Five Questions with Vanessa Silberman

http://www.hissinglawns.com/2017/05/02/five-questions-with-vanessa-silberman/

by Petee Worrell

oxy Loxy’s intimate First Friday performance series has become a staple of blooming art scene that takes place during the first week of every month in Savannah. Along with the monthly celebration of First Friday in the Starland District, Foxy’s courtyard performances make for the perfect way to experience the arts scene in a much more intimate manner. For this month’s performance, Vanessa Silberman and The Love Dimension’s Jimmy Dias will be taking the stage as a duo, providing a slightly stripped down, but no less powerful, version of their individual projects. In anticipation of their performance, we had the opportunity to discuss the upcoming show among other things in a short interview with Vanessa. 

hissing lawns: Could you give our readers a little info about your project and influences? 

Vanessa Silberman: For my solo [Vanessa Silberman] music it’s a mix of musical influences that range from grunge rock to punk & hip hop to old singer songwriter country blues to 60’s, pop & just raw recordings where’s it’s about the song / emotion & message. For my solo music I really wanted to have a lot of freedom to collaborate as well as to be very hands on since I’m also a producer/engineer/mixer or try things I never done before but all while keeping the sound cohesive so the songs aren’t all over the place genre-wise but more just hint at these influences! Another influence is positivity & hope –My goal is really to carry that through my music / message to help people & give hope as well as to encourage them that they can play music or tour. Or just follow their heart for that matter! 

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hl: This being your second time coming through Savannah, was there anything about the city or the music scene in particular that drew you back? 

VS: The place, it’s so beautiful & different from anywhere else in the states. I love south & it’s people! Almost like a cousin of New Orleans! It’s got such an old wonderful history & I love old historical places. A great college community too! Foxy Loxy is very intimate as well which makes it different, unique & raw as they use no PA. I love that! It’s nice to change it up versus the wild rock shows! 

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hl: Could you give our readers a bit of info on how you found yourself touring with The Love Dimension? 

VS: Jimmy’s San Francisco band/collective The Love Dimension is part of A Diamond Heart Production, which is my artist development label. I met him / heard about his band from a music writer & another band who is on the label. He reached out…we started talking & then maybe 6 months later or so we played a show together –we were doing similar things at the time, playing solo & I got what he was trying to do & we started working together….I started helping him develop his band. At the show we played, he also mentioned that he was a drummer & he’d love to drum for me if I ever needed a drummer so I invited him to do a west coast tour with me as I was touring solo a lot. It was fun so & we both decided we’d back each other & do a big US tour / help each other out as it’s hard to get regular players to commit to tour for long periods of time as a regular band especially when you’re building. And because of that very reason I was touring solo (because I love touring & didn’t want to wait around for anyone) but I’ve been developing my live show more & adding more players. This US Tour has allowed us to build our live shows & back each other on drums, or other instruments & build in markets more but also we’re able to invite different players, friends or featured musicians (which is what I do a lot of) or even partner up with other acts (we’re doing a East Coast tour with a great Boston rock Artist Carissa Johnson) & expand the live show. 

I feel like since I’ve been in the business so long that it feels right to give back & help other artists… especially on the development side or people I come across…I want to keep building, create community across the US, & change the world through music. Music makes people come together & helps us in life, gives us joy, hope & so much more. It’s not one person who can change world / music but it’s many! 

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hl: You also run a developmental label, mind giving us a little info on that as well? Any major plans for that in the future? 

VS: A Diamond Heart Production is a artist development label, a label for artists in this new era but with old school traits and hands on ways! 
It was mainly created as kind of a umbrella to be able to do work on everything I do under it –everything from recording to art, imaging, & indie A&R to booking & release plans…I wanted an outlet for myself & other artists I believe in. I have had nearly every job in the business so I wanted to be able to offer artists a label / place that does everything, but on an indie level! Very grass roots. 

Let’s say a band has everything in place (record, some funds to promote record for radio & PR, image, live show) but they don’t know how to put a release plan or steps to take. That’s where I might be helpful or another example is if they need a record produced & art but have the people to push the release etc so there’s a lot of options & everyone is different! But these days since I’m building & touring a lot as a artist myself I’ve mainly been just focusing on producing / recording & indie A&R which are my favorite things. The label has a small digital distro side too & I will expand it more / grow it to do specialty physical releases like collector items (such as tapes & vinyl) & eventually I want to invest in other bands on a really big level & partner with a bigger label. 

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hl: We know that your show on the 5th will be an acoustic set. Do you approach anything differently when playing something in a setting like that? 

VS: Yes, actually since they do it old school style (with no amplification) at Foxy Loxy I will def do some more mellow songs & maybe give myself a chance to sing a bit more of my quieter songs for a change but also just depends on audience/crowd! Sometimes I see those environments as a cool opportunity to try out new material. 

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hl: Mind letting us know about anything coming down the pipeline for you or for The Love Dimension? Any last words for our readers? 

VS: Yes! I’ll be coming out with a Tape (TBA) & new single of a song called “OK” (feat. Reed Mullin of Corrosion of Conformity/Teenage Time Killers & Producer/Musician Mikel Ross) which will come out in the near future (its being mixed right now). It was recorded on an off day in DC when we did a East Coast tour together in March. I will definitely be touring with them lot more in the future. I’m playing a the Star City Music Festival w/ them on July 8th in Brisbane CA. 

The Love Dimension just released a new EP called Acceptance produced by Tommy Dietrick on A Diamond Heart. 

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Be sure to catch Vanessa and The Love Dimension this Friday, May 5th, at Foxy Loxy Cafe as part of their First Friday performance series in the Courtyard. Music starts around 7 and wraps up around 10 making it the perfect to get your weekend started right!

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