VV Brown is coming to town this week. Her new album, Traveling Like the Light, and this spring tour make this new emerging artist one to watch.
Windy City Times: Hi, VV. You are coming to Chicago this week.
VV Brown: Yes and I can't wait because Chicago is a great city.
WCT: What inspired your new album?
VV Brown: Well, I didn't have any money, I was sick of Los Angeles and I had lost my identity. I threw myself into the music. I used to listen to music when I was young and it was pure and innocent. I collected loads of vinyl records. I embraced my love for '50s culture and rock n' roll music. Being back in London I found my roots again in punk culture as well. I was free and didn't have a record company breathing down my neck. I went experimental and was not afraid of fusion. Then things started happening to me and I landed a deal. The rest is history now.
WCT: What is a VV Brown concert like?
VV Brown: It is a very honest and majestic live experience. I take a personal journey of many different styles. Sometimes people can be afraid of these things because they like to listen to things that are consistent and linear. We go all over the place like spaghetti. It is a time for me to feel that I really am a musician not just a girl that sings. I play instruments and get very creative and it is evolving more and more as we are doing more shows. We have more costumes and style. My dream is to have instillation art in the background.
WCT: Well, you are doing a clothing line and modeling, so it all comes together.
VV Brown: Yeah, I am trying to be a renaissance woman.
WCT: They have been using your songs on television shows such as The Vampire Diaries and Desperate Housewives.
VV Brown: We have had so many things on television in America. I think that started everything off because last summer we started getting random offers from TV shows. That was the beauty of the Internet. The buzz we have started to build has been based upon being heard in movies and shows.
WCT: People can go to vvbrown.com if they want to keep up with what you are doing, correct?
VV Brown: Yeah, vvbrown.com or there is a USA site which you can click from vvbrown.com that is more relevant to America. There are links there.
WCT: Who are your musical inspirations?
VV Brown: I love Grace Jones, Regina Spektor, Blur, The Sex Pistols, and the list goes on…
WCT: You toured with The Ting Tings?
VV Brown: Yeah, that was a really good tour! That solidified us in the UK. That tour and the festivals allowed us to have our own headline tour at the end of the year. I am very grateful for that tour. They are very unique artists.
WCT: I have seen them a few times and interviewed them. It sounds like you are on the right track and everything is going well for you.
VV Brown: I hope so. I like to live in the moment. I don't like to worry too much about the future. As I am on a tour bus and surrounded by mess, I am very content in hoping that where we are going will get better and better.
VV Brown opens for Little Dragon Thursday, April 1, at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln. Purchase tickets by visiting www.lincolnhallchicago.com or calling 773-525-2501.
