Amidst a strong passion for music and some true life challenges, arose a little band called Vision.
Originated in South East Los Angeles and under the infamous independent record label Burger Records, Vision has taken their long time influences and created an eccentric Garage Rock/Brit Pop sound and have made it very much their own. The young group is comprised of Christopher Valer on guitar and vocals, his younger brother Phillip Gonzales on drums, and invited guests on guitar.
The two brothers grew up in the Latin culture and a religious lifestyle. However, as kids, they took a devastating hit when their older brother passed away. The loss of one of the few people who encouraged and motivated them created a snowball effect of challenges and trying moments during their teenage years. But amongst the personal anguish and struggle, Vision had been brewing.
Putting their emotions on paper and creating music, these talented and strong young men pulled through and came up with one aggressively-raw sound. They have been hard at work and have already made quite a name for themselves; having toured throughout California, Seattle, and been part of The SXSW Festival in Austin.
In an interview with the very dedicated vocalist Christopher Valer, he gave Al Borde some insight on the history and future plans for the group.
Al Borde (AB): How did you first become interested in music?
Christopher Valer (CV): The very first time I took an interest in music was when I was about seven years old. I found a Nirvana video tape lying around my house. I watched it and it changed my life significantly. I immediately wanted a guitar. I eventually learned how to play and I also started writing songs.
AB: How did Vision come about?
CV: I went through a phase where I hit some really rough times, but I eventually allowed solitude and music to be my outlet. About three years ago, I recruited my younger brother (Phillip Gonzales) and a friend to put a band together. With the memory of my older brother and the support and encouragement of my wife, we finally recorded and delivered a demo of our music to Burger Records and they welcomed us into their home.
AB: How would you classify or describe the sound of Vision?
CV: Alternative and classic rock have had a big influence in our lives and music, we grew up listening to The Doors, Nirvana, and Oasis. But we really just like to play what we feel. I really don’t focus on trying to sound a certain way. The current emotion or state of mind determines a lot of it.
AB: Burger Records is famous for recording music into an actual tape. It’s an interesting concept to take music back to that technology. Tell us about your experience with it.
CV: There’s sort of a revolution with recording onto a tape again and the market has actually responded very well to it. A lot of artists with Burger Records are going that route and fans are more than willing to go out of their way to find methods to listen to music this way.
AB: The SXSW Festival is one of the stops in your upcoming tour this month. What else is in store for Vision in the near future?
CV: We are very excited about the tour, since this will be the first one under the Burger Records label. We’ll be visiting cities like San Diego, Las Vegas, El Paso, and of course Austin for SXSW. But we are very excited to play here in LA at The Echoplex. We love the vibe there and the LA fans. We’re looking forward to having our friend Eduardo “Yayo” Trujillo (guitarist of Pastilla) as a guest guitarist on this tour. We also have our first full length album release coming up in April. It’s called Inertia. It refers to how there is always something impeding us from doing things in life. Even while recording the album, we had to face a lot of obstacles, but we got through them; nothing was going to stop us! The album speaks on different subjects in connection to that; finding ways to always get through life no matter what.
Vision’s tour will take place from March 10th through March 25th, making their first stop in San Fransisco. They will perform at The Echoplex on March 13th.
Vision’s music is available for download iTunes and available for cassette purchase here.
