Summer Break Series: Warped with Deas Vail

Although this year’s Warped Tour has been dominated by many hardcore-punk and pop-punk bands, there is one band that joined the last leg of the tour with a different genre of music from the Warped Tour norm. Deas Vail, a Christian indie-rock band from Arkansas may seem like an odd fit among this year’s line-up, but they have managed to prove themselves at every tour date they play.

The members of Deas Vail came together while attending college in Arkansas, where there is no longer much of a music scene, which the members of the band agree can have both its pros and cons. The band says some of the problems with starting in Arkansas include the necessity of going to outside states to do shows, because there are not many people that support the local music scene in Arkansas. However, coming from a small town makes it easy to stand out from the crowd, whereas in places like Los Angeles and Nashville, it can be easy to fade into the background, or as vocalist Wes Blaylock stated, “become white noise.” Blaylock also said that they will often go out and play shows around the country that will have a great turnout, then come back and play a show in Arkansas with a fraction of the crowd they experienced elsewhere.

Although openly Christian, they say that there has been no problem fitting in with the rest of the bands on the tour, and they have still been able to attract their own crowd each day. When asked if they interact with any other Christian bands on the tour, such as Haste the Day, vocalist Blaylock says that they have definitely been able to connect with a few other Christian guys, and that there is nothing better than being able to talk to other people about the inner joy that Christianity brings.

When asked about the type of music the band is influenced by, Blaylock says that everybody has a very eclectic taste in music, so they all bring the different styles of music that they listen to to the table. However, there are some bands that are always safe to play on the tour bus. These bands include Radiohead, Coldplay, Muse, Wilco and, most recently, Phoenix. Some of the influence of those bands can most definitely be heard in the music that they produce, as well as a hint of Death Cab for Cutie, although none of the members of the band listed them as being on the tour bus “safe list.”

Although there are no tour plans following their Warped Tour dates, you can check out Deas Vail’s most recent album, Birds & Cages, which was released in October 2009 and can be found on iTunes and Amazon.com. You can also stay updated on the band on Myspace and deasvail.com.