangout?
We have this joint in BC called Triple-O’s and it is the best fast food burger you’ve ever had in your bloody life. You’d be hard-pressed (much like tha 100% fresh Canadian beef patty) to find us anywhere else on a Tuesday when the burgers are six bucks.
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Website: https://thevidosmusic.com