Straight Up Random

Female Fronted Band Feature: VersaEmerge

Interview With Sierra Kusterbeck of VersaEmerge

How has the tour been so far with Eye Alaska?

The tour with Eye Alaska has been awesome. It’s been a lot of fun. Us and this other band The Arrival whose on it, and it’s seriously just like straight party, and we all get along like brothers and sisters. It’s been a lot of fun. And the shows been going good. We’re playing new venues, that we never played before, and just kind of, hanging out and all the shows have been like awesome.

What is life like on the road for you?

For me, I love traveling. I love seeing any part of the world, so it’s awesome. I love getting like the exposure to different things and little towns; different things that you usually don’t see when you’re home. Life on the road is like a dream for me, even though it’s kind of difficult because I am the only girl. That kind of sucks, but it’s fun.

What’s been your favorite city so far?

My favorite city, I would have to say is of course New York. I love New York. Anywhere like over there, like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York, those are my absolute favorite.

Have you had any interesting experiences on tour?

Interesting experiences…God, there’s been so many, but I can’t remember any off the top of my head. Everyday is an interesting experience! Crazy stuff happens.

 Do you guys have any plans after the tour?

After the tour, we’re going to write for a few months, then we’re going to write our full length and we’re going to be recording in January, and I mean, we’ll be playing a few shows around Florida and stuff, but just writing basically.

Have you been writing as of right now?

Yea. We’ve been writing a lot the past month, and we’re basically trying to write as much as possible. It’s hard when you’re on the road, but when we’re home, that’s like our main goal. That’s all we’re doing when we’re home. We’re just writing, getting our ideas down, jamming up the practice space, trying to get some new stuff, but those three months are going to be like when we really get down and work it all out though.

 How does the writing process go as far as who writes the songs?

Blake, he’s the lead guitarist, he’ll usually get an idea down, and he has Pro Tools, so if he gets an idea down, he has the ability to record it. And then he’ll bring it to us, and him and Anthony will jam on it and he’ll get drums down and a bassline down, and other stuff down. It’ll just start building and building, and then we’ll go jam it at the practice space; then I’ll listen to it, and they’ll have it recorded, so I can record all of it on Pro Tools, and he’ll put some programming in with it. Then I’ll have it on just a recording and I’ll have it on my iPod over and over again, and we sit, and I listen to it, and then we got to what we call the “Dungeon,” which is Blake’s recording little area. I sit there in front of the computer for longer than 24 hours at a time, and just record vocal parts and my ideas and then we work with it for however long it needs to be worked with until it’s a good song.

What can fans expect with the new full length album?

The new full lenght album, what you can expect is, it’s going to be epic. Really really epic. It’s going to be really cinematic, and just kind of like an eeriness, that’s still pop structured, and we’re just going to do something different. Something that’s not done often, or hasn’t been done before.

Why did you choose to work with Brian McTernan and Paul Leavitt?

Brian McTernan did some of our favorite albums, like he did Circa Survive, he did Thrice, and it’s just like Brian, all of his stuff, we just love what he’s done and the feel that he has with the bands that he’s worked with. And we recorded with Paul Leavitt. We did our EP [Perceptions] with him. We did two songs with him and he mixed all of it. When we went to Paul, it was just like we had so much fun, and we work with him really really well. He knows how to really pull the best out of us, and the environment in Baltimore when we were there, it had us working, like really getting down to business, and we like that feel, and we want to be comfortable where we are, so being in Baltimore with a great producer, like Brian McTernan and Paul, there’s nothing that can go wrong. It’s perfect.

How would you describe your sound for someone who has never heard your music before?

Whenever we go somewhere, and we’re at a gas station, and people see the van and trailer, and see that we dress kind of funny, they’re always like, “Oh, you guys are in a band? What does it sound like?” and we always say it’s rock, experimental, and a mixture of pop, and kind of progressive.

Are there Paramore comparisons with your band?

Oh yes, so many. [laughs] We get a lot of Paramore comparisons. I think not so much on the music because our music is totally different, but on our voices, because we kind of sound alike I guess.

You mentioned briefly in a blog that you guys were signed, but you didn’t say to what label. Do you mind telling us who you’re signed with?

I cannot tell you! It’s a surprise.

When are you going to announce the signing?

It’s going to be announced very soon, but I don’t exactly know when.

So, you actually aren’t the original lead singer for VersaEmerge, so how did the band recruit you, and what was the initial settlement like for you?

Well, I heard of the band by my friends back where I live because I live on the other coast of Florida, I’m on the west side, they’re on the east side, and I heard a bunch of people talking about this band, and I was like okay, I’m going to go check them out. I heard it and I was like, man, this is a really good band I like them, and a week later, they were posting bulletins saying we’re looking for auditions from anyone for a new singer, and they had a guy at the time. I messaged them and I was like, hey I’m a girl, would you guys be interested in girl singer, because I would really like to audition. At the time, I was going to high school, and I went to an art school, majoring in musical theatre, so I was used to doing not band stuff, but I wanted to be in a band. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. So I had this urge, and this gut feeling that I had to try out for this band. It was just like perfect, and Blake was like, well we’re not really looking for a girl, but send us the demo, we’d love to hear it; he heard it and he had me come drive over there and record some stuff with them and jam with them for a little bit, and they were like yup yup, this works, this is going good. So they decided to go with a girl.

How long have you been singing for?

I’ve been singing all my life of course, but I didn’t start really seriously singing probably until I was twelve or thirteen. I started taking lessons, and I started doing plays, and musical shows, and performance anything, any chance I got. I was really just into the arts and wanted it to be my life, but singing was something I always wanted to do since I was really little.

Is being in a band everything you expected it to be like?

And more! Yea! It’s like awesome. You do what you love, every single night. You drive into a new town, you unload, you get on stage, you sing for people. There are some people who are there for you, who know all your words, and your like that is just the most accomplishing feeling. It’s so satisfying. And then when you’re there, there are people who have never heard of you before, and they come up to you after a show and they’re like, I really liked it, I loved it. People say that, it’s just awesome. It’s so cool that you are affecting somebody. Especially from a live performance, they usually don’t get that affect. But being in a band is everything and more than I expected it to be.

Can you give us one Straight Up Random fact about each member of the band?

Okay, straight up random fact…okay [laughs] Anthony is a meatball, Blake where’s a helmet, Jerry, who is our new guitarist, Jerry wears pink suits, Devin, Devin’s our bassist, and he doesn’t shower. A straight up fact for me, I am Pocohantis.