Probably the most exciting new Glasgow band we’ve come across recently, instrumental four-piece Vasa had us gripped and nodding along in agreement to their first demo when we took a trip and fell into them, ear holes gaping late last year. Sharing their name with an unfortunate Swedish warship, their music might get you wetter than a man overboard, but I doubt these chaps will be sinking anywhere any time soon.

Vasa! You appeared on our radar like a bullet from a Nerf gun. Who are you and where do you come from? What are your motives?

We are Blaine, John, Alex and Scott. We’re based in Glasgow but 2 of us are from Perth and 1 from Newcastle. But don’t hold that against us. Our motives are revenge, mostly.

Glasgow PodcART were facially flummoxed when we heard your first soundcloud ‘demo’.You have a very accomplished sound for such a new band. What’s your previous experience and did you start out with a definite idea of the noise you wanted to be creating?

We’ve all been in bands previously but nothing any of us has done has ever really gotten off the ground, in fact our first gig in January was the first time some of us had played on a stage in quite a few years. We were definitely clear from the start that we were going to be instrumental, apart from that we didn’t really tie ourselves down to a particular sound.

You are an instrumental band with ‘nae singing’. What complexetites does this add to your songwriting and why did you chose this setup?

I think being an instrumental band we’re forced to keep things more interesting musically than we might be if we had vocals. Without a vocal melody or lyrics to follow we try to make sure that all our guitar/bass/drum parts are as engaging as possible for the listener. In some ways it makes it easier though, as we don’t have to worry about trying to fit lyrics around our weird riffs. Also, none of us can sing.

Which instrumental bands do you admire and how do you stand out in this genre?

Obivously there’s the big ones; Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Godspeed, Sigur Ros etc. We’re big fans of And So I Watch You From Afar who we really admire in terms of their work ethic as well as their amazing tunes and intense as fuck live show. Others we like include; *Shels, Adebisi Shank, Talons, Maybeshewill, Brontide, 65daysofstatic. There’s also quite a few amazing instrumental bands emerging in Glasgow just now such as Without Aeroplanes, Ohm, and Thula Borah. Check out The Whole-Heart Collective (http://www.facebook.com/wholeheartcollective) for all your scottish post rock needs.

We really don’t know you very well at all. Let’s be accquainted, tell us something about each of you that you wouldn’t want a parent to know.

Ok…

Alex once got lost in Europe and had to ask some locals which country he was in.

John ‘went’ to Glasgow uni for 4 months but didn’t actually attend any classes.

Scott once got incredibly drunk in Aberdeen and tried to convince a taxi driver to take him to Rutherglen. Instead he spent the night/half of the next day wandering the streets.

Blaine actually hates post rock music and is only in the band for the money, fame and women.

You played your first gig less than a month ago. How did that go and when did you decide you had the finished product ready to unleash on a live audience?

It went really well, thanks. Big thanks got to Kenny Bates at Pivo Pivo for putting the night on. We decided we were ready to play the songs live when we could walk into a rehearsal and play the whole set without fucking it up too much. Then we practiced for another 6 weeks. Just to be sure.

How long did you wait before publishing your work on SoundCloud?

We had our first demo recorded for quite some time before it went up on soundcloud, but that was mainly because we didn’t have a drummer/name for the band for a few months. Then we were blessed with a geordie named Alex and finally settled on Vasa, so as soon as we sorted out a facebook page and stuff we put up the demo.

You’ve created quite the buzz with your output so far. Was this something you strategically planned or did your mystery evolve as a happy accident?

There was no plan, we pretty much just asked our friends to check out our band and the word spread like a sexually transmitted disease at a house party. We were lucky enough that fine people such as yourselves stumbled across us and were nice enough to share our music. It’s been the happiest accident since John was concieved.

As a new band that have literally just slid, dewy eyed from the womb, what would you like to achieve in the year ahead?

We’re hoping to play as many gigs as we can with some awesome bands, maybe even a wee tour and release our first EP.

You currently have two demos on soundcloud. Where did you record them and do you have plans to release anything soon?

The demos were recorded in Blaine’s bedroom on garageband. We’re hopefully going be recording over the next few months and releasing our debut EP in the summer.

As a new band, how important do you think it is to have links within ‘the scene’ when starting out?

We’re lucky enough to have friends in bands who are more established in Glasgow than ourselves and it’s certainly been helpful in that they can give us advice etc. I wouldn’t say it’s terribly important though, as I think especially in a city like Glasgow if the music is good enough people will take notice.

What would your ideal show be- venue, bands on the bill and that all-important rider ?

It would probably have to be some sort of all day affair to accommodate all our favourite bands…

Bands playing would probably be Sigur Ros, Biffy Clyro, ASIWYFA, *Shels, Intronaut and Brontide. We’d be on first so we could get suitably pished after and nurse our erections. Venue would be the Barrowlands, because y’know…it’s the Barra’s. The rider would be a big box of pickled onion space raiders for all the bands to share. And 1 beer each.

Translating your sound from record to live can be difficult. Describe the Vasa live experience to us since we missed your debut show by the hair of our chinny chin chin…

It tends to start off loud. Then it gets louder. Then we stop playing. We actually had a stage invasion after our first song at our first gig. True story.

Where can we see you next please?

By the time anyone reads this you’ll have just missed us playing at Pivo Pivo (again) on Wednesday the 22nd. We’re playing in Kilmarnock on the 30th of March for the launch of Mechanical Smile’s EP, alongside Carnivores, Makethisrelate and Tragic O’Hara. We’ve got a couple of gigs in Glasgow on the cards, but nothing that we’ve confirmed yet. Keep an eye on our facebook/twitter to find out when we do!

Do you have anything at all else that you think we should know?

Yes, actually! Today we’re officially announcing that we have joined the amazing Overlook Records roster. They’ll be helping us to record and release our debut EP over the next few months which we’re all really excited about. Check out www.overlookrecords.com, there’s loads of free downloads from the other bands for your listening pleasure.

Congratulations guys and well done on joining such an impressive roster of artists. We can’t wait to see how Vasa evolve in the coming months and hope to wash our hands, faces and those all important privates in their live sound soon.

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Kirstin Lynn