It’s Tuesday morning and I’m still high from Saturday night. If you were there, you know what I’m talking about. If you weren’t, man you should be kicking yourself.

My band and I played Chat 19, a restaurant/bar in Larchmont. When I booked the show I knew it would be different than our club gigs in NYC, instead of one 45 min set, we get to do 3 hours!!!  An awesome opportunity to dig up some great covers to weave between my originals.

When putting together a set list I always head to my iPod for inspiration. I scanned through my “25 most listened to” set list and it all fell into place.  We picked tunes that were familiar and fun with an upbeat, rockin’ vibe right out the gate. I think we delivered the perfect party mix for my return to Chat 19 (I’ve played there since 2007). Check out the set lists, I’m sure one of your favorite rock songs is on there.

Between Alex Nolan shredding on the guitar, Mike Sarkissian rockin on the bass and his brother Steve Sarkissian knocking the crap out of that drum kit and me doing my vocal acrobatics, it was a show to be seen, heard and remembered.

After two, 75 minutes sets, taking us well past midnight they had to drag us off the stage Personally I couldn’t wipe the goofy grin off my face and I had the most amazing natural high imaginable (it’s still going!). The feeling after a show is always great but after what seemed like a flawless night, I was flying. Even when I got home I staying awake till 4am playing the night over again in my head. This is why I love music SO much!

Thanks to my band, to my family and friends and especially thank you to my incredibly supportive wonderful fans – the show couldn’t have been the same without you. Looking forward to seeing all of you next time!

Rock On

V

Recently I embarked on an adventure to a far away land. My managers, John and Marc (love you guys!), thought I would be a great match working with German producer Ossy Pfeiffer an incredible rocker who they had met through managers Micky Berresheim and Alex Steiman.

March was a crazy month with shows and rehearsals, so my trip plans came about fairly last minute. I finally booked my Singapore Airlines flight over to Frankfurt and holy cow, what an amazing airline! They started my trip off so right, with warm towels, socks to sleep in, a pillow and blanket. I took off on Sunday night and woke up Monday morning in Germany!

I was greeted Monday morning at the airport by Alex Steiman. It was about 10am local time, 5 am on my clock. We headed over to the office to go over the itinerary for the next week and I got a glimpse of Frankfurt. It was a clear day which was a nice surprise since the weather channel had me geared up for a week of scattered showers.

After taking a short nap, so I wasn’t a total zombie, we hopped on a 2-1/2 hour train ride to Hanover to meet Ossy Pfieffer in person. Ossy and his partner Anca Graterol joined Alex and I for dinner, my first full meal in Germany. We got to know each other and talked about our musical taste, our work methods and the game plan for recording. By the time I finished my meat and potatoes, I was about to turn into a pumpkin and had to be put to bed. The long first day set the tone of the trip.

Day Two – Woke up in Hanover after a rough night of sleep. Had a bit of a nightmare and could clearly hear my neighbor snoring ALL NIGHT. So at breakfast I had ample coffee and sampled some of the many breads Germany had to offer. Nom Nom Nom.

Then Alex and I headed over to Frida Park Studios where Anca and I got to work recording my vocals. We had 4 songs to get through in two days. Frida Park was awesome – so warm and welcoming. Lots of guitars, drums, percussion instruments and some really comfy couches that may or may not have caused a midday doze between songs.

We started recording my original songs – “Do You Think It’s Wrong” was up first. Since Anca and I had a bit of a language barrier we often resorted to body language to show one another what we wanted. The language of music is universal! We had a blast working together and we flew through 3 songs! After working for 6 hours straight, skipping lunch, we threw in the towel for the day and went to dinner with Alex and Ossy. We went to the corner pub where I treated myself to a wheat beer, stuffed cabbage and beef roulade. Oh Wow. So good! My first ‘traditional’ German dinner.

That night I couldn’t really sleep so I went down to the lobby where there were marionettes giving away chocolate. The door man greeted me and saw me take a piece of chocolate. He then offered me a piece of cake. “You like cake?” ”Um, Yes, Why?” “Here!” hands me a slice. Nice, kinda odd, but I appreciated it and happily went to bed; nightmare free!

Day Three – I headed back to Frida Park and after warm ups recorded  song number 4. This one truly tested my pipes Blaring chorus’ with gang vocals. Good thing I have kick-ass breath support. When we finished the lead, Anca and I moved on to the harmonies. Another full and satisfying day of recording. We were now done with my parts, so Alex and I hopped the train again and in no time were back in Frankfurt calling it a night.

iPod shuffle usually pulls something out of the woodwork that I haven’t heard in ages. Driving into NYC yesterday for a day of early St. Patty’s day festivities (YES, I was wearing green) I was letting my iPod DJ itself. Near the end of my drive a song came on that made me crack a smile From the first few chords I instantly remembered this tune and the feeling I was trying to convey when I wrote it with Matt Noble.  www.Matthewnoble.com

‘Whatever’ is a song that came about after my first break up. At that point, I had not only never experienced a break up, but I had no clue how to navigate the time period after the relationship, when the ‘ex’ might try to revisit what he once had. “Don’t know what you got till it’s gone” applied to this situation. Dated for a while, we ended things and about 6 months later ‘POP’ he shows up again. My sentiment was “no fair” – You can’t just show up and still want me or want to try again – I guess it can be considered a compliment but it’s also annoying. Even though they say “all’s fair in love and war”, I wasn’t prepared for the love to come back to my doorstep so I went the route of war. ‘Whatever’ consisted of fighting words. Check it out . . .

Whatever

Written by Victoria Herrmann and Matt Noble

Produced by Matt Noble

Six months down without a word
left alone with just this burning ache
the only thing you didn’t take
walked across that bed of fire
to someone on the other side who
treats me right unlike you

so what made you call me
couldn’t stand that I’m happy

hear you say wont be the same
gonna quite those games you play
and your gonna make it better
whatever

no more fights no more lies
if i just give you one last try
yea yea
whatever

all those things you said to me
consolation prize for all my grief
all my misery

cant be hearing tha you
want to right those wrongs you did back that
that time is buried and dead

got tired of waiting
for things that weren’t changing

hear you say won’t be the same
gonna quite those games you play
and your gonna make it better
whatever

no more fights no more lies
if i just give you one last try
yea yea
whatever

suddenly you changed somehow
said you’d never hurt me now
forgive me if I’m speechless
there’s only one word i can think of

Whatever

I spend this past Sunday in Long Island City hanging with my band. I’ve got some really cool things happening and needed to lay down some tracks for two of our tunes.

Spin Recording Studios in Astoria is where I recorded my last CD ‘Dirty Work’ and I knew that I wanted to work there again. The owner is always accommodating and the people that work there are super friendly and helpful.

After setting up (which took shy of 2 hours) we started running sounds. The band recorded in the live room, while I put down some scratch vocals behind the glass. Once we got the levels set we hit the record button. We took an old fashion approach to recording these songs. In most sessions now-a-days the tracks go down in increments; drums first, then layer on bass, then guitar, then vox. We did it as a band in real-time, then laid down a few harmonies and lead vocals. We even got a few of us in the vocal booth to lay down ‘gang vocals’ – love those! After giving everything one last listen, pressed save and called it a day.

I’m very excited for you to hear the end result after mixing and some studio magic, but even raw the tunes were giving me goose bumps and making me giggle. These songs have such a great vibe to them. Really rockin’!

V

Last Thursday my band and I played Arlene’s Grocery; a lower east side rock joint that always pulls an eclectic crowd. Before the show we had a few shots taken by a very talented photographer, Spencer Gordon. I’ve worked with Spencer in the past, you may have even seen his work. He took the shots on my album, Dirty Work, as well as the shots for my website and promo materials. He’s fun to work with, so when I needed some band shots, I knew just who to call.

An hour before show time the band and I met Spencer in the bar at Arlene’s and got to work. One of the best parts of working with Spencer is that he knows how to get the shot he wants without having to pose his subjects. We shot a few inside, then headed out onto the street for a few more.

Around 10:30 (no rock clubs are ever on time) the band and I took the stage. It was a great show! Good crowd, nice night, and a super tight set list. The show seemed to fly by. Spencer continued to take pictures throughout the set. They turned out beautifully. Great pre-show pics and action packed show shots!

More to come soon . . .

Enjoy,

V

Last week I embarked on my very own adventure. I packed up my writing books, laptop and camera, grabbed my dog Emmit, and flew down to Nashville, TN.

We hit the road for the airport early Tuesday morning. I was super nervous about flying with Emmit, a first time traveler . Luckily the 2.5 hour flight went by quickly and the pilot even shaved 30 minutes off the fly time. When we finally landed in TN we were greeted by my dear friend and super-talented songwriter Susan Ruth. Susan gave us a quick tour, then dropped me and Emmit off at the hotel to unpack and unwind. The location was great because I could walk to most of my meetings.

After unpacking and hitting the shower, I grabbed my writing books and met up with Susan again for lunch at this really cute Mexican joint, to organize our writing for the week ahead.

Mid-meal sirens started blaring as the skies opened up and thick sheets of rain began pouring down! Apparently in TN, it’s totally normal to encounter tornado warnings. So happy that I flew in early, I wouldn’t have wanted to be flying in this! I didn’t get to see an actual tornado. Good thing.

Wednesday started with a super-early “pre-coffee” rehearsal with Josh Foster for our Thursday show at The Listening Room. Afterwards, Emmit and I headed out to explore the park near the hotel. Centennial Park has a mile walking loop and we were happy to get some exercise, taking a few laps around the loop, listening to my iPod and taking a few pics. I’m still experimenting with this new app on my phone that takes cool pics, but you be the judge. Annoyingly, not all dog owners pick up after their pups, but I’d rather not get into the shitty details. 

That afternoon the writing began. Emmit and I walked over to Susans house where we camped out in her music room. Susan and I picked one of the song titles from our list from the day before and “What’s This Song About” came together quickly. Later that evening, a fellow New Yorker Ali Isabella, came over to Susan’s and the three of us started a new song. We wanted to write something empowering but also age appropriate since Miss Ali is only 16. Ultimately we came up with a catchy tune called ‘Who I Am’. Kinda like a modern-day take on the wise Popeye motto “I am what I am”. It was an incredibly productive day, but also long and tiring.

Thursday was SHOW DAY! Emmit and I woke up and again took the mile long walk through Centennial Park. When I’m in New York on show days I have no choice but to go to work and keep busy until showtime but being out of town for this show I had the day entirely to myself; some solo writing, working out, napping, watching ‘Deadwood’ via HBOGO, vocal warm ups then dolling myself up for the gig. The show was from 8 till 10 at The Listening Room. Within the round were Lisa Carver, Wynn Varble, Bruce Wallace, Susan Ruth and myself. We each sang 5 songs. Two of my songs I sang and played piano and the other three I had the talented guitarist, Josh Foster accompany me. The songs I played were ‘Giving It Up‘, ‘I’m The One‘, ‘Superman‘, ‘Crash Your World‘, and ‘Crossover‘. Playing in that round made me wish that I was wittier, the other performers weren’t just musicians, they were also comedians. We were all laughing throughout the show. My face kinda hurt after . . .

Friday rolled around and it was time for more writing. Early afternoon Susan and I went over to a recording studio were we met up with Julie Moriva another incredible songwriter. We set up a keyboard and talked ideas. After getting through a verse and chorus, we decided that the back story of the song needed adjustment, so we started over, but this time with a more concise theme. Sadly we were limited on time but now we have the beginnings of a beautiful song. Another reason to head back down to TN in the very near future

Friday night was finally time to let our hair down. We headed out to celebrate the birthday of a fun, high-energy, writer/pianist Nikki Shannon Fernandez. She was a blast. Everyone was in good spirits and seemed happy to meet a stranger from out of town. Later we went to a “members only” club that required a thumb print at the front door. Way cool along with the great tequilla behind the bar. 1942 please!

Wow the week just flew by. Saturday was an art show at Vivid Gallery. Lot’s of paintings, some charcoal pieces, and some funky hats. At the show I got to meet more Nashvillians who were all artists, be it visual or musical. There was an overwhelming sense of positive support in the room. Again, being from NY and having lived in LA, this feeling is different but really beautiful. Just seemed that TN is warmer than I’ve become accustomed too.

So we finally reached Sunday – my last full day in Nashville. It started off with breakfast at a Greek diner (where I forgot to show off the few Greek expressions I knew. Dang it). But great coffee! Right after breakfast I had a co-write with Susan and Nikki. Nikki is a killer piano player and we combined a melody she had been playing around with and a song title Susan and I came up with and ‘blink’ a song was done! The session was filled with goose pimples, cool ideas for a music video and, we were so excited, a nipple may have even gotten hard. Just sayin.

After we finished, Susan was nice enough to drive me to meet with Josh Foster and Greg Lattimer, a highly recommended producer. On the way, Suz and I heard gun shots!! Crazy right?! Being good citizens, we called the police, reported it and drove on. Hope everyone was OK . . . Got to my meeting, a little frazzled, and talked music for hours. Another great reason to go back to TN. Cool guys, great music sense. Let’s throw the spaghetti against the pot and see if it sticks. I’ll keep you posted.

Sunday night I filled out forms and organized my copyrights, then packing up my entire hotel room which I had consumed with stuff through out the week. Emmit knew something was up. He was excited to come home. I seconded the feeling, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that a part of me was sad. The week had gone by so fast and although I got a lot done, I wanted to do more. I’ll say it again, more reason to go back soon.

Monday morning Emmit and I headed back up to NY and here I am, grappling with the fact that time flew and that my week long adventure is over.

The good news is that this isn’t the end . . . to quote ‘The Terminator’, “I’ll be back.”

V

Just getting back from my successful trip down to Nashville. There was something to do every day while down there. Always someone super talented to write with, lot’s of amazing musicians to learn from, live venues left and right and most importantly, incredible company. I had a blast and look forward to telling you more about the week.

In the meantime, here is a clip from the round that I was a part of. This song is named ‘Superman’ – Enjoy!

Writing songs is something that has definitely helped me express myself throughout my life. I find it difficult to put into spoken words what is on my mind – I often get tongue-tied. But when I sit down with my journal, it’s the opposite. I can come up with the right words, and sometimes I write so fast my hand cramps up; my left hand, in case you were curious. This helps me when I have something bothering me, but may not be able or ready to address the issue. Being comfortable writing in my journal is essential since it is where all of my songs start – each page part of the narration of my life.

During 2007, when I was in a less than glamorous situation, I wrote this song with Peter Zizzo. I was getting over a sub-par beau and needed to boost my own ego. Writing None Of The Above was a way to dust myself off. Even now I find it hard to pick this song apart lyrically since it’s still attached to a ‘battle scar’, but I was able to sing all those things that I was tongue-tied to say in person.

Give it a listen and check out the lyrics below.

Enjoy!

V

None Of The Above

Spoon fed lies kept me by your lying side
But this last one pulled my trigger
Deceiving cus you can don’t make you more of a man
Cus only your nose got bigger

Now that I found my voice here’s a little multiple choice –

Did you ever own me – did you ever even know me
Baby did you build me up
Did you ever trust me, were you ever even worthy
Baby do I want your love – the answer is
None of the above

I’ve made my own mistakes, had karma on the way but I got it hand delivered
But something wasn’t right – I could feel it deep inside
But apparently not like she did

I’ve got some questions for you bet you got those wrong too

Did you ever own me – did you ever even know me
Baby did you build me up
Did you ever trust me, were you ever even worthy
Baby do I want your love – the answer is
None of the above

Don’t say it cus your gonna lie
You’ll never put yourself aside
Don’t matter cus I’m thru grading you on a curve
You know you never really added up
Had enough of not enough
Doesn’t matter cus I will not forget what I learned
You weren’t there for me.

Did you ever own me – did you ever even know me
Baby did you build me up
Did you ever trust me, were you ever even worthy
Baby do I want your love – the answer is
None of the above

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently reviewing my journals and working on new songs with a bunch of terrific writers. This is an exciting time for me as I solidify my band (love you Alex, Matt and Mike!) and expand my singing and songwriting. I love music and love sharing it with you even more, both live and online!

To that end, I’d like to continue sharing the back stories of some of my songs. I know for me, it is fascinating to hear how songs come about and it always helps me connect with the artist.

Today it’s a song from my last CD Dirty Work called “Paint The Town Red“.

I had the idea for “Paint The Town Red” for a while by the time I met Walt Lafty, the co writer of this song. I knew, based on what I was trying to say, that it would have to be a declarative anthem in order to not sound overly poetic. The title came up in conversation as I was trying to explain the concept to Walt. I was reading him the bridge, and some phrases I wanted to use, and he asked “What exactly are you trying to say with this song?”. I responded that I wanted it to be a positive song, saying that “if I wanted to piss into the wind, I could; that I wanted to light up the world; that I wanted to paint the town red”. And that one stuck.

I started at the bridge because there was one phrase that stuck with me; “Play with pigs, you’ll get dirty”. I liked the thought of diving into the mud face first, full and well knowing that I would get dirty, but owning up to that consequence. The full bridge is “Play with pigs to get dirty, starting fires leaves me burned, dancing with the devil laughing you will find me unconcerned.” How bad ass is that!

For the verses I took the approach of talking to the naysayers. The people who chose to not believe in dreams or aspirations and like to be, for lack of a better term, haters. My response to them is simply “I’m gonna paint this town red; Don’t stand in my way”

Sometimes I need to remind my self of what I was feeling when I wrote this song. That life isn’t a dress rehearsal and that sometimes you have to fall again to remember what drives you.

Here are the full lyrics.

Paint The Town Red

You tell me I cant have it all,
you try to limit my desires.
but I see the writing on the wall.
you can not suffocate this fire.

I fall face first
just to feel alive

I’m gonna paint this town red
don’t stand in my way
no I’m gonna paint this town red
don’t stand in my way don’t stand in my way
no more

It’s time to make or break your rules
make sure you life while your awake
forbidden fruit was made for fools
this world was built for me to taste.

I fall face first
makes me feel alive

I’m gonna paint this town red
don’t stand in my way
no I’m gonna paint this town red
don’t stand in my way don’t stand in my way
no more

Play with pigs to get dirty
starting fires leaves me burned
dancing with the devil laughing
you will find me unconcerned.

I’m gonna paint this town red
don’t stand in my way
no I’m gonna paint this town red
don’t stand in my way don’t stand in my way
no more

I find it interesting how song lyrics evolve. Over time words get re-arranged, added or taken out and the order of lines get moved around. The final draft for is generally a far cry from where the lyric may have started. At my most recent rehearsal, I was going over chorus lyrics with Alex and Matt, while we were figuring out some harmonies.

In the song ’1/2 mine’ the chorus lyrics is:

cus we were never
never really friends
never left of – never left of the bed
like partners In crime
just half of the time
a salt or a grain
yea I’m wracking my brain
cus your only 1/2 mine
only 1/2 mine

I realized that one of the lines was pretty different from what I had first thought to write in my free stream of consciousness. I was trying to remember what the lyric was before it evolved. I wanted to take a look back at my first draft of the song to see where this piece had come from. So I went back to my collection of  note books. When I found the book, I came across a few different entries, but the earliest entry I had with this song idea and title, had what I was looking for.

The original version of this lyric was much simpler, but you can see where the lyric grew from. The first draft was:

this doesn’t mean that i need an end
but a grain of salt and a small amend
I know with you I’ll be living with out a partner in crime
you’re only 1/2 mine

So as you see, the words got re-arranged and paints a more colorful or different picture. One thing that hasn’t changed since the first draft is the ‘1/2‘ — Since the first time I wrote it in my book, maybe to save time or possibly b/c I thought it was cool, I wrote the numbers for half vs. spelling it out, and it stuck.

Enjoy!

V

Below are the full lyrics to ‘1/2 Mine‘ - Click to give it a listen now that you know some of it’s back story.

some how I break
you didn’t bend
you’re on an open road and
I am your dead end

you can try to explain
no I can’t comprehend
this confusIon remains
inside of my head

feel it creeping up behind me, asking me why

cus we were never
never really friends
never left of – never left of the bed
like partners in crime
just half of the time
a salt or a grain
yea I’m wracking my brain
cus your only 1/2 mine
only 1/2 mine

some how we’re here
I did all the work
a seasoned professional
dealing with an amateur
you’ve got the fever
and I bring the cure
sometimes I wish
you could bring more

feel this rising up behind me
fly that white flag

cus we were never
never really friends
never left of – never left of the bed
like partners in crime
just half of the time
a salt or a grain
yea I’m wracking my brain
cus your only 1/2 mine
only 1/2 mine