Deas Vail is a band with a story. They're just not sure quite how it goes yet. Forget for a second about the melodic vocal lines and lullaby guitars, the I'm telling you a ghost story pianos and the fact there's a chick in the band, and what you're left with is earnest indie rock that starts with a classically trained vocalist and a band raised on Super Mario Brothers and ends up anything but simple, full of life and trickery - like the sound your heart makes getting blasted into space.
Like an old Japanese movie, if you ask about Deas Vail, you end up getting episodes, like a Saturday morning cartoon. Put these episodes together, and you've got something to close to the whole story, almost.
One:
It could have been that Deas Vail met while skydiving into a volcano or swimming with sharks or maybe at one of those speed dating conventions, but the truth is they started out in Arkansas. The whole idea was shaky at first, like a one-eyed sailor with no sea legs, but soon enough, songs emerged that were somewhat fresh and interesting. This was an unlikely result from five musicians with completely different backgrounds, ranging from bluegrass and southern gospel to classical piano and europop. The band found they could run the gambit of songs from guitar-driven pop tunes to outright soul bending piano ballads that sent frontman Wes Blaylock's voice through the roof, all without feeling that familiar tug of bordem. They felt instead an unexpected thing, a quiet excitement about their music that soon pushed them out the door and onto the stage.
Two:
Next, Deas Vail found themselves talking to producer Mark Lee Townsend. While Townsend had liked what he heard on tape, he had doubts about the band's ability to pull such a sound off live. In late summer of 2005, he saw the band perform at a home town show in Little Rock. It must have worked out okay because three months later Deas Vail penned a deal with label, Brave New World Records.
Three:
Fall of the same year, the band hit the studio with Townsend at the helm and began to track songs for what would become their label debut release, Collapse--a five song EP that has garnered praise from fans and industry folk alike. They continue to play in front of crowd after crowd, each time with the same child-like enthusiasim they felt during those first fledgling practices.
Four:
To be honest with you, episode four goes something like this: Deas Vail sits down to write a bio about themselves and publish it. Finicky over every single word, they write and rewrite like highschool honors students. Until finally someone hits the send key (was that an accident or did you do it on purpose?) and the whole thing is there, for you to read, for better or worse, etc.
