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| Photo Source: thisisviolet.com |
Occasionally, though, a musical artist hits a nerve that gets everyone talking in a way that helps them succeed independently. That's exactly what is happening with the LA-based pop/electro band, Violet.
Violet recently released an emotional video for their song, "The Day I Was Sorry," that has begun riding the waves of social media and getting attention far and wide. Helping Hands Rock Reviews recently had a chance to sit down with vocalist Jessie Covets, bassist Alayna Miller, and drummer Kayla Miller to discuss the song, the video, and where they see the enthusiasm of their growing fan base taking Violet in the near future.
Helping Hands Rock Reviews: You guys have just released
a new video for your song, “The Day I Was Sorry.” The song has some pretty vivid lyrics. What’s the story behind the song?
Jessie Covets: The story is one
day I woke up from a dream about my mom passing away and not being able to have
the opportunity to say the things that I want to say. Also, not only just a dream but a reality
that not spending enough time on the phone with my mom because [of me] trying to do the
band thing and trying to live my life, moving out to LA and all this stuff and
really not being able to say like I love her or listen to what she has to say
and forgetting almost that she has Stage 4 breast cancer and now bone cancer
and she’s had it for 10 years.
So [it’s] almost like, not forgetting, but being
desensitized by it because [of] the prolonged period of time and the distance
and the lack of communication to my mother and then a song stems from
that. I’m sure [it] relates to a lot of
people’s situations that regret not having the opportunity to say the things
that they want to say to the people that they care about the most.
HHRR: So, the lyrics were
based on an actual dream?
JC: Yes.
HHRR: Now, the video itself
also shows some pretty emotional imagery.
What’s the story behind the video?
JC: Basically, we started
with recording the song because we had to get the song done the way that we
felt most passionate about it. I was
actually talking to one of the producers, his name is Igor [Khoroshev]. He’s
actually the keyboardist of the band Yes.
I was telling him about how I was raising money to shave my head if we
met the goals of the [cancer] fundraiser that we started and he just had an
epiphany. He’s like, “Why don’t you
just invite everybody who wants to be a part of this, and that has a story and
has something to say, to come and shave their head and donate their hair or
donate money and be a part of the video.”
And we were like, “Wow, that’s a great idea! We should definitely do that!”
Then we took [the idea to] a meeting with our videographer,
Scott O’Malley from GuerillaPress and he was like, “That’s an incredible
idea!” We had to do it in crunch time
because the month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So, we wanted to make sure it was released in
the month of October. So not only did we
have to cut a song in less than 10 days, we also had to cut a music video and
edit it. So, within three weeks we got
all of this done. No joke!
HHRR: That had to take an
incredible effort of many people in many different roles pulling together and
really delivering in crunch time didn’t it?
JC: Yeah, definitely.
It’s not only the passion behind the band. These people were inspired by the song and by
the creativity and the collaboration and the dynamic of Violet and who we are
as people. Every single one of them did
it for free. Not only because they
believe in us, but in support of cancer awareness. They were like, “We believe that this song is
really going to help people. We want to
be a part of it. And not only that, we
want to do this free of charge.”
So, it really was passion in every way I can say. And if you feel that when you watch the
video, I’m telling you…that’s what every single one of us that had [something]
to do with the video felt the entire time.
HHRR: Now, when you say
“free,” are you talking about the audio recording and the video production?
JC: Yes.
HHRR: Wow. That’s amazing! That’s some real money and real time and real
work that people dedicated. So, it’s
amazing that you were able to inspire people to step forward and make that
contribution to what you’re trying to do.
Alayna Miller: It was really
amazing…The fact alone that it was free is kind of uncanny and just
unbelievable.
We didn’t have a lot of setup. We didn’t have a script. And we barely had guidelines for people to
follow. The only thing that was really
planned was the shots of the people facing the camera.
Every single thing you see in that video is 100% genuine and
100% natural and unplanned. And I think
that’s what people can feel. That’s not
the stuff you can fake. There [are]
actors that can act so well and make you feel certain things, but I think the
powerful feelings you get from the video are from the genuine authenticity of
what’s happening.
HHRR: The credits of the
video mention some pretty recognizable names:
Mike Plontikoff, who has engineered the recordings for many household
name artists in the music industry; Eric Friedman, who is the rhythm guitarist
of Creed and Tremonti; and Arejay Hale, who is the drummer of Halestorm. How did you come about working with those
heavy hitters?
JC: We actually
were on our way from Florida to LA and we ended up meeting Halestorm on the
road, which is crazy, and we ended up really hitting it off with them. And then sooner or later, I ended up falling
in love with Arejay [laughs].
Him and I kind of stopped talking for a week after we
met. Not because we didn’t care about
each other, but because we had other priorities. I was just moving to LA with my aspiring band
and he was on tour.
But he called me a
week later and he said, “Jessie, I just saw this video of you online that I
just found of you singing ‘The Day I Was Sorry.’ This is an incredible song. You’re incredible. I didn’t realize you took music so
seriously. A lot of times you meet
people and they aren’t really passionate.”
Literally, this song brought us together. It’s kind of ironic. He ended up showing his producer when he came
out to LA and he was staying with us at our house, which is now his house,
too.
He ended up showing Mike [Plontikoff] and he’s like “Hey, you gotta
listen to my girlfriend’s band. They’re
incredible. You’ll really like
them.” He showed Mike maybe
one or two songs and Mike was like, “Get them in here! We need to work with them immediately!”
We all met with Mike.
He fell in love with us, we fell in love with him. Then we met with Igor and we just hit it off
and everything was perfect.
“Erock” – Eric Friedman – is actually a great friend of ours
now, too. I’m not joking: Right now, I’m literally sitting in the
studio – Howard Benson’s studio – and we’re cutting a new song and Eric’s
playing the guitar on this one, too.
HHRR: It’s just crazy. It’s like that song has created so much magic
around it. You must feel really good
about the vibes that song sent out into the universe and brought all these
people together.
JC: It’s so important that we bring people
together with our music because us three girls are best friends. This music, it’s like a joint feeling between
the three of us. We’re inseparable
musically, emotionally, and mentally in every way. We wish nothing but to move people with
everything we have: when we play live
shows, when we finish our record.
That’s why we’re really taking our time. Some people are like, “When you gonna come
out with the record?” And they’re kind of pushy. But, as you can see, the best things come
without thought and they come at the right time, like this video and this song
and how I met the girls and how I met Arejay and how we became a band.
The best things take time.
But we really hope that everything we do changes the world, really.
HHRR: With the momentum
that Violet seems to be building, is 2014 going to be the year that you guys
break out? What are your goals for the
year ahead?
AM: I think 2014
is our year. I think that, as far as
goals go, like Jessie said, I wouldn’t necessarily say that we have the same
goals as any other band.
Rather than being focused on getting signed to a record deal
or getting a signing bonus or anything like that, what we’re more concerned about
is getting our content out there and released into the world so that we can
start to get the recognition that we’ve been trying to [get]. Again, not for reasons like getting a record
deal, but for reasons like to show awareness for things that we believe
in. For starters, this video that we
released has so much more meaning than just a music video. We want to touch people with what we’ve been
through and what we believe in.
Instead of just releasing music that we think people will
like, we have so many messages and emotions and elements to our songs...we really do want to change the world with our music and with
our messages and everything, from things like cancer awareness to helping girls
with image – things that we all so strongly believe in.
To answer your question, I think our goal is 2014 being our
year not just to get a record deal, but
we want to go on tour so we can go around the whole world and just drop messages
everywhere and just get to the point where we’re getting our message
across.
JC: I think a
good example of what she is trying to say is the video that we shot, a lot of
people did it for free for us, but we put up that event at my job. We paid for everything. Like all the food and all the snacks and all
the cost of bringing people in, we paid for out of our pocket. And we can barely pay our rent. It’s not that we’re asking for recognition
for that. We really aren’t. We just wanted people to be there and be a
part of it. That’s all we wanted, for
people to share.
I cannot explain to you, that video doesn’t even do justice
to the connections between strangers that happened that day – October 20,
[2013] Team Jenny Cancer Awareness Event.
It was incredible. It was just
unbelievable.
HHRR: Jessie, what has your
mom said about the song and the video, now that it’s out there and now that so
many people are paying attention to it?
JC: When we got
the first cut of the video, she was with me.
She was literally in tears.
She doesn’t like talking about when she was in the hospital
over Christmas…and all the years she couldn’t be a part of a lot of family
events because she was sick. She doesn’t
like to talk about that. She doesn’t
like sympathy…For her to see it from my perspective, it like totally just drew
a whole other emotion out of her.
Now that we made this video, it not only inspired everybody
else who watched it hopefully, it truly inspired my mom to be an open book for
those who need to hear the words that she needs to say about what she’s been
through.
HHRR: Our site, Helping
Hands Rock Reviews, is all about raising awareness and money for
charities. Do you have a favorite charity that you’d like to give a
shout out to?
With their momentum building, Violet is a band to watch for in the year ahead. Here's that video of theirs we talked about. Watch it and we think you'll see why they are headed upward in the music industry.
