[From the Ithaca Times] Despite Ithaca’s famously diverse musical community, there is no other band in town that sounds quite like Veda. Formerly known as Ayurveda — a Sanskrit word that translates to “the knowledge of life” — this locally-based quintet continues to challenge the boundaries of modern rock.
In a current local climate that favors roots-oriented music — reggae, old time, rock, folk — Veda feels overwhelmingly refreshing, an arty, streamlined antidote to so much else in town. And in an age when so much contemporary rock sounds corporate and trite, Veda draws from a place of sincerity and invention.
The quintet — the lineup has been Tom Burchinal (vocals), Diwas Gurung (guitar), Shikhar Bajracharya (guitar), Dan Halperin (bass), and Mike Parker (drums) since early 2006 — is diverse. There are members from Nepal (Gurung) to Arizona (Burchinal), and the group’s varied origins and interests play out in their music in a big way. “The group’s relationship has been intuitive from the very beginning. I guess we just lucked out,” laughs Burchinal.
Drawing from sources as seemingly disparate as progressive rock, Nepalese folk, heavy metal, alt-rock and pop, Veda’s complex, guitar-driven rock boasts unconventional compositional structures, shifting time signatures and intricate, tight instrumental playing. Veda culls heavily from mainstream acts that also appear unapologetically iconoclastic in sound and approach — think Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Tool and Nirvana.
This Friday, Sept. 18, Veda celebrates the release of its second full-length LP, Down the Staircase. Following their debut album, Being (2008), charged with experimentation and tinged with adventurousness, the group’s sophomore outing feels more eclectic and assured than any of their previous outings. Slow, building drone is favored in lieu of flashy riffs. There’s more negative space; their songs breathe, and unfold.
“There’s a saying that you have your whole life to write your first record, and then six months to write the next one,” Burchinal laughs. “They were both such different experiences. With Being, some of the tracks went all the way back to 2003 and 2004, and it was more of a collection of our material of the past four or five years. Down the Staircase listens a lot more like a record; it’s more of a snapshot of our band in this moment in time.”
Self-recorded in just a few months at Parker’s home studio, Down the Staircase marks a period of transition. “We had a notion of what we wanted to do, and we knew it wouldn’t be productive to go anywhere else. Mike has a lot of experience as an engineer to facilitate the whole thing. He was in the driver’s seat, and we were all copiloting,” recalls Halperin.
Each song is studied blend of influence and opinion; songs are built up, refined, and collaboratively retooled. Favoring experimentation, non-standard ideas and conceptual lyric arcs, Veda’s songs embrace technicality, inventive, catchy melodies and theoretical complexity. “On this record, the ideas come from everywhere. Each song has a different story. Bass lines don’t always come from me, and drum parts don’t always come from Mike,” says Halperin.
Lately, they seem more comfortable than ever on stage and in the studio. After a focused debut performance at GrassRoots Festival earlier this summer, Veda recorded a five-song EP, titled Veda, that featured lovely covers of Bjork, Radiohead and Beatles songs, as well as two cuts that would hint at the full-length to come (”Polyphagia” and “Down the Staircase”). From there on out, Ayurveda’s reincarnation as Veda was complete.
They continue to be impossible to pigeonhole; they’ve shared bills with metal bands, hip-hop MCs and electronic turntablists. “One of the great things about the music scene here is that it’s so diversified,” says Halperin. “We don’t mind playing with other bands, [as long as they’re] they’re sonically a bit weird. At least something different is happening!”
“I almost feel like we’re a quintessential Ithaca band to everyone outside of Ithaca because our sound is clearly one that could have only come from a town as diverse as Ithaca,” laughs Burchinal. “Being was more of a modern rock and metal album, simply because we were tying in all of these songs from years before that were initially heavier. So as soon as that was over, we could play around and feel free to create. Locally, string players like Hank Roberts, Judy Hyman and Richie Stearns will always be a personal inspiration.”
Last year, Veda channelled their creative energy through a popular weekly residency called Nepali Folk Night at The Nines, and later, at the Lost Dog Lounge. Gurung, who was born and raised in Nepal (Shikhar also was born in Nepal, but grew up in the U.S.), originally conceived of the night as a way to share traditional Nepalese folk songs that he had learned growing up.
Eventually, the band’s penchant for Nepalese music manifested itself in Veda’s sonic palette. “We would show up with a bunch of songs that were very loosely rehearsed,” Halperin recalls. “We would open the night with maybe four or five folk songs, and then play around with covers, and play stripped-down or softer Veda tunes… Sometimes it worked, sometimes it failed, but it got so much out there by means of experience. It did wonders for me personally because I became so comfortable with being up there.”
Veda is nothing if not a paragon of hard work and the DIY ethic; preferring to self-release albums, book all of their own shows, and personally communicate with their fans, the quintet has nurtured a unique, rich community of listeners. “It’s more about community development and fostering communications with the audience and with us,” Halpern says.
Loosely modeled after methods pioneered by Thom Yorke and Trent Reznor, Veda has wholeheartedly embraced the opportunity to offer some of their music online, as free downloads. “It’s all about how people access music, and more and more frequently, it’s not about buying a disc. As artists, we prefer that people listen to us, than not, you know?” says Halperin.
With the release of the Veda EP this summer, they kept overhead costs low, preferring to print the disc and silkscreen artwork in-house, and keeping it as DIY as possible. “It’s a labor of love, and that’s the most important thing… We try to give our work the appropriate amount of attention and lift that it needs, so to not do that would be almost disrespectful,” Burchinal says. “I really enjoy connecting with fans, hearing feedback and getting it out there. The way we work definitely takes a lot of time and energy, but it all feels really good.”
After the group’s CD release party this Friday, they will leave for their first official nation-wide tour. In six weeks, they’ll cross the country and back with NYC art-rockers Consider the Source, a group that also fuses Eastern influences — in their case, Middle Eastern scales, complex time signatures and raga structures — with Western traditions of rock, jazz and psychedelia. “I hope I’ll be able to physically last,” laughs Halperin.
And they’re nothing if not prolific. After the release of the Veda EP this summer and the Down the Staircase LP this fall, they already have eyes to get back in the studio. “We’re already talking about the next record,” laughs Halperin. “After we get back from our tour, we’ll take a break, and then start up again this winter. I think that we’re all chomping at the bit, and ready to write again.”
“We have loads of material that we want to rework. For a while, I stopped writing. The whole process became very draining for me,” recalls Burchinal. “I had to pull out of this writer’s block. I was having a lot of problems getting back into a creative space, dwelling too much on surface problems and not on creation. But when we started doing the [Down the Staircase] sessions, a ton of stuff came out of me. So I feel like whatever we do after the tour will pull together very quickly.” They’re hoping to release an EP before Christmas.
Ultimately, only time will tell where Veda fits into our current musical landscape. But given the strength of their music — coupled with their determination of spirit — we wouldn’t be surprised if it was somewhere truly great. “I would definitely like to find our place, and see where we might fit,” says Halperin. “It could be anywhere,”