Soulful rock band Vinegar Mother shine bright with forthcoming EP ‘The Sunny Seat’

After accruing buzz gigging out in the NYC live circuit, jazz-fusion group Vinegar Mother will soon release their first official offerings of recorded music.

Founding members Julia Zivic (lead vocals), Itamar Gov-Ari (keys, guitar and vocals) and Jason Zivic (drums) embrace their natural chemistry with an experimental, free flow exhange of ideas in songwriting. Now, joined by Mike Roninson on bass and Chris Stelluti on saxophone, Vinegar Mother is gearing up to drop The Sunny Seat EP out digitally November 11th.

Groundsounds recently caught up with the band to find out more about what to expect from them upcoming, while also premiering a live take of “King” from a recent performance at Aviv in Brooklyn. Check out our interview with Vinegar Mother while streaming “King” below.

 

Hi, Vinegar Mother! Congrats on The Sunny Seat EP. Tell us a little more on how these tracks came to be.

Thanks! We’re so excited to share this music with the world. The song Are You Ready was written by Julia when she was in high school and rearranged by the band, the other songs were very organically written by the band as a whole.

What’s your songwriting process like?

We’d usually start from a simple musical motive that I’d bring in. I’d start playing something, Jason would play along and Julia would improvise lyrics and melody and draw from her book. Afterwards, we would workshop each section and make sure we were all happy with the form, melody, lyrics, chord changes and arrangement. We usually have a gut feeling when it’s a song we want to continue building on.

What are some of the larger themes at play on the EP?

Some of the themes of the EP are longing, and rebirth with a side of anger. The lyrics often portray longing, especially in “Sunny Seat” and “Are You Ready,” which focus on lost love, and unrequited love. “Unhappy Family” is a song about rebirth, because not only does it musically have a foot dipping in our old style as well as our new, but the lyrics are connected to a positive, rebirthing theme of loving who you are and letting go of insecurities. “Slow” and “Cat Call” are a little on the darker side of the spectrum, discussing an alter ego in Slow, and touching on some women’s issues in “Cat Call.”

Who do you cite as chief influences?

We all respect, and appreciate each other’s tastes, especially when those tastes and influences show through in the way we write and play music. The cool thing about our band is that each of our main influences are very different, and that makes us a pretty unique bunch. Julia is influenced by Etta James, Little Dragon, and Lianne La Havas. Itamar by Herbie Hancock, D’Angelo and Jimi Hendrix. Jason draws influence from King Crimson, Led Zeppelin and drummers such as Mike Clark, and Mike Draws inspiration from D’Angelo, Hiatus Kaiyote, and Radiohead.

If you could collaborate with any three living artists right now, who would they be?

There are so many to choose from. Breaking it down to three is nearly impossible, but we’d immensely enjoy collaborating with Frank Ocean, Flying Lotus or maybe even Tyler the Creator.

You’re based out of NYC. Any new bands/venues/purveyors of the arts you could turn us onto?

Ugh yes, so many amazing buddies around NYC.

A collective called 99 Sublime (Yoh The Shaolin, Jak Lizard, ENxVE The Nameless Vagrant, Krakaur, SadoSan, Devulio, Richie Quake)

Madam West

Joanna Teters & Mad Satta

Citris

Any upcoming shows?

Upcoming Shows:

Tues.  10/4 Pianos (LES) NYC 10pm  w/ Van Lady Love

Fri.     10/21 Sofar Sounds NYC 8-11pm

Thur. 10/27 Shapeshifter Lab (Brooklyn) w/ The Cherry Circus

Tues. 11/8 Knitting Factory (Brooklyn)

Fri. 11/18 Radio Bean (Burlington, VT)

Stay in touch with Vinegar Mother: FACEBOOK | WEBSITE