Diandra Interviews Vista: Clear Minds Make A Bigger Sound

Vista are a duo of strong personalities with a big sound. They are unafraid to aim for music that makes you feel like your brightest self is your realest self, which, in perspective, it is! Yet, creating music that empowers their growing number of fans takes work. You have to have a clear mind and a clear heart to make a clear sound, and in their interview, the duo talk about everything: from the anxieties to thrills of being artists on the rise. 

Diandra: How would you say your sound and performance style have grown, from “Versus” to “Witch Hunt”?

Hope: Everybody evolves. With bands that have been around a while, like Paramore or Fall Out Boy, I always see people complaining or upset because they ‘changed.’ What many don’t realize is that as artists, you can’t just make the same record repeatedly. We grow. Times change, the industry changes. We age. With us, we just continue to evolve. By evolving, I mean we learn more about our craft, we’re inspired by different things, different events. More technology and tools continue to become available to musicians. We embrace growth and evolution, so from “VERSUS” to “Witch Hunt,” it’s just continued to expand and progress. We strive to continually develop in terms of our artistry, and I think “Witch Hunt” is a good representation of that.

Greg: Well put. We all know what makes us tick in terms of music, what tricks usually work, but you can only do the same thing for so long. The high of trying new is really fun.

Diandra: Being a duo, what do you feel music has taught you about each other as creatives and people?

Hope: Just like sound, it’s a constant evolution. We are consistently learning more about each other and our individual artistic tics. Greg tracked a good portion of the drums on “Witch Hunt”; that was new for us and something that I learned more about in terms of his personal artistry.

Greg: Aww thanks Hope. I always like seeing how fast Hope thinks of parts and lyrics. Her style is so avant- garde and does not strike me as what someone would normally write over a verse. Love it.

Hope: Thank you 🙂


Hope: About half of The Bloodlust Tour is going to be new markets for us. There’s been a lot of prep into this; this tour started planning in February. I just personally wanna continue that expansion and see what we can accomplish. We make it a point to chat with everyone inside the venue.

Diandra You have said you want listeners to feel “power” when they hear your songs. How would you define music as a power?

Greg: Our stage presence helps a lot with the power. I also think our sound is just inherently powerful. We try to get that huge sound whenever we’re in the studio. It’s really all about your feelings while you listen. We want to inspire those feelings, of power.

Hope: Feelings of power as in, we want people to walk out of the venue feeling empowered to take on the day, the night, feeling comfortable in their skin, happy, comfortable, safe. We indulge in putting all of our energy into these performances, and we use our physical power to try and bring emotional power to everyone else.

Diandra: From critical to proud, how do you balance both reactions when making a song? When do you know you have something to be proud of, and how do you turn a critique into empowerment?

Greg: This is a great and very knee deep question. I don’t know. Sometimes, I just feel like I’ve been through it all in terms of criticism. I have a good system with myself and my honesty with what I create, I feel. I usually know what is better than other things I’ve written, or what is worse. Once I decide how I solidly feel about something, I’ll show someone else, then take all criticism from there with an open mind and a grain of salt. Your ability to sift through the two evenly and make something great is empowering.

Hope: I am very hypercritical. I have always over-analyzed everything in studio, in recordings, in photos. Everything. But I turn critique into empowerment by listening to the final product and recognizing that we built this from scratch, from nothing to something, there’s passion and fight there. That’s empowering to me. A great question, by the way.

Diandra: Artists can be hard on themselves. What is the hardest part about the creative process for you or, at least, reveals your flaws?

Hope: Everything. I hate recording. It stresses me out, I get hypercritical, and, until the process is over, I hold my breath. I get angry, tense, frustrated, bratty, and I’m very aware of that. If I can’t get out in words what I’m hearing in my head, I get mad and stressed. I know right away if something is going to work or not. The main creative process comes out in the studio, because, ultimately, that’s where we’re creating our music, and it tends to either bring out the worst in me or the best.

Diandra: You have talked about the mental strain of working in the industry. Do you believe that the music industry is particularly difficult, compared to other businesses, or do you feel self-care has become a more important topic give our times?

Hope: These are all great questions. The music industry is on a pedestal in terms of mental strain because of how much pressure there is to be a certain way, maintain a certain look, or fit into a certain area. I have personally had many run-ins with depression, I have had anxiety since I was 8 years old, and have also struggled with my weight since my junior year of high school. Here, especially when you are working to get the attention of industry professionals, I have also felt an unspoken pressure to be thin, to have perfect hair, unflawed skin. Nobody is telling me this directly, but it’s all implied through certain images, music and lyrics, what is promoted vs what is not promoted, what others say via social media. It is also an internal voice that beats me up repeatedly.

Greg: Mental health is very important, Hope sums it up very well here. There are so many implied weird things in the music industry that can be inherently stressful. It’s hard to give examples and have a full conversation in a text format. I’d really love to set up some kind of podcast about this one day.

Diandra: With how random, i.e. the internet, it was that VISTA formed, do you feel it was fated?

Greg: Thanks for doing your research. Heck yeah I do. It was like the exact same time that both of us were looking for people, when we both wanted the same thing for so long, and couldn’t find anyone who could actually make it happen.

Hope: We’ve answered the ‘how did you form’ question so many times, I’m actually really happy and just stoked that you knew how we formed already without asking. Thank you for caring enough to research.

Diandra: What does each member of the duo bring as personalities and creatives?

Greg: Hope brings the initial work ethic of a lot of it. I obviously help out however much I can when I can and am her right hand man. I bring the comic relief and memes. In terms of creatives, I can shoot out a hundred million ideas and genres and parts to songs. Hope can sort through them easily and find the right combo of stuff to make VISTA work. Then from there it’s a constant back and forth and just chipping away at the sculpture.

Hope: We kind of have our tasks split. That’s really the only way to do it in a band of two people, otherwise it’s kind of just a clusterfuck, sorry for language. That’s the only word I can think of though, haha. Especially with touring, we have to delegate tasks and split up the work. Greg essentially handles all of the music (tracks, making sure live members are on point, gear, and as well as any van maintenance), and I’m more of the logistics and branding mind (I book the tours, handle all the tour press, communicating with the promoters, day sheets, advances). They just kind of fit to our personal skills best.

“Witch Hunt”:https://open.spotify.com/album/5LyLct89RqZGxRTnlU9b3M?si=Lee3MfOeQ7qRL4cIJgb7Fw
www.vistaband.co
www.facebook.com/VISTAband
www.twitter.com/ThisIsVISTA
www.instagram.com/VISTAband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2kB0EAn1CFaf8CVMScxF8q?si=-S75moC0QEKbvs-tAhzP5A
THE BLOODLUST TOUR: www.bandsintown.com/VISTA
Greg: @grooglesVISTA (Twitter/Insta)
Hope: @hopevista (Twitter/Insta)