Wednesday 30 October 2013

Beyond Vegas Q&A

Your name: 
Neil Miel (lead vocal, guitar, lyricist).

Where are you from? 
Melbourne, Australia.

Name of band: 
Beyond Vegas.

Who else is in your band? 
Darren Kestle, lead guitar. Our live band includes longtime musical colleagues - Steve Burns (bass, bvox), Craig Sayer (guitar, keys, bvox) and Jason Montgomery (drums).

How would you describe yourselves?
Unassuming, down to earth and very aware of the joy we have already given our friends and fans from around the world. We love creating our music and oversee every detail of our final product. We design our own artwork for our releases, produce and edit our videos and have complete creative control over everything we do. We self fund everything without any assistance from any record label. Having said that, none of them would know we exist, we are flying under the radar big time, which we actually don't mind.

Who are your main influences musically?
Well for me, I grew up on a cocktail of Sex Pistols, Bowie, Iggy Pop, Beatles, Smithereens, Del Amitri etc. and could go on forever about the bands I admire. I probably take a little hint of each of them subconsciously in performance and in my songwriting. Darren's influences (which he's just texting me) are U2, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Sex Pistols and Simple Minds. (That's funny, I wouldn't have picked him as a Pistols fan).

What do you hope to achieve in music?
We really have no preconceived ideas of success. Darren and I reunited as musicians after 20 years of not having spoken or meeting up. We had previously played, recorded and performed together in an obscure and long forgotten Melbourne guitar pop band, which did not progress any further than recording some demos and playing gigs in small hotels and the like. The fact that we have come together some two decades later to record songs released on iTunes, together with three videos on YouTube, and the release of our debut EP before Xmas surprises us in itself.
It is why we decided upon the name Beyond Vegas - we have no expectations yet the sky is the limit.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
The release of our second single Love Me Blind and subsequent release of the accompanying video on YouTube. It is exactly how we would like to be seen and captures our style and (often) dark lyrics perfectly (see below).


And what’s the moment you want to forget?
So far we have had none, tee hee!

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
Lie for Me. It was our first release on iTunes earlier this year, and was a benchmark for the quality of our songwriting and production abilities. I drove across outback Australia and listened to it about 150 times to ensure we had it right! It was a labour of love and a song we are immensely proud of.

Where can we listen to it?
Our latest release Love Me Blind is also available on iTunes.



Where can we find out more about your music?

Anything else you’d like to say about your band/music that I forgot to ask?
Essentially we are a duo - we either write the music together or I write on my own, not a bad combination.
The other guys I've mentioned earlier are longtime friends who I've played with over the last 20 years in various musical outfits and combinations. They appreciate what we're aiming for and love being involved in our videos and live performances. They are crucial to Beyond Vegas and are professional musicians in their own right. 

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