An Interview With The Rock Band, VESPERS NINE!

The current members of Vespers Nine are George Dosal – Drums, Gricel Dosal -Bass/Vox, Jesse Rivas – Guitars, James Martinez – Guitars/Vox and John Simon – Vox.  As a five member premier rock band based out of South Florida, they launched in late 2012. They create versatile, high energy rock music.

Learn more about Vespers Nine, their biggest inspirations and more in the following All Access interview:

How was your summer?

It’s been a busy and productive summer. As creatively satisfying as recording an album can be, it’s also a time consuming endeavor, but because it’s a labor of love, it has felt more like play and less like work.

How has the recording been going of your full length debut album?

It is moving at a steady pace and going very well thus far.

How close to being done are you?

We are in the process of writing new material all the time and selecting songs as we go. The release of the new album is tentatively slated for early 2016.

What’s it been like working with your producer, Hal Batt, who has an amazing production background including Julio Iglesias and Shakira?

It really has been a pleasure, creatively and personally, to work with Hal as he produces VESPERS NINE’s songs. His skills as a producer have often been instrumental in bringing about precisely the sound and vibe we’re looking for, for each individual song, as well as an album’s body of work as a whole.

Where do you get the inspirations for your music?

I am personally inspired by a myriad of life’s experiences, all of which can and often do become a song.

Has that changed through the years?

Yes and no. My inspiration is still mostly defined by what life presents, but how I interpret those moments or stories I come across or experiences I’ve lived have evolved.

How creatively involved were you in the making of the video “Holdin On”?

Our creativity concerning the video was evident in the music and lyrics of the song itself. The remaining visual images were a product of the director’s vision based on his interpretation of the song.

How did you all first meet each other and what made you think you could all be in a band together?

George Dosal, Jesse Rivas and I were previously working together in a band performing live and recording original material as late as 2003. The lead singer, John Simon, is my brother, so that is self explanatory, and James Martinez, the lead guitarist, was introduced to us through George in 2012. We decided to form VESPERS NINE based on our similar tastes in music, musicality and desire to write original quality songs. Our styles gelled very well, as did our personalities and it was immediately evident that we had something special in terms of the music we were creating.

How did you come up with your band name, and what other names were you considering?

Our rhythm guitarist, Jesse Rivas and I were mulling over ideas for a band name one evening while on a cell phone conversation, batting around different ideas of what we’d like the name to be. We were looking for something creative, poetic and with meaning that represented the group as a whole. With that, we began searching through poetry that we both enjoyed, when Jesse mentioned to me the English poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by S.T. Coleridge. We then began to read the poem simultaneously and came upon the line on one stanza that read “in mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, it perched for Vespers Nine; whiles all the night, through fog, smoke white, glimmered the white moon-shine”.

The term ‘Vespers Nine’ caught my attention and I searched for it’s precise meaning, and found that it was a time dedicated to evening prayers in the Christian faith. In the context of the poem, it referenced an albatross, a large seabird, that would visit an ancient ailing ship out on an angry sea losing hope of surviving, where it would fly to and perch on it’s mast for nine straight days, bringing with it fair weather and calm seas. It represented hope and devotion to all the sailors on board while it perched, so in essence, the term VESPERS NINE is hope and devotion.

To be frank, no other band names were seriously considered at the point when we decided on VESPERS NINE. It was the one and only choice.

What has been your favorite show so far, and what has made it so memorable?

My favorite show was a concert VESPERS NINE headlined in Delray Beach, FL at the Crest Theatre last September. It was a sold out show where we invited legendary saxophone player, Phil Kenzie (The Beatles, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, The Eagles, Rod Stewart..) to sit in with us for a song or two, and where Jack Russell’s Great White was our guest opening act. The entire night was hosted by local radio host Andy Preston of The Gater 98.7. VESPERS NINE was documented with a video and audio crew throughout the day’s preparation and stage set up, sound check, etc., as well as the live show itself in it’s entirely. That was a very memorable show, as it was extremely well received and well reviewed.

What artists have continued to inspired you and the band’s music, and who would you like to work with in the future?

My personal artist inspirations came from everyone from Ann Wilson of Heart to Journey to Toto, Van Halen, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and many others too many to mention. I’ve always enjoyed many genres of music from Heavy rock to pop, jazz, classical, top 40, adult contemporary and everything in-between – but home base for writing songs has always been rock music in it’s many forms and styles.

I would like to work with a list of varied artists like Adele, Bruno Mars, Paul McCartney, Steven Tyler, Pink, Christina Perry, Norah Jones, Eddie Van Halen, Neil Schon just to name a few.

What do you hope is the message of your music, and what do you hope fans take away from your songs?

I hope that the listener receives their own personal message from my music; their own personal interpretation that means something important, special or memorable to them. Songs speak to us all in many ways, and I hope that our fans take away their own inspiration from VESPERS NINE’s music.