Hydrovibe interview w/ Mat and Heather

by Adam Warner – 2009

 

What is the exact name of your band?
Hydrovibe

Where did you come up with it? What’s the meaning behind it?
(Mat) – I actually came up with the name while trying to describe the sound of a guitar effect pedal. I said it kinda had a ‘watery vibe’….’a hydro vibe’….’HEY – HYDROVIBE – THAT’S A GREAT BAND NAME!!!’” The name stuck.

Who are your current members and what instruments do they play?
Heather St. Marie – vocals
Mat Dauzat – guitar/vocals
Eliot Lorango – bass
Philippe Mathys – drums

What is your background as a musician?
(Mat) – I’m a completely self-taught musician. I taught myself piano starting at age 3 and graduated to guitar in my early teens. I got discovered by Sharon and Kelly Osbourne less than a week after moving to Hollywood and was touring the world as Kelly Osbourne’s lead guitarist before I was able to unpack my belongings. Hydrovibe was formed shortly after that, and here we are!
Hydrovibe is our singer Heather’s first real band….she and I started the band in Louisiana and relocated it to Hollywood. Phil, our drummer, went to music school at Berkley in Boston and was the drummer for rock band U.P.O (Sony, Nitrus Recrods) before joining the band. Eliot was still in school at Muisician’s Institute when he joined the band and had been playing in bands in the Los Angeles area.

What genre would you put yourselves into?
(Mat) I’ve been seeing it called Loud Rock recently. It’s definitely LOUD and most certainly ROCK, so that works for me!

Are your songs political, personal, fictional or something else?
(Heather) Our songs are mostly personal… many are stories of the painful struggle of following a dream. Chasing the music dream can be very rewarding at times and can really drag you through some horrible times as well. All things that should make you stronger, though. We don’t dabble much in the political… we’re entertainers, not politicians. Some entertainers tend to forget that and use the stage as a pulpit to preach. I’m fine with standing for what you believe in, but it seems like a lot of entertainers just want to jump on whatever the latest trendy political stance is and adopt it as their own because it’s good press. Annoying. One song that is a bit of a departure for our otherwise serious and deep lyrical content is our first single “Fame”. That song is pretty much a satyrical commentary about our society’s compulsive need to put celebrities on a pedestal. Hey, we live in Hollywood and see these celebrities all the time (and are friends with a bunch of them)… We can poke a little fun at them, right?

Who are your influences?
(Heather) This band spans a HUGE gamut of influences. I think we all share some classic rock and modern-ish rock influences like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Ozzy Osbourne, old Metallica, Iron Maiden, Soundgarden, Tool, Alice In Chains, A Perfect Circle, etc. From there, it goes in many different directions….from Pantera to Police, from Skid Row to Stevie Wonder, from Helmet to Heart, etc.

What are your long-term goals?
(Heather) Right now, to just keep putting out albums and touring. We are on a gradual build, which is nice. Of course, it would be nicer to be on a faster build, but getting too big too fast is the kiss of death. We’re fine to just put it on cruise control and get there when we get there.

Do you have any existing promotional materials we could share with others for you?
(Mat) Absolutely everything and anything can be found at http://www.hydrovibe.com

What was your most memorable live show and why?
(Mat) We were about to load up onto the stage at a venue called The Vault in Columbus, GA when I picked up my road case containing my MESA Dual Rectifier amp, and the amp itself (which is extremely heavy) fell directly onto my foot, shattering many bones. Needless to say, that was the toughest show I’ve ever had to do…BRUTAL! Not only did I make it through that show, though, I ended up touring on the demolished foot for another 4 months. I even did our music video for “Killer Inside” ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEeFg1PvkG8 ) soon after it got broken. I just kept wrapping it in Gaff tape and performed the song over and over and over and over for 16 hours. ROUGH!!!

What is your song writing process like?
(Mat) It totally depends on the day. A lot of times, I’ll come up with a riff… jam with the band and come up with the music, and Heather takes the recordings and comes back with the songs. Other times, she’ll come me with a vocal melody and the song will either come from that, or we’ll bring the collaborative result to the band studio and work it all out with the band. Sometimes vocal melody, lyrics, and music all come at once. Our song “No Fury” just happened… That song was written (music, melody, and lyrics) in literally 30 minutes. We aren’t usually THAT fortunate, though!

What has been your biggest challenge as a band?
(Mat) Hands down – TO FIND THE RIGHT MEMBERS! Heather and I went through a period of great difficulty due to personnel, and we had decided that we would not take one more step forward with Hydrovibe unless we had the aboslute correct band members and personnel surrounding the band. It literally took us almost two years to find the right people in Los Angeles, but believe me it was well worth the wait! You’ll find that you don’t make a lot of money in this business, so you’d better at least surround yourself with good people to compensate for it! This band is like family – a funny little gypsy family!

Do you have another outlet other than myspace that your fans can access your music?
(Heather) We have absolutely everything you need at http://www.hydrovibe.com However, the fine folks at Tunelab.comare streaming our album right now. Many thanks to them for the opportunity!

What do you hope your fans get from your music?
(Heather) Our 15-song album takes you on a rollercoaster of emotion. You’ll clearly hear our passion, frustration, love, hate, joy, struggle, and, finally, release. The album’s title says it all – we have Nothing Left To Lose at this point! We have put everything into this album and are damn proud to share it with you all. Thank you so much for your support! And thank you, Beholder Media crew, for the help in spreading the word and all your work to help promote independent music. Bands like us rely on word of mouth and we appreciate all you do. Thank you.