Local rock band Vigil Antics has only been together a couple of years, but they’ve already honed their style into a successful blend of hard-hitting genres, while successfully enduring the typical growing pains that have torn lesser groups asunder.
“We’ve been through hell and back with each other. We fight all the time,” said Conor Larkin, Vigil Antics’ lead singer and guitarist. “But at the end of the day, we have to realize that there’s a bigger picture than just us. It’s for the good of the band. We all still love each other, even if we do fight.”
In addition to Larkin, the front-man for the group, the remainder of Vigil Antics is comprised of three Massapequa High School juniors — Matt “Fish” Fischetti on guitar and backing vocals, Nick Reip playing bass, and Julie Kapuvari on the drums. The band has been making a name for themselves in the local live music scene and took part in the 2014 Break Contest, a local band competition held at The Revolution bar and music hall in Amityville.
Vigil Antics was co-founded a little less than two years ago by Larkin and Kapuvari. At first, Larkin played guitar in the band, but after their original lead singer left, was convinced by Kapuvari to also take on the position of lead vocalist.
Fischetti said that the diversity that the separate members bring to the band has only served to create a more intense, unique sound; one that represents the expansion of each individual’s personal musical frontiers.
“Everyone in the band comes from a different musical background,” Fischetti said. “The root of the songs comes from Conor. His writing is very influenced by bands like Seether and A Perfect Circle. Me, I’m into heavier, edgier stuff like Avenged Sevenfold and Slipknot. Nick is into Slipknot and Alice In Chains, and Julie is more pop/punk. We start off with Conor’s style, then Nick and I throw in our styles, and Julie is there making funky beats on the drums. It just flows all together and becomes a new genre. We’re not trying to sound like anyone else, we use our influences to create a new kind of music.”
“We started out as just a rock band, but we’ve been getting heavier and heavier,” Larkin added regarding the band’s evolution. “One of our earlier songs, ‘AM/FM,’ was really pop-oriented, but then we did ‘Butterfly Effect’ which was much darker and centered around Nick’s bass guitar. Since then we’ve been getting progressively darker, such as on our newest song, ‘Heaven Can Wait.’ That song really emphasizes us fusing with our sound.”
Reip, who in addition to his bass duties also supplies backing vocals, noted that Larkin’s use of the phrase “fuse” really epitomizes the core philosophy that defines Vigil Antics; four people coming together to form one cohesive, hard-rocking unit.
“We fused together really well,” Reip said. “Everything became locked in really tight as far as our playing style went. And ever since then, everything’s just been really good, our songs have just flowed.”
“It’s a lot of work because you really have to get to know each other,” Larkin said of the bond that a successful band needs to forge amongst its members. “I know these people inside and out.”
Larkin handles Vigil Antics’ lyric-writing duties, and admits that early on, he took a pretty lackadaisical approach to it before realizing the potential emotional outlet it afforded him.
“I used to just write random things that didn’t make sense and those would be the lyrics. However, with the past few songs I’ve been putting meaning behind the words,” he said. “I’ve got a lot that goes on in my head, and I need to find a way to channel it and get it out.”
Reip noted that the band hopes to eventually go into the recording studio so they can release their work to the masses.
“Our main focus is writing more music and fully record an EP or an album,” Reip said. “We currently have a four-track demo we’re passing out at live shows, and we really want to get our name out there, so we’re going to try to get everything going that we can, because the next show that we play could be the one that really gets us noticed.”
Fischetti echoed his band mate’s sentiment, stating that despite the raw intensity that has become the trademarks of Vigil Antics, the local rock scene hasn’t seen anything yet like what’s still to come.
“We really just want to lock ourselves in and write music,” he said. “Surprisingly, we really do have a lot of people who know our songs and know the sets we play for our shows, so we want to write new stuff so people don’t hear the same set list every time. Plus, our writing method has changed and our last few songs have matured a lot. We all sat down and really worked on them, because we wanted them to be the best we could possibly make them. And I personally think we kicked butt on them.”
Visit Vigil Antics on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WAIT4ITBAND
