An Interview with VOYAG3R

This week we would like to introduce all of you to VOYAG3R. This three piece instrumental group is latest work of Steve Greene, Greg Mastin, and Aaron Greene. The band draws a lot of inspiration from vintage horror films and they are signed to one of our favorite local labels, Bellyache Records. Their latest release on the label is called Doom Fortress. You can check out some music from the band here. This is very different from anything these guys have ever done which is why we were so intrigued the first time we heard it. In fact this is pretty different from anything anyone has ever done. It's nice to see somebody trying something different and new.

The band will be performing at Small's this Saturday, June, 6th, so I thought we would take this opportunity to chat with them before the show. Check out what they had to say about this project and head out to see them perform alongside VSTRS this weekend.  

HID- When did Voyag3r form and start playing music together?

Aaron Greene- "That one goes back a bit. Steve and I are cousins, so we grew up together and started our first band at 14 years old. We met Greg back in 94 and have been playing with him almost the whole time since. We've been in three bands together: Forge (a metal band), Decibilt (a rock band), and now Voyager 3. Steve talked to us about the concept of this band a couple of years ago, because he'd been having a serious itch to play this kind of synth-based soundtrack rock with guitar and drums. Greg and I jumped right on it. We were curious to see if we could pull off something so different from what we'd done before, but it actually came pretty easily to us. Maybe we watch too many movies."

HID- What made you decide to be an instrumental band?
Steve Greene- "I think, for the type of music that we're doing (experimental, movie score, etc) it is best suited to be instrumental. If you listen to most movie scores, they are typically instrumental… it really lets the listener detach and float to where ever the music takes them."

HID- Why did you pick the name Voyager Three?
Voyag3r- "We thought Voyager Three sounded cool and sorta encompassed what we are trying to do, musically. We spell it Voyag3r because sometimes we're too clever for our own good and to get a unique domain name that wasn't already taken. I think Greg thought of that part. I really like the aspect of, there never was an actual Voyager 3 space probe, that we know of, just 1 & 2. That's the journey we are on."

HID- Why did you decide to record your album using all vintage and analog synths?
Steve Greene- "I think they sound the best and have a particular character to them that cannot be reproduced with software. I love that most of my analog synthesizers have a per-action knob, so it's extremely interactive and expressive live."

HID- Why did you decide to put your album out on Bellyache Records?
Steve Greene- "Because Scotty is an all around great guy and he really knows the record business. As it turns out, when Greg emailed Scotty to let him know about Voyag3r, he happened to be looking for something in that same ballpark. The planets really lined up on that one!"

HID- Where did the obsession with space and horror come from?
Aaron Greene- "It's absolutely what we grew up on. Our first movie moments are made of science fiction and horror. Star Wars, Jaws, Blade Runner, Star Trek, Aliens, American Werewolf in London, Halloween. So much of how we see the world was shaped by those movies and plenty others like them. If you look at our movie collections, you'd see all of the 70s and 80s laid out before you. It was the height of analog effects and film making, and of course the soundtracks play such a huge part in that."

HID- Tell us about the concept and the filming of your latest music video "Il Guanto Nero".
Aaron Greene- "That was so much fun. We shot for about four days in a place we only kinda sorta had permission to be, but we got it done quick and cheap. Steve had the idea to put the elements together: giallo, science fiction, femme fatale. He wrote the story and planned it all out, and as we went along, Greg and I got our creative contributions in there as well. Lots of on-the-fly decisions and low budget adaptations. Classic guerrilla filmmaking. And we got to make the ideal short film to fit the feel of the song."

HID- What is coming up next for the band?
Greg Mastin- "First and foremost, we have the D-Day show on June 6th at Small’s, in Hamtramck, with our good friends in VSTRS. Outside of that, we are finishing up the follow-up to Doom Fortress and hope to have that out by Halloween. We’ll also be contributing music to a couple film projects, in the near future, which is EXACTLY what we had hoped would happen with this music."

~S