motel void

MOTEL VOID: You’re from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. How would you describe the current music scene there? Do you feel that you’re part of it?

VIREO: The music scene here is really great. There’s a lot of great shoegaze and rock bands here that have been killing it. There’s a lot of everything else too, especially some indie, folksy, and experimental bands projects that are equally fantastic! And I don’t know if I’ve always felt part of it, but I do now!

MOTEL VOID: Could you recommend your favorite local artists and venues?

VIREO: We played a show at a new diy venue called West Egg which I really enjoyed. Roboto, The Government Center, and Bottlerocket are all great too! There are so many incredible local artists and it feels scary to list any because I don’t want to leave people out or give you a super long list. But I guess it’d be better to list some rather than none. Recently, I’ve been enjoying Rowan Erikson, Chameleon Treat, Saint Agatha, Dizzier, Polar Body, Alvin Row, Valleyview, and Sneeze Awfull. There are so so many more great Pittsburgh acts – these are just who I’ve listened to most recently. Anthony and I also play in a band called Herbivore and I play in a band called String Machine too!

MOTEL VOID: I haven’t found much information about you on the internet. Could you introduce yourself a bit more)?

VIREO: I started this project after I moved back home from Boston where I was playing bass in a rock band. I wrote rock’n roll riffs for my band for years but had also been writing/recording some quieter songs with my own vocals on them that I was way too shy to show anyone. vireo was an opportunity to start focusing on those songs and writing in a way that felt a little more true to myself. I love to experiment with writing in layers, textures and different styles of alternative percussion. Eventually it grew into a live project and now Anthony Capozzi, Suzanne Gomes, and Matt Hochberg have joined and play a large role in the process!

MOTEL VOID: I’m in love with your new single ‘Big Elsewhere’! Such a beautiful song, one of the best I’ve heard in a while! Could you tell us more about the recording and writing process behind this track? Will it be part of your new record?

VIREO: Thanks so much for listening, I’m glad you like it! Suzanne and I ordered food one night and the delivery got delayed by like hours so we decided just to record something random. We started by picking single notes or short melodic phrases and just stacking them on top of each other. Then we wrote a little chord progression to throw on top of these loops and the song kept going from there. Half the time when we record on a whim the songs end up being super goofy but this one started to feel special pretty quickly!
And that’s the plan right now! – I tend to work on multiple projects at a time and plans change so much but we have a handful of quiet, shorter songs in the same vein as Big Elsewhere that I’d like to put out as an album sometime soon! I’m trying not to make any big plans for those songs though and just want to release them more casually.

MOTEL VOID: Your plans and goals for the rest of the year?

VIREO: The rest of the year we plan just to finish up some more recordings, put out a few more singles and maybe play a couple more local shows. We have this quiet album that Big Elsewhere is a part of but we’ve also been writing and recording a more energetic, catchier, kinda bigger sounding album that I’d really like to have mostly finished by the end of the year!