Picture by Ken Hughes
L.A. trio, The Record Company, is now on tour with The Brian Setzer Orchestra and will perform this Friday at The Fox Theatre. . In recent years, L.A. has come up with its own rock sound. The distinction between a band from Nashville or New York or L.A. is pretty apparent, but luckily The Record Company does not fit the L.A. rock profile. I had the lovely opportunity to pick the brain of the multi-talented musician Chris Vos, in his modern blues-soul rock band. Vos, who moved to L.A. with his wife, met Alex Stiff and Marc Carzola, and eventually started The Record Company. Vos says, "I've always had a passion for rock and roll, blues, and gospel, always have, even when I was a kid. My Ma was all about Motown and my Dad was all about rock and roll." Those two sounds merged and all parties agreed that this is the music they needed to make. "None of us were born or raised in California. We didn't have any intentions."The Record Company has toured with BB King, and currently The Brian Setzer Orchestra, but this accomplished group "played our first show on New Year's Eve 2012. It hasn't been long at all. We sat and curated our sound. We sat and knew what we wanted to sound like", says Vos. "We wanted to keep it raw."
Researching this band, there was mention of their live show, but no detail presented insight into what one should expect if anything. Vos responded with, "We throw ourselves into the music. It's not because we light ourselves on fire. There will be no pyro at a Record Company show. You can only give your best effort and not waste the audiences time. Your audience deserves it."
Before stepping onto stage and giving every ounce of his being to the audience, with his bandmates and friends by his side,Vos recites his mantra: "It's not one more time on stage, it's one more less."
After the death of MCA of Beastie Boys, The Record Company paid tribute in the best way they knew how. Taking one of my favorite songs "So What'cha Want" and making it entirely unrecognizable was by far the best way to pay their respects. I, like most of you was skeptical , and presented those thoughts to Vos, but listen and watch The Record Company perform this classic below:
The passion was evident and echoed in Vos' deep voice, even saying, "Musicians work their butts off. There's no 'sex, drugs, and rock & roll'. I don't give two fucks about that crap", which in turn reignited desire and excitement to not only experience a live performance by The Record Company, but also for Detroit to enjoy a band rooted in soul and the blues without any gimmicks or pyro. "Playing The Fox on this tour, for me personally, I can't believe to tell you how fired up I am, and we're thankful."