Ivy Vujic Jenkins Interview. Bass player for Speedgod and former bassist for Kittie. In this interview we talk about life on the road. November 19, 2014.
Ivy Vujic Jenkins Interview
1. What’s new in the world of Ivy Vujic Jenkins?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – I’ve been spending most of my time between the Merch company UC Merch, which my husband Geoff and I run together, and our band, SPEEDGOD! In recent months Speedgod finalized our line up. In addition to Sean Von Tersch, who’s been with us for a couple of years now, we’ve added a kick ass new guitarist, Kris Finison and finally found THE drummer that really fits the bill, Adrian “Bone” Green. Both amazing musicians and incredible dudes! Definitely been spending more and more time with Speedgod, writing, playing shows and just hanging out with my favorite dudes!
You can check out the band at www.speedgodband.com or facebook.com/speedgodband – and if you need some custom shirts printed, check out www.ucmerch.com or facebook.com/ucmerch
2. Any new work from Speedgod coming out in 2015?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – We are currently writing new material for an album… The plan is to record in early 2015. No official release date as of yet, so you’ll just have to check back in a couple of months.
3. Do you play the bass a lot on your spare time to keep up to date with your techniques?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – Depends what you consider “spare time” … I don’t have a lot of it between running the business and jamming with the band and playing shows. I don’t practice on my own nearly as much as I should, but the whole band does get together a few times a week to run the set, work on new songs, etc… At home, most of my jamming is a few minutes here or there, while waiting for food to cook, or my computer to restart, or something of the like … I rarely have the opportunity to sit by myself for an extended period of time and not have something work related going on.
4. During a year how many shows do you do on average and how crazy does the schedules get?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – We have about 400 shows booked for 2015… just kidding… Speedgod is really more of a weekend warrior band. We all have full time jobs so shows are generally a Fri / Sat kind of thing. We do some 3-4 day runs out of state, but have yet to do any actual “touring”. Really our goal is to have fun, play music and try to break even financially while doing so. We are all very happy in our current lines of work and are not looking to leave it all behind and tour full time, but I won’t deny the possibility of some light touring at some point in the future.
5. Could you describe some of your earliest influences in life and in music?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – That’s such a difficult question to answer. I’ve been playing bass in bands for over 15 years and my influences kind of come from all over the place. Some of my earliest musical memories are something as simple as taking piano lessons as a child. I always liked to sing a lot when I was younger and my parents got me involved in piano fairly early on. I also took viola lessons in middle school and I generally excelled at all things musical. My music teacher urged me to audition for an art school and take viola as my major… but like a teenager with zero focus, I chose to major in drama (acting) instead, and took stand up bass as an elective.
When I was a kid, I was mostly exposed to the music my parents listened to. Among the many oddities on the shelf, like Abba, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and The Crash Test Dummies, there was one album in my parents collection that really stood out to me and that was Queen’s Greatest Hits! Not surprisingly, Queen is still one of my favorite artists to this day. Queen got me interested in discovering more music, heavier music, but at that age I only really had access to what people around me listened to. It wasn’t as easy as going on YouTube back then … In my early teens, I think the first albums I actually owned were things like Bush, Nirvana and The Offspring. It wasn’t until I started playing in bands at around 14/ 15 that I started getting into metal bands, like Pantera, Slayer, Dream Theatre, In Flames… those were some of my first introductions to real heavy music and some of my biggest influences that I still truly enjoy.
I was kind of a screw up as a teenager, I didn’t care much about school, just wanted to get drunk / high, skip school, hang out, I didn’t have too many dreams or ambitions and I didn’t look up to the right kind of people, so I feel my influences in life have really shifted a lot. Not to sound like a total bummer about it, I definitely enjoyed those years and I have no regrets… but these days, my main driver is really just my own wasted youth… Reminding me to always learn and grow, always be productive, but still do the things that make me happy.
6. How important is it for a musician in this generation to spend time on social media?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – Social Media is vital for any type of business, and musicians / bands are not excluded from this. As much as a band should be fun, you really have to treat it like a business in order to succeed. Online presence is one of the best ways for musicians today to promote themselves since everyone basically LIVES on the internet. Even when people are out at bars or venues, they are looking at their smartphones at least some of the time. With that being said, don’t forget that there is still value in physical promotion. Simple things like flyering, and just interacting and having face time with fans go a long way. Although some of the newer generations have a hard time with eye contact, there are still a lot of people out there who really appreciate it!
7. Producing great music videos is it more important now than it has ever been?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – About 10 to 15 years ago, people were discovering new bands just by watching MTV or Much Music and seeing a cool video come on that they hadn’t seen before. This doesn’t happen so much anymore, but people DO share videos on line more than ever. Everything is so instant now, and if your video is not intriguing within the first 10 seconds or so… you’ve already lost half of your viewers right there in that first 10 seconds. They will move on to something else in this fast paced time we live in. So yeah, in some ways it is more important to have a great music video to keep people interested, however your hardcore fans will be more patient and perhaps really appreciate something that might not stand out to a non-fan. It’s all about knowing your fan base, and finding out how to 1. please that existing fan base and 2. expand it by reaching new potential fans.
8. What could we find interesting in your music collection at home?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – It’s interesting to think about a music “collection” when most everything is electronic anymore. Oddly enough, I’m one of those people that actually listens to podcasts and online radio stations. Let’s see, some bands I love that may or may not surprise you… Deftones, Pantera, A Perfect Circle, Alice in Chains, Tool, Soilwork, Lamb of God, Bush, Incubus, Aerosmith, G n’R, and whatever random obscure singles I have on my listening device. About half of the time I actually listen to podcasts instead of music, and those include: The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, The Naked Scientist, and CBC’s own Quirks and Quarks! I also appreciate silence more than most musicians I know. It makes my husband crazy, he needs noise.
9. Could you describe what goes on in a day in your life as a musician on tour?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – Hah… tour is basically wake up in a vehicle (unless you’re driving, then hopefully you’re already awake)… Sit there, play with your phone, read a book, talk, listen to music etc (while your stomach rumbles uncontrollably) … stop at a gas station and get ridiculously, overly excited!! Gas stations on tour are like theme parks… “YAY we’re somewhere other than in a van, and there are bathrooms and coffee and energy drinks!” So you buy some candy or whatever, bomb the bathroom, and then get back in the van.
Inevitably (if nothing goes wrong), you get to a venue, wait around until you are asked to load in… get your gear inside, stand around until it’s your turn to play, line check, play your set, hang out for a few hours while hustling some merch, load gear back into the trailer, and then drive some more… If you don’t have to drive all night, you generally end up sleeping in a Walmart parking lot for a few hours. All the while wondering if you’re going to see a shower some time in the next week.
Now of course there are many variables in between depending on what level of band you are and how much money you make and how much free time you have between drives. I always enjoyed walking around new places when ever we have the time, getting to know other bands on the bill, talking with fans, having some drinks throughout, and going to a beach whenever possible!
On bus tours, it’s a bit of a different dynamic too, and of course and when you have crew members you obviously have more time to enjoy each city you visit. On a bus, you have your own bed, a shared toilet, a lounge or two with a fridge, tv, microwave, coffee maker etc… so you can hang out as if you were in the comfort of your own home, except you’re always surrounded with lots of other people. You don’t have to fight over who’s driving next, you don’t have to fix your own flats (unless you own the bus) …Nothing else really changes much. Most buses still don’t have showers, so you’re taking baby wipe baths whenever possible and when the AC goes out you’re getting a rather intense intake of sweaty balls and/or vag smell.
10. Where do you see music in general going in 100 years from now?
Ivy Vujic Jenkins – Wow, how can I possibly approach this? I really don’t think I could predict where music will go. In 10 years I could make a guess, but 100 years, NO CLUE! I’m going to say that Metal will branch off even more and split into a bunch of ridiculous heavy genres, while pop music will get more electronic, more spaztik, and lots more dub step… People will be twerking upside down while skydiving and dogs will be doing parkour in the background… or it will all revert to what was popular 50 years ago except country music will just stay exactly the same! I really don’t know, unlike fashion, there really doesn’t seem to be a clear trend in music yet. I’m noticing a lot of old, folky European sounding stuff is making it’s way into mainstream music these days, so maybe in 100 years traditional Indian music will be all the rage, I really can’t say.
Hope you enjoyed the Ivy Vujic Jenkins