617 Q&A Archives - Vanyaland https://vanyaland.com/tag/617-qa/ The proven voice in music since 2013 Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:09:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://redefined.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/31135224/cropped-V-SOCIAL-2023-32x32.png 617 Q&A Archives - Vanyaland https://vanyaland.com/tag/617-qa/ 32 32 Year in ReView: Vanyaland’s favorite 617 Q&A recommendations https://vanyaland.com/2025/12/11/year-in-review-vanyalands-favorite-617-qa-recommendations/ Thu, 11 Dec 2025 09:32:24 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042795 One of the best parts of the 617 Q&A series (Six Questions; One Recommendation; Seven Somethings) is the one recommendation portion. Typically, if we haven’t flipped them already with our somewhat standard interview portion, it’s when the artist really comes alive and often provides some deeper insight into what they’re buzzing about off the stage as we ask them to tell us what they’ve been into recently that isn’t their current project. Over the years, we’ve had some doozies, from […]

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]]> 617 Q&A: Craig Wedren on the rise and resurgence of Shudder to Think (and all that time in between) https://vanyaland.com/2025/10/22/617-qa-craig-wedren-on-the-rise-and-resurgence-of-shudder-to-think-and-all-that-time-in-between/ Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:45:09 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042521 Out of all the bands that were part of the late-’80s/early-‘90s Dischord Records roster, Shudder to Think was one of the least likely to be thrust into the mainstream. But that’s what happened come 1994 when the Washington D.C.-based post-hardcore outfit found their fifth LP, Pony Express Record, released by Epic Records. Even for a label diverse enough to have Pearl Jam, Gloria Estefan, Michael Jackson, Sepultura, and Oasis under its umbrella, Pony Express Record was an outlier, what with […]

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]]> 617 Q&A: Richard Blade on Depeche Mode, Brazilian jazz, and why the ’80s still resonate https://vanyaland.com/2025/07/30/617-qa-richard-blade-on-depeche-mode-brazilian-jazz-and-why-the-80s-still-resonate/ Wed, 30 Jul 2025 12:26:16 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042098 “Nostalgia” is always a big buzzword, looking in the rearview when things were supposedly simpler – like right now with the ‘90s. It could manifest as a movie evocative of the decade or one that’s straight-up banking on the legacy of a franchise. Maybe it’s a Britpop band singlehandedly thrusting the genre back into the spotlight. Sometimes, albeit rarely, it’s an act who’ve decided to release an entire album of covers from the year they themselves peaked in popularity.     […]

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]]> 617 Q&A: The Linda Lindas on life between the library and stadiums https://vanyaland.com/2025/04/22/617-qa-the-linda-lindas-on-life-between-the-library-and-stadiums/ Tue, 22 Apr 2025 09:08:18 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10041230 Evident in how rapidly their sound has grown between their 2022 debut album, Growing Up, and last October’s follow-up, No Obligation, The Linda Lindas stopped being just another punk rock band for pundits to proudly peg as the future of the genre. There’s still plenty of rapid-fire breakneck numbers like “Resolution/Revolution,” and “Don’t Think” among them, but an abundance of straight-up pop with “All in My Head” and the chugging tilt of “Too Many Things” proves the SoCal quartet is […]

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]]> 617 Q&A: Earl Slick on Bowie, Lennon, and teaching music to a new generation https://vanyaland.com/2025/04/14/617-qa-earl-slick-on-bowie-lennon-and-teaching-music-to-a-new-generation/ Mon, 14 Apr 2025 08:49:05 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10041183 The sidemen in rock and roll are often an under-appreciated lot, guns for hire that step into a situation at any given time, be it in the studio or on the stage for a marquee performer needing that extra juice, a musical shot in the arm to bring things alive. Usually nameless and faceless, there are the exceptions. Take Earl Slick, for example. The Brooklyn guitarist hooked up with David Bowie in the mid-’70s during the Diamond Dogs tour and […]

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]]> 617 Q&A: Scott Lucas talks vinyl, Led Zeppelin, and ‘Lifers: A Local H Movie’ https://vanyaland.com/2025/03/11/617-qa-scott-lucas-talks-vinyl-led-zeppelin-and-lifers-a-local-h-movie/ Tue, 11 Mar 2025 19:48:22 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10040948 It’s difficult to break new ground when putting out a concert film. Farewell performances, shows oversaturated with special guests, half-documentary/half-concerts – pretty much everything has been done and done to death. That’s why when Scott Lucas of the venerable rock duo Local H decided to bounce around ideas for film on the band, he knew it couldn’t be run of the mill. Much like Local H tours themselves over the years, he wanted it to have a hook – like […]

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]]> 617 Q&A: Phantogram on Van Halen, trash martinis, and their favorite duos https://vanyaland.com/2025/02/10/617-qa-phantogram-on-van-halen-trash-martinis-and-their-favorite-duos/ Mon, 10 Feb 2025 10:25:15 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10040735 It goes without saying that the pandemic was tough on everyone to varying degrees. Some found it uniquely difficult to navigate, like those in the music industry for instance. Tours were scuttled, albums were delayed, and bands who weren’t in quarantine together had to come up with unique ways to not fade from the fickle and short attention spans of fans. Then there was Phantogram. The fourth record from the electronic rock duo, Ceremony, came out in 2020 just weeks […]

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]]> 617 Q&A: Marty Friedman on ‘Dreaming Japanese’, alleged metal feuds, and Cap’n Crunch https://vanyaland.com/2025/02/04/617-qa-marty-friedman-on-dreaming-japanese-alleged-metal-feuds-and-capn-crunch/ Tue, 04 Feb 2025 10:06:11 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10040636 Marty Friedman is an alien in a genre made up of outcasts. The guitarist moved to Japan 23 years ago, shortly after his decade-long stint with metal titans Megadeth came to an end. It was there that he found not so much a rebirth as a reinvention that saw an immersion into the Tokyo music scene and foreign environment that somehow led to various television undertakings, the latter making him a household name in the country. One was just as […]

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]]> Year In ReView: 12 interesting 617 Q&A revelations from 2024 https://vanyaland.com/2024/12/12/year-in-review-12-interesting-617-qa-revelations-from-2024/ Thu, 12 Dec 2024 15:44:26 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10040274 The Vanyaland 617 Q&A series hit an apex this year, with 18 brave souls sitting down for a run of six questions, asked to provide one recommendation, and fielding our tailored-to-the-individual seven of something. The format of the interviews wasn’t the only thing the subjects had in common; they all had interesting stories and revelations. Whether it was Alkaline Trio’s Dan Andriano ranking his favorite trios, Stone Temple Pilots’ third singer Jeff Gutt rating replacement frontmen, or electronic-pop sage Johnny […]

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]]> 617 Q&A: Chazz Palminteri on the enduring appeal of ‘A Bronx Tale’ https://vanyaland.com/2024/11/19/617-qa-chazz-palminteri-on-the-enduring-appeal-of-a-bronx-tale/ Tue, 19 Nov 2024 14:42:14 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10040108 A Bronx Tale is one of those eminently quotable films, one that takes lessons from hardscrabble street authenticity, filters them through the silver screen, and redirects them back at the audience. From, “the saddest thing is wasted talent” to the premise of being allowed only three great women in a lifetime, it’s the perfect encapsulation of coming-of-age, mid-20th-century – usually crime-tinged – Italian-American lore that shone brightest in years prior with Bloodbrothers, Goodfellas, and The Pope of Greenwich Village. But […]

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