We had a little chat with Demi Demitro from The Velveteers - a promising new band from Boulder, CO. Demi plays a Sidejack Baritone DLX and the band is about to drop a new EP next month.
You see... this whole social media thing DOES work! We discovered The Velveteers after they tagged us on Instagram a few times. We decided to check them out and, lo and behold, they were actually pretty great!
Demi and John Demitro (guitar/ vox and drums, respectively) are a rock'n'roll duo the way we like it:making dirty rock music inspired by the likes of The Cramps, Jack White and The Stooges besides, to make things even better, being fronted by a charismatic singer who also plays one of our guitars.
The Velveteers have been together as a band for just over 3 years, but have already crossed the Atlantic to support Deap Vally on a sold-out UK tour. This very promising, hard-working band is about to release a new EP, and we've already named them one of the Eastwood artists worth watching in 2018... so we thought this was the perfect opportunity to catch up with Demi, who plays a black Eastwood Sidejack Baritone DLX.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC/ PLAYING GUITAR?
I've been very musical my whole life and grew up surrounded by it. In particular when I was 16 years old, my brother got me Jack White's album Blunderbuss on vinyl as a Christmas present, and that was the album that made me want to start a band and start playing guitar. It changed my life.
WHICH MUSICIANS INSPIRED/INFLUENCED YOU?
The Cramps, Nick Cave, The Stooges, Loretta Lynn, Wanda Jackson, Buddy Holly, Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White, The Raconteurs, Hank Williams, Rose Hill Drive, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath.
HOW DID THE VELVETEERS GET TOGETHER?
I started playing guitar and was craving to start a band. I couldn't find anyone to drum with me though. John who is also my older brother ended up playing with me temporally for what we thought would just be a couple shows till I found a permanent drummer, but as it turned out, something just worked really well and from there on out we've been The Velveteers.
HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO PLAY A SIDEJACK BARITONE? HOW IMPORTANT IS THE BARITONE GUITAR TO YOUR SOUND?
The Sidejack Baritone was my first guitar. One day my brother took me to a local music store to help me pick out a guitar and pointed out the Sidejack Baritone. I just remembering seeing it and thinking how cool it looked, it fit me perfectly. It has such a unique sound and gets a crazy amount of low end while keeping the treble, Which is a huge part of our sound. To me, Its like a mix between a bass and guitar.
YOU'RE STILL A QUITE NEW BAND BUT ALREADY CROSSED THE ATLANTIC FOR A FEW DATES IN THE UK... ON YOUR FIRST EVER TOUR! HOW WAS THE EXPERIENCE?
It was absolutely incredible. It was our first time out of the USA too! It was surreal cause we went form playing little DIY venues in Colorado to playing sold out theaters in the UK. Our favorite cities we got to play were Edinburgh, Brighton and Liverpool. We hope to return soon!
Picture: The Velveteers, live at the Invisible Wind Factory in Liverpool
WHICH AMPS, FX DO YOU USE?
My rig is always changing- but for our upcoming EP I played through a 1969 Fender Twin Reverb spit between an Orange Tiny Terror connected to an Ampeg BA 2x10. I actually just got the Digitech Whammy Pedal, I love how diverse it is.
WHEN/WHERE DID YOU RECORD THE NEW EP? WHAT INSPIRED THE SONGS?
We recored our Debut EP at Silo Sound in Denver with Todd Divel (Engineer/studio Owner). Everything was recored onto Analog Tape. The EP is inspired by a lot of things. In particular I drew a lot of inspiration from Brother Grimm Fairytales and even from movies like Tim Burtons Edward Scissorhands. There is something so gothic yet beautiful about Brother Grimm and Tim Burton, Its something i've always been in love with.
ARE YOU WORKING ON AN ALBUM? WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE REST OF 2018 / THE FUTURE?
Lots of touring! Aside from touring, You can expect loads of music this year. We've been writing like crazy and hope to have more music aside from our EP released sometime within 2018 or in 2019.
