We talked new single, musical inspirations and live performances with Minneapolis duo, Version 5. Shannon Rae: For those who have yet to hear of you guys, give us a bit of a back story on Version 5?
V5: We’re an Electro-Rock duo from Minneapolis, MN consisting of brothers Andy (Guitarist, Writer, Co-Producer) and Spencer (Vocalist, Programmer, Co-Producer). We released our first EP in 2015 and now we’re working towards our debut full-length! SR: What made you decide to take the musical direction that you have? V5: When we decided on becoming a duo (after a previous band break-up), we knew we didn’t have to compromise our sound- so we took elements from both of our favorite types of music and combined them. At that time Andy was listening to quite a bit of Chevelle and Deftones, while Spencer was listening to Nine Inch Nails and Deadmau5- so we figured we take our individual tastes and combine them to make something new. SR: Has living in Minneapolis, a very funk dominated scene, had an influence on you in any way? V5: One of the nice things about living in Minneapolis is that there’s all kinds of music getting played out in venues- so it’s not limiting at all. We just knew the music we wanted to make and hoped people liked it. SR: You have defined yourselves as ‘elo-rock’, is this different from electronic-rock and if so, how? V5: We use the term electronic rock often as well- our sound combines elements from other rock/electronic rock artists like W.E.R.M. and Linkin Park but with elements from EDM and Industrial Rock. If you made a triangle with Rock on one point, Industrial Rock/Metal on one point, and EDM/Electro-Punk on another, we’d be right in the center. SR: What can be expected of a Version 5 live show? Are there any upcoming shows you would like our readers to be aware of? V5: Our shows are loud and full of energy, and we’re constantly tweaking our live show- currently, we are working on implementing more lighting. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, we just want everyone to have a good time- we want people to get involved with the show. Currently we have some shows booked locally as well as in Fargo; if anyone wants to keep up with where we’re playing, they can follow us on Facebook or BandsinTown. We’re in the process of booking more shows across the upper midwest, like Milwaukee and Cleveland. Hopefully we’ll get out there soon. SR: Let’s talk about the new single, “Absolute Zero”, what inspired this song? V5: Spencer had the phrase “Absolute Zero” almost from the beginning of the writing process. We ended up using Absolute Zero and outer space as a metaphor for being really lonely- from a breakup or being separated by death. Musically, we went in knowing we wanted to combine a hard hitting breakbeat to a big pop-rock chorus. SR: What was the writing process like? Was there anything new spun into this track that previously hasn’t been heard in your music? V5: Our writing process consists of taking 3-4 days of locking ourselves away- we tend to get started at 2-3 in the afternoon and work until 3-4 in the morning by consuming exorbitant amounts of coffee and switching to rum later on. Typically the first day is uneventful, until we get in the groove of writing. Sometimes we come up with something, sometimes we don’t- but by the end of the four day stretch we need a break and need to actually see the sun. This song has a lot more of our electronic/ electronic-pop influences permeating through it- some of our other songs have been geared more towards the rock end of the spectrum. We’re excited about how the “sounds” of the song reflect what’s going on lyrically. SR: What would an “Absolute Zero” music video look like if you could one hundred percent carry out your vision for it? V5: Currently we’re in the pre-production stages of our music video for "Absolute Zero", so all we have right now are some loose sketches. We’re working on some ice-like effects, and so far this video looks like it will have a sleek and edgy look to it. That’s as far as our vision has come currently. SR: Any other future releases currently in the works? V5: We have a bunch of video content coming soon- a video of us playing live, a music video for one of our other singles, Why Don’t You Drop, and we’ve just started pre production for Absolute Zero, so this Spring should be full of video content from us! SR: Great to hear! Thank you guys for talking to us!
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