Breaking into the metalcore and post-hardcore scenes is a very tall task in today’s market. Ultimately, it’s the most interesting music that seems to rise to the top, as bands like Fit For A King, Ice Nine Kills, and Northlane have crashed the Billboard Top 200, and it wasn’t but a few years ago that Crown The Empire scored a top 10 chart debut for their sophomore record. In other words, there’s still a big market for this music if you play your cards right.
Enter New England newcomers Saving Vice. With a debut EP released earlier this year in Colder Than Dark, over 100k Spotify streams in less than a year, and shows with some of the biggest bands in the scene, this is a band that won’t be considered just a “local” for long. We chatted with vocalist Tyler Small about the state of the band, getting Saving Vice off the ground, and the band’s new video for “Black Ice”, which you can find below.
Please introduce yourself, what band you play in, and what you do in the band.
I’m Tyler Small and I am a vocalist in Saving Vice.
You guys just released a new music video for “Black Ice”. Can you tell us a little more about what went into the making of the video?
The first thing we did after we were approached by Misdirected Media with the script for the song was reach out to our fans to be in it, we had actors as well but we wanted all the extras to be friends and fans so they could be a part of it. There was a whole day of filming for the story and then we shot on a separate location. It was a lot of fun working with the whole team. We didn’t actually see most of the footage until weeks later and we were really excited about how it turned out.
Your debut EP Colder Than Dark has already gotten a positive response regionally – what have been the most positive responses so far?
I honestly wouldn’t know where to start, there’s been such a bigger response than I could have hoped for a first release but hearing people say stuff like “metalcore is back” is really cool because we wanted to bring back that 2006-2011 vibe.
But I’d say the most positive response was just seeing where we charted on itunes and the Billboard Heatseekers chart. That had my mind blown.
What have you been listening to that’s really captured your attention lately?
I have a lot of trouble getting into a lot of new music but Don Broco has been a huge new favorite of the whole band. We saw them when we played Warped Tour this summer and we’ve all been obsessed since.
Who are some other up and coming locals you think people should check out?
Oh my god this is a good question but a long, long answer. I’ll try to plug as many as I can but there’s so much local talent in the North East, No Eye Has Seen, Dismissed, Unbounded, The Floor’s Embrace, The Worst of Us, and Interchange are just a few.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about being a musician?
Honestly I’d say it’s the myth that getting signed is suddenly going to mean you made it and you’re going to be successful. A lot of bands make getting signed their goal rather than just treating the band like a business and seeing where it takes itself. We treat the band like we will never have a label and so far we’ve done everything we wanted to do in this past year on our own, (with help from our management obviously)
What’s next for Saving Vice in 2019?
The only thing I can guarantee is our full length album which we will start recording in January. We are looking into tour dates and a lot of other stuff too but that’s all I can say at the moment. We just want to reach as many people as we can in year two of SV.
