The Veldt found their name, a title for a science fiction story, published in the pages of Ray Bradbury’scollection of short stories, ‘The Illustrated Man’. An alternative soul and shoegaze band formed in North Carolina in 1986 The Veldt was formed by identical twin brothers Daniel and Danny Chavis. Although at times having a varying lineup The Veldt’s core members are Daniel Chavis, his brother Danny Chavis and Hayato Nakao.
Performing since they were young, Daniel and his brother Danny’s musical roots can be traced back to church and also southern Juke-Joints. Daniel says that what drew them to their particular genre was motivated by “unwillingness to play in church”. When asked what factors influenced the bands sound Daniel explains “Of course, it would be the things that were around us during my childhood, but most notably, also music somehow related to England. Of course - that's earlier music from the sixties, but we also draw lessons from bands like Siouxsie and The Banshees, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, The Birthday Party and harsher sounds like that. By trying to emulate them in our early years, we came up with something completely different. At the time, it was not called shoegaze, but rather "indie".
When describing the bands approach to songwriting Daniel says “It pretty much happens out of nowhere and it starts to flow like a faucet. Primarily for me, reflecting on my childhood and an assemblage of words that just seem to fit together like prose or maybe even a children's nursery rhyme. I tend to be more influenced by such things, mostly from my childhood. Like phrases from the Bible - you know how vision is kind of shoved down your throat when you're a kid and it resonates in you somehow and then shows up in our music - mostly lyrically. We don't try to "convey" messages, but they may happen to come through to some folks by osmosis or something. Then I suppose, it's kind of like how, when you make two different sounds, it resonates into some sort of hum and can seem to make sense”.
Daniel and Danny are completely involved in the bands aesthetic with Daniel clarifying “If you mean by the look of the band as it is presented via our albums, merchandise and everything, my brother and I are in charge of that 100%. We've never trusted anyone to be in control of the aesthetics or look of this project. They have never understood it and kind of still don't”. Avoiding social media and TV the band is able to foster and nurture their creativity.
Enjoying live performances and in particular having an appreciation for what the band describes as the“people who come to see our music immensely and the fact that they care enough to take time to come and see us” The Veldt also has time for their fans. Daniel mentions that the band enjoys interacting with fans “By taking the time to say hello, asking what they like, what their influences are, and why they like our music. It is always a very heartfelt experience. And much appreciated.”
Links:
Bandcamp : https://theveldtmusic.bandcamp.com/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/VeldtThe
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