The first time I (DJ Mig) witnessed The Mission Veo’s wild frontman Jonny Veo perform was interestingly enough at a karaoke night (remember Green Room’s short lived karaoke night Babble On Sundays– yeah, I barely do either). Jonny chose The Darkness’ “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” and totally exposed every other karaoke performer, preceding or proceeding. For Jonny that night, the stage wasn’t merely a platform with a mic stand; it was a hot sand beach, and if he didn’t constantly move and rip his shirt off, he’d burn his soles and experience heat exhaustion. Unfortunately for my girlfriend and I, we were the sacrificial lambs that were slated to perform Everclear’s “Santa Monica” directly after, fated for the ultimate calamity.
I mention the above story, not only because it was a highly entertaining first encounter, but because it eludes to the frenetic energy that will occur tonight when Jonny and the rest of team Veo perform songs that actually have personal meaning. Not only will the mostly locally-based fivesome put on a memorable show though, The Mission Veo couple their performance with a quality dance-friendly brand of upbeat synth rock that mixes a touch of The Killers, a dash of a non-monotone She Wants Revenge, and the speed of newer AFI (more specifically the AFI side project Blaqk Audio). Check out The Mission Veo’s smash single New York Scum on Youtube for a sample of what to expect.
I asked the band a couple questions about the new EP and tried to get them to open up about their beef with Diplo. These were their answers….
What’s your favorite track on the new EP? Why?
My personal favorite track on the album is “Fate Loves the Fearless” and that has a lot to do with the color the melodies and notes evoke.
This year you’ve been featured in a prominent German music mag. Some of your bigger shows have been in Germany. How do the German fans compare to your American ones?
Our German fans are very loyal and a different breed of music enthusiasts. Music still matters overseas and is a way of life. We have great fans in the states and some of them fall into that category of music lovers, but I must admit that our music is better understood in other countries. With that said, there is no replacing a show in your hometown with the fans that supported you from the beginning. This is actually the toughest interview question I have ever answered, and I tried to be as honest as possible. The people that appreciate our music are very dear to me for many reasons, but the fact that they can listen to these songs and relate to the despondency or elation I was feeling at the time is very special to me.
You’ve played shows with some well-known acts, Dead Stars Assembly, Surfer Blood, Foxy Shazam, Paramore, The Sounds, and you almost replaced Diplo on the Sleigh Bells tour. Reveal a crazy story about playing alongside any of these acts.
Well there are plenty of crazy stories on the road but one that comes to mind is the time we where laid over between shows and got stuck on this island. There was this crazy bearded guy that was trying to genetically clone dinosaurs. Things got a little out of hand and one thing led to another, there was a great theme song, a cup of water and Newman from Seinfeld died. All in all we learned our lesson and now know that Jeff Goldblum is forever destined to be type casted as “that really smart guy” unless of course there’s a fly or any other kind of living creature in the room. There was also this one time when we where stuck on our tour bus and it couldn’t go below fifty miles an hour or a bomb would go off…. but no one wants to hear that story.
