Page 12 - BiTS_06_JUNE_2024

BiTS: And tell me how you got into music. Was there a lot of music in your family?

GV: My grandfather played piano, not professionally, but he was a very good piano player. He
played it every day and I have his piano now. He was really into like, ragtime piano, which was
cool. And then my dad played bass in school, but then again, didn't pursue it as a career, and so
I have a lot of family members that are artistic, but kind of got, like, practical jobs [chuckles]. So
my grandfather was a lawyer. First, he was a pharmacist. Then he got shot and then he became
a lawyer. My dad's an engineer. My mom's a schoolteacher, but she's also a drama teacher. They
all have these kind of artistic elements, but never, I guess, were crazy enough to pursue it as a
career option [laughs].

BiTS: Did you actually live in New Orleans?
GV: I grew up in a city called Covington, which is across the lake from New Orleans, and then all

my family, like my grandparents and my aunts and my mom and everyone grew up in New
Orleans. Since then a lot have moved kind of out of the city because of hurricanes and things like
that.

BiTS: What made you decide to become a professional musician?

GV: Probably stupidity [laughs]. I've been a performer since I can remember. My mom was a
drama teacher, so I started doing just music and theatre just as early as I can remember. When
I was moving from Louisiana, I was going to go to California and New York because I wanted to
be a professional performer and those are
the places you go, so I just happened to get
an opportunity to audition for a touring
performing group that was based in
California. I got that and so I moved to
California and so that kind of like decided
which coast I was going to go to. I had also
applied and was accepted to USC film
school, but that was going to be very
expensive, like $180,000. So I decided to
be a part of the performing group and

basically kind of like join the circus type
of thing and just start touring the country.
I'm glad I did because I learned a lot. I
learned even just simple things like how
to wrap a mic cable, how to set up audio
gear and how to be on the road day after
day doing shows. So it was good training
for kind of being a touring musician.

BiTS: And a question for Robin now.
Robin, how did you get your start in
music? I used to love The Hoax. I thought
they were an absolutely fabulous band,
and I was just wondering how you started
in the music business.

RD: My dad would always kind of put on shows and he was involved in some festivals. For his
birthday, he'd always book this band, invite a bunch of friends and book a village hall. So from a
young age, about eight or ten, well actually I remember seeing The Pogues when I was about six