Story by Pamela Kleibrink Thompson
Photogrpahy by Justin Hackworth
Scott Vance, a native to the Eagle area, recently returned home to perform with his band, The New Electric Sound, at the Knitting Factory in Boise. Their songs and unique sound evoke the heyday of pop music and the emergence of the electric guitar, yet their look reminds you of the boys-next-door vocal groups of the fifties and sixties such as The Lettermen, bands that wore matching cardigans or suits with ties. Scott, lead vocalist and guitarist with The New Electric Sound, took a break from his touring to catch up with Eagle readers.
EM: How did you first get interested in music?
SV: I’ve been singing since I was born, basically. When I was 10 years old my grandmother bought me a guitar.
EM: How would you describe your band?
SV: Visually, we always match—we do matching shirts and cardigans. We draw inspiration from the fifties and sixties but recreate it and give a modern spin to it. That’s where our name also stems from. It goes back to the desire to draw a connection from a forgotten era to the present. We try to create the same feeling people had when they first heard an electric guitar. The New Electric Sound creates balance between the old and the new. We are trying to recreate the feeling and soul of Rock N’ Roll, which we believe has been lost in today’s music
EM: How did The New Electric Sound, formed in 2011, get started?
SV: I bought a 1963 Ford Galaxy, a Gretch guitar, and an amp. That’s how we started the band. Nigel Goodwin (keys/vocals) grew up two houses down from me in Eagle, and I took guitar lessons from his mom. Tom Brinton (bass/vocals) I met on an LDS mission in Wisconsin. Ben Zabriskie (lead guitar, vocals) was one of my roommates in Provo, Utah. Tony Carlson, the drummer/vocalist, luckily came on board just two weeks before our first show. We released our first self-titled album, The New Electric Sound, in 2012 and are currently working with producers on our new album. There are ten songs on the first record. The most popular songs are “Heartbeat”, “Suitcase”, “What if I Disappear” and “Crimson Sky”. We’re sold out of physical copies of the album, but we’re reprinting them and they’ll be available on our website or on iTunes.
EM: Who writes the songs you perform?
SV: I write the songs and bring them to the rest of the band. They each write their own parts to go along with it. We have drums, keys, lead guitar, bass guitar, and often trumpet.
EM: I’ve seen the music video to HeartBeat, can you tell me more about it?
SV: HeartBeat was a 7 day shoot at four different locations in Utah Valley with an incredible director named Derek Pueblo. Heartbeat is about the difficulty of love when faced with valuing the potential for a new love over an existing friendship. And yes, it is a personal story.
EM: What are the biggest challenges to your musical career?
SV: There’s not as much money in the music industry as there used to be. So making a decent living, especially in the beginning, is a challenge. Another big challenge in today’s world is getting your music heard; there’s a plethora of bands to listen to, so why should anyone listen to your band?
EM: What tips/advice would you give aspiring musicians?
SV: Find what you connect with, what makes you unique. If you can portray your feelings successfully to another person then you are a successful musician. Practice makes perfect. Don’t believe anyone who tells you that you can’t sing or can’t change your range. Practice every day and you can do whatever you want. The key is writing music that expresses your feelings.
EM: What do you like most about performing?
SV: Every time we perform it feels very personal, almost as if I’m connecting with each individual in the crowd and baring my soul to them.
EM: What do you like most about Eagle?
SV: I love the feeling of home and the small, tight-knit community.
EM: Do you want to share anything else with readers of Eagle Magazine?
SV: It has really helped me to have hometown support. If people could just spread the word, that would be great.
Website: thenewelectricsound.com/
The New Electric Sound is a five-piece surf-pop-rock band that fuses ‘50s-era rock ‘n’ roll with a more current, indie-pop style–a surf-rock/oldies inspired band with a new twist and shout.
