INTERVIEW: Stefan Ari – The Vintage Caravan

WORDS: Laura McCarthy

With a headline tour well underway, with the last leg of the UK finishing at The Ruby Lounge, drummer of THE VINTAGE CARAVAN, Stefán Ari sat down with Distorted Sound’s Laura for a quick chat about music, hobbies and where the band might be in another decade’s time.

Hi Stefán, how are you?

Stefán: Hey, I’m pretty great thanks, how are you?

Great, thank you. Are you looking forward to the show?

Stefán: I am, I think the other bands are just sound checking, so I’m looking forward to going on later on.

How are you enjoying the tour so far?

Stefán: Yeah, it’s definitely been good. There are obviously upsides and downsides, but it’s pretty good. This is the last show we’ll be playing here, and I have to say I think Manchester has been my favourite city so far. How do you find it here?

Yeah, I agree it’s a great place. There’s a lot of music here, I’m guessing that’s sort of similar to back home?

Stefán: Yeah definitely, that’s always good about a place, to have decent music.

So to get right into it, what would you say has the best thing about being on tour?

Stefán: Probably just being able to meet new people, see new places and getting to play in these great places. It’s so much experience you get in such a short amount of time, it’s amazing. This is our first time headlining a tour and it’s been great, I’ve really enjoyed it for all sorts of reasons really.

Just for those who might not have heard you guys before, how would you describe your sound, because it’s quite broad!

Stefán: Hmmm, I would say in a cliché, like 70’s rock; BLACK SABBATH, HENDRIX kind of stuff but with our own twist. That’s the simplest way of putting it I’d say!

With you still being a young guys and coming so far in such a short time, do you think that’s influenced how you play, your confidence?

Stefán: I guess so. Our main drive us just getting to play somewhere, and just the excitement of being in a band, it’s just like, that is what drives us more than the thoughts of success, you know? So I think it shines though in our performance and the way we behave in general. It’s a big joy of being able to do this for a living.

Awesome, so if you weren’t doing this, the music, what do you think you would be doing instead?

Stefán: Probably something in graphic design, that’s my main hobby.

Oh nice, so you’re pretty creative overall then?

Stefán: I guess so yeah, I like to be creative and have things to create.

You’ve also done shows at festivals like Hard Rock Hell. Do you prefer the bigger crowd or are more intimate gigs better?

Stefán: Bigger crowds are always fun, it gives you a lot of energy to get all these people applauding and shouting, but for me I like smaller venues. When it’s like that, when you’re a lot closer not only to the people but to each other it’s great, because it’s much more alive. We can communicate and be much more personal, so you know, I like those more.

It’s a pretty unique album (Arrival), in terms of sound it’s quite impressive for three people.

Stefán: Aw thank you, I can’t take much credit, but it’s been great to play. The later album, of course, I wasn’t involved in the actual recording of that one, or the writing, but I know this is the first album the guys focused on actually writing songs together. There was a lot more ideas going on, so it sounds a lot different from voyage, which was mainly written by Óskar [Ágústsson, vocals/guitar]. So this time the guys were working together, and it really shows how strong and versatile this new album is.

Yeah, it really sounds great. Obviously you guys have really come a long way from so young and being pretty recognisable pretty quick, in this ten years or so of being a band. Where do you think the band might be in another ten years’ time?

Stefán: (Laughs) it’s kind of a hard thing to say, because its ambition mixed with reality, really. Of course we want to be doing headline shows around the world, and having released more albums and progressed in maybe different directions. The main thing is to just grow, you know? Hopefully just staying with this kind of vibe because this seems pretty fitting for us. But I really want to be doing this is ten years’ time. It’s hard to be ambitious but be grounded. When you look ahead ten years you want to see the best [for yourself] but still keep your feet on the ground.

Good answer. Well, it seems I’m all out of time, so thank you for such a great interview!

Stefán: Aw thank you, thanks for making this so easy. This is my first time talking on my own, so this has been really nice.

It’s been a pleasure, enjoy the gig!

Stefán: Thank you, see you out there!

THE VINTAGE CARAVAN are playing across Europe throughout November and December, tickets can be found here