gt.com: three-fourths of Invertigo are
brothers. how did you find the fourth guy and decide to put a group together?
VINCE: The three of us brothers were in
different bands. We started writing and decided we wanted to start a rock band. We
basically put an advertisement in the newspaper for a lead singer and Christian came
along. And, it all started from there!
gt.com: where did the alias Invertigo come from?
CHRISTIAN: It doesn't really mean anything exciting. We thought maybe we'd come up with
a story or try to create the definition of Invertigo. But, in all truth, the three
brothers were working under a title called Vertigo. When we got signed by Atlantic to come
to America, there was already a band named Vertigo. We were told that if we wanted to keep
something with the word vertigo in it, it just has to be tweaked a little bit. The four of
us met the following morning, and all came up with the word Invertigo.
gt.com: pretend we're walking
through the record store and stumble across your debut album, "Forum." why
should we buy it?
CHRISTIAN: Generally, the songs on our album
consist of stuff that we would like to think of as fairly pop and pretty kind of melodies
mixed in with backdrops that consist of rock and guitars. The marriage between our guitar
melodies and vocal harmonies make for a really interesting record. Lyrically, we catch on
stuff that has happened in our lives before and stuff that other bands won't necessarily
write about. It's stuff that people find interesting and also that people are able to
relate to in their everyday lives.
gt.com: we're convinced! okay,
have you ever used those Australian accents to pick up American girls?
CHRISTIAN: We haven't done it yet. It's
definitely one of our major plans before we leave here! ::laughs:: To be
completely honest, we haven't had that much time here...the record company has been
working us! But, if it helps...!
gt.com: what has been your most
memorable performance so far?
VINCE: We actually did a big outdoor show back home. There were twenty thousand
people there, so it was a big, massive show. I guess that's been a highlight live show for
us!
CHRISTIAN: The four of us were kind of just
looking at each other like little boys, grinning at each other, thinking, "wow!"
It was unbelievable! They only gave us twenty minutes on stage, and we didn't want to get
off, so we tried playing another song. You don't get to do that often! Some bands never,
ever get to do that. We had to unfortunately get off stage, but we could have played six
sets. That was pretty unique. We hope to get the chance to do something like that again
someday.
gt.com: Survivor II was taped in
the outback. did you ever watch the show?
CHRISTIAN: I never watched it at all. There are so many of those kind of shows that
were hitting Australian television at the time. We happen to get numb to them after a
while!
VINCE:
We were in the studio mixing records a few months ago.
It came on, and I couldn't stop watching the show. I think they knew more about the
Outback than we did!
gt.com: what person would make you vote yourself off of Survivor?
CHRISTIAN: I would not want to be on with Vince!
VINCE: I can't be on, because I'd be voted off immediately.
gt.com: the powerful song "Typical" is about a girlfriend who
cheats on you with your friends. is that based on a real experience?
VINCE: It was kind of loosely based. I've heard other friends of mine that have had
that experience. What I was trying to get across is that the stereotypical thing would be
that the male is a player. So, we wanted to turn it around and show the female in that
spot. The other thing is that there's the real stigma attached to guys with what I was
just saying. We've been on the wrong end, too...where girls have really, really broken our
hearts bigtime. We all do it; girls to guys just as much. Kinda wanted to say that it
could work both ways, and that it's just as devastating for us.
gt.com: how close to home are the songs you compose?
VINCE: I think lyrically they are very close to home. We try to take experiences
and turn them into songs.
CHRISTIAN: Vince is responsible for writing a
lot of the material on the album. The thing I love about some of these songs is that he is
able to capture some of the great moments and the bad moments, which is what a good writer
does to a song. The album does showcase the less serious side of life. Songs like "Say
You Do" and "Blame it on the Stars" are just really good,
old-fashioned pop songs.
gt.com: what track was your favorite to record and perform live?
CHRISTIAN: From the recording side, my
favorite recording experience was a song called "If I." That is, I
suppose, probably the slowest, most emotional track. I think that if there was a ballad on
the album, "If I" is it. For me, that's my favorite song on the album,
and I think when people get a chance to hear it, they'll be surprised by it.
gt.com: did you get to sight-see while in New York City?
VINCE: We did a little bit of
shopping...buying fake watches! But, from what we've seen, we're just very excited to be
here. Trying to sneak in a few hours of sleep and do some more shopping.
gt.com: what do you do when taking a break from music?
VINCE: In general, we don't get much time off at all. You've got to somehow find
time off between what you're doing, whether it's a half hour here or an hour there. The
best things to do is go back to the basics, like spending time with your family, seeing
movies, anything to get away from it. Because, it is quite grueling! But, I am glad I'm in
the band with three other guys that I get along with.
gt.com: what are your feelings on the Napster issue?
CHRISTIAN: I think we're able to see both sides of the issue. Bands like Metallica have
been the forerunners to the whole argument against Napster. We, from an artists point of
view, are certainly apt to identify with it. At the end of the day, it makes sense to
approach them as business people. And, their logic is that they don't want to see that big
check die by the fact that certain people are not buying their music as a result of the
successes of Napster. At the same time, we certainly have seen the album all over Napster.
And, at the beginning, we sort of thought it was interesting. Then, we had so many people
coming up to us, and saying, "We didn't know anything about the band until we
heard it on Napster." Even people from overseas, here in the United States, who
would have never ever have heard our songs. Now we have a very small fanbase here already
that had downloaded our stuff from Napster. So, we can see both sides of it. I think that
it is natural for people around the world to hear music. So, we're able to appreciate it,
as long as it doesn't get to the point where it totally ruins our chance.
gt.com: how about your thoughts on the worldwide boy band hype?
CHRISTIAN: I actually don't have a problem with it at all. The boy bands that we get
back home, like Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, we also get other bands like Westlife, and
it's so great that they can go out on stage, dance, and put on such an exciting show.
People say that rock bands should hate boy bands, but we don't at all. A good band is a
good band. I think like any band, if a rock band doesn't cut it, it doesn't cut it, and if
a boy band doesn't cut it, it doesn't cut it. I think if something's good, it's good with
any genre of music.
VINCE: If they write the songs themselves, then I think all of those boy bands
write good songs. The songs are well-crafted. It's not as easy as it seems to be.
gt.com: what do you foresee in the future for Invertigo?
CHRISTIAN: We are very encouraged by the
plans that the record company has for us here. America is something completely different
from Australia. We're still trying to get our heads around the fact that we're even here!
We plan to do some major touring and release our single "Desensitized"
and our album "Forum" and hopefully sell according to the scripts that
the fans have for us. We can never take anything for granted. We would just like our album
to get to as many people as possible!
gt.com: we predict a positive outcome for music's next big thing,
Invertigo!
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"Chances
Are," you'll love Invertigo's