Oh, yeah...he’s also their bass player.
I was happy to land an interview with Crucible’s Chris Vescera because it presented me with a fantastic opportunity to learn about the workings and the philosophies that drive the band, from two completely different viewpoints. As I discovered, Chris makes it look seamless.
Steve: Starting at the beginning...
Chris: Well, let’s see: Tim (Horan, keyboards), Tony (Cappellina, drums), and Danny (Esposito, guitars) at the age of 14 started the band. Then they were looking for a singer so I joined the band when I was 16. I was the old man of the band. Within the next year we had a bass player and we were playing the largest venues in Connecticut. Although we weren’t even old enough to be in clubs, we did many shows with Obsession, which at the time were signed to Metal Blade Records and they were the biggest band in the State. My brother Mike Vescera was the singer for them before he went on to do albums with Loudness and Yngwie Malmsteen. So at a very young age we got a taste of success. Although our music was progressive it was more along the lines of Fates Warning and Queensryche. So we had a lot of fun. Then about 5 years later I left the band and Danny’s brother Billy started to sing. About three years later I rejoined the band as the manager and new bass player.
Steve: Your typical covers set list is heavy on the Police, Steely Dan, and Pink Floyd.
Chris: We choose covers that were popular in the 70s and early 80s that are difficult to play, instead of the main stream 3 chord songs. That is why we are so successful at doing covers. We are always hearing people say to us: "I never heard a band do that song before in a club."
Steve: You also sneak in a few originals on occasion. How do they generally go over?Chris: We feel the crowd out at first and then we play the appropriate original. If it’s a heavier crowd we will rip out Over The Falls. If it’s a younger crowd maybe The Salamander. A lighter crowd probably Worlds Apart. By us doing this we tend to present our originals to the crowd the right way with great positive response.
Steve: I’ve heard mention of two new Crucible songs, "When the King is Crowned" and "Worlds Apart." I’m curious to know what kind of musical evolution has taken place between "Tall Tales" and these new tunes.
Chris: Yes we are trying to evolve into style of the great bands of the 70s. A little more mainstream but still technical and educated music for all the Prog fans. Our originals are going to be more song and vocally orientated. But still have that heavy keyboard and adventurous edge.
Steve: How do the five of you go about arranging new songs?
Chris: Tim does most of the writing. He will let us hear the main parts of the songs. We will record them and then put our own parts to them. So even though Tim does the main writing we are able to express our musical abilities by building our own instrument parts.
Steve: Just about every Crucible description or review I've read categorizes you guys as neo-prog.
Chris: We don’t really categorize ourselves as anything. But if we had to say who our influences are they would have to be Kansas, Yes, Genesis, Tull, and Rush. We try to be more like the great mainstream progressive bands of the 70s.
Steve: What is it about that particular style of music that you guys find worth emulating?
Chris: Well it’s like this: we are trying to make a career out of this. What we liked about the bands I mentioned is that they were very technical but mainstream enough that most people could follow along to their music and enjoy it. There are some bands out there that are awesome, technical, and great musicians. But the general public really can’t follow the music. They can’t comprehend the music. So we aren’t trying to be commercial but more mainstream.
Steve: The weekend bar and pub shows Crucible plays tell us that the vast majority want to hear only the established songs and sounds. Fortunately, the prog festivals Crucible plays tell us that a market does exist for original prog music. How do you see this prog market expanding in the near and distant futures?
Chris: Well when we first started to record tall tales there were only two major festivals and two very basic prog magazines. Now there are festivals everywhere and very fancy magazines popping up all over. That should tell ya something. There is some interest in the Prog Scene. Not a huge following but a great one. There are more people looking for the educated music to get away from all the junk on the radio today. The scene is definitely growing. It has grown tremendously in the last three years and hopefully it will continue to grow.
Steve: I’ve noticed a sense of cooperation between prog-based bands; the loaning of equipment and musicians...that sort of thing. Why do you feel prog bands these days are so willing to see each other succeed?
Chris: This is a tough question for us. If you asked me this question before NearFest, I would of had a different answer. I would of said yes it is very important because of this small prog community tying to put these festivals together. The only way to do that would be by helping out other musicians that are from far away. When we played Baja Prog. we flew to Mexico and we weren’t able to bring our equipment. So Cast and a few other bands accommodated us and that’s the way it should be. We appreciated it and handled the other bands gear like it was gold. And that’s called respect and appreciation. That’s the way it should be. But at Nearfest we let a band use our gear and it was not respected at all, and some of it was destroyed. So we will never let another band use our gear due to the blatant disrespect for us and the rest of the prog community by this certain individual.
Steve: Because your schedule shows that you only play on weekends, it sounds to me as if you guys---excuse me, while I fight this feeling of nausea---have "real" jobs.
Chris: Yes we do have real jobs unfortunately. But if this scene keeps growing you
never know. I work in a prison in Connecticut. I am a correction officer, so I get to see a lot
of interesting things and it is very exciting. Tim works in a hospital. Danny is a Chef.
Bill is a Carpenter. And Tony is a Plumber. So as you can see we all have tough jobs.Steve: Sounds like hooking up for practices might be difficult.
Chris: Yes sometimes practice is tough even though we like to get together at least once a week, unless we have a big show then we will practice much more.
Steve: You’ve served Crucible in several ways: as a singer, manager, and bass player. I’d like to hear a little bit about your impressions of the band from each of these points of view.
Chris: As a singer: The band has developed a lot with the addition of Bill on vocals. When I was singing Crucible was a lot heavier and I was more along the lines of a screamer. With Bill now there are great vocals added to the band, which in my opinion is one of the most important parts of the band. As a manager: it is fairly easy now for me because we have a good established product. In the beginning it was hard trying to get people to listen to the band but now most people in our area know who we are and they usually call me for shows or for CD sales. As the bass player: This was the hardest thing for me at first. I hadn’t played in three years when I was told Hey Chris why don’t you play bass, and I said, "Ummm, Ok." Well two days later I got a call from Toad’s Place and they asked us if we wanted to open up for Blue Oyster Cult next weekend. I said yes, and for two weeks I had to get back in to playing shape and learn all the Crucible songs. WOW what a task that was. For two weeks all I did was practice, sleep a little and eat. And the show turned out great. But now I’m settled in and it feels like I never left the band. But I give credit to the boys in Crucible for being patient with me. Thanks guys.
Steve: Your handling of more than one responsibility within the band’s structure is something I’ve noticed from prog bands; I’ve seen the musicians handling anything from the band merchandising, to advertisement, to developing and maintaining their own web site.
Chris: I think it is very important to handle as much as you can for two reasons. The first reason is because of money. There isn’t a huge market for progressive bands so I really don’t know of any musicians in this scene that aren’t struggling. So the more you can do within the band the less you have to pay someone else for doing it. And the second reason is control. It would be nice to sign a big record deal but once you do you lose most of your control. We like having control over our band, whether it is recording, tours, CD sales, etc. If we don’t like it we don’t do it.
Steve: Just about everyone I talk to feels that one of the best allies a prog band has these days is the Internet.
Chris: The Internet has made us what we are today. It is an easy, inexpensive way to promote and sell your material. I contacted hundreds of magazines, distributors, promoters, etc via the Internet. And basically that is where this great Prog Community resides. Without the Internet we would have never been able to touch as many people as we have.
Steve: Now, it’s free-form time.
Chris: We would like to thank you and all our supporters. We also would like to say be patient for a new album. It will be out soon. We are just very busy musicians and we want to put out quality not quantity.
