Tangled Magazine

Positive Consciousness Rock - An Interview with Very Unique Existence

Interviewed and Written by Laura Hartley

Supporting The Rogue Traders in Lismore as they tour Australia are an emerging new group called The Very Unique Existence, a rock band with a difference who promote positive consciousness rock.  Although unsigned as yet the band’s single Take It Easy is getting significant air play.  Tangled Magazine talked to them this month to discover what their music is all about.

The band, which consists of lead singer/guitarist Rich Latimer, drummer Chris Boniface, bass player Mick Harris and keyboardist Wes Seewald originally started as a two piece in 2003.   “Positive consciousness rock is a message we are trying to spread to as many people as we can about positivity.  Our debut single Take It Easy is about how it’s very easy to be critical of yourself, and how thinking that way can really bring you down.

“We want to appeal to any genre, and not bracket ourselves into just appealing to a certain type of people.  We’re finding more and more that our songs and the messages we are trying to send can really relate to people of any age and background because we’re talking about human emotions and life in general.”

Rich Latimer

“We want to put back into the world what we see as needed right now, We need to put a positive edge back into music and we see it as our responsibility, as musicians, to show that it’s not all doom and gloom and there is a positive side to the world.”

The band came together after Rich placed an ad in the local paper looking for a drummer.  Drummer Chris responded to the ad and the pair quickly became a success. “We won a competition which allowed us to record our first demo, and the producer suggested we get a bass player to support the record.  So we placed another ad and found Mick, a bass player.  It was classic timing, it worked really well.”  After Chris and Mick got talking, they realised they came from the same town.  Chris said, “We thought that was a bit weird, but then [Mick’s] mother looked at our website and said ‘That’s your cousin’! It’s all a bit spun out having a family member in the band [laughs]”.

Rich explained that finding the fourth member, Wes, was a “kind of evolutionary process”.  After releasing the demo, the group felt that something was still missing, “We weren’t sounding like the record [when we played live] as a three piece.”

Wes Seewald

Mick arranged to meet up with a Uni friend, Wes, to discuss the band.  On the way to the meeting Wes was listening to Take it Easy on the radio, totally unaware that this was the group he was about to meet.  Wes got out of his car midway through the song to walk into the house and Mick put the CD on for Wes to hear.  It took some convincing to persuade Wes that it was a CD he was listening to and not the radio.  Once convinced he said without hesitation, ‘I’ll join the band’. 

“The main thing about this band is that we do positive consciousness rock, that’s what makes us different to any other rock band out there”, says Rich.  “We’re based around being positive and connecting people.”

Their latest EP is titled Everyone and features seven songs.  “The whole idea was that the songs are all different from each other and there is a song on there for everyone”, says Mick.

                                                                      Chris Boniface

“On the whole things have been very, very positive and the band is progressing very, very quickly.  It’s basically anything we get in regards to feedback we take on board.  It’s always good to get a review that isn’t quite what you hoped because it gives you some idea of what you can work towards on the next recording or next performance.” 

“[Hearing our song on the radio] put chills up my back, easiest way to explain it, total self elation that I was finally hearing it”, says Chris.  “It was one of my life goals to have that done.  I still get a rush every time I hear it on the radio, especially when the new tracks get uploaded.

“I know we’ve had quite a few people that have come back to us after listening to our music and say that it has actually helped them through certain parts of their lives.  When we receive feedback like that it just cements it more and more that we are on the right path doing positive consciousness rock.  The type of music we play is something that hasn’t been brought out to the world as far as we can tell.”

Mick Harris

The Very Unique Existence has also set up a ‘Social Music Project’, a way to keep fans in touch with the band.  Chris explains, “We set a website where our fans can email back to us and give us ideas of songs, whether it’s through personal experience, lyrics or music that they have written.  We’ll look at that and if we believe it’s viable we’ll email back and ask if we can make use of the lyrics etc.  Basically we integrate the fans into [our music].”

In order to give back to the community the band donate a percentage of each ticket sale to a local charity.   “Every time people hear Very Unique Existence we want them to immediately think to themselves it’s a feel good night, these guys are trying to do something for people and raise awareness, and more than that, part of what I pay goes to a charity.”

“In terms of what we are going to become, in terms of the amount of people that will know about us, that will be a time will tell sort of thing.  If someone gave us $200,000 right now, with the songs we’ve got, we could be as big as Powderfinger.  I want people who come out and see us play to know that they are going out to get a serious injection of positive energy… and it’s starting to happen.” 

“We’re talking about going in and doing a full album soon, hopefully that will happen towards the end of this year”, says Mick. 

You can hear The Very Unique Existence and purchase their EP on their MySpace.  http://www.myspace.com/thevuerock
The Social Music Project can also be accessed through that page.