Introducing... The Vaudevillianaires

The ? The Vaudevillianaires! Say that fast 5 times and by the 5th time you sound like you have a French or Spanish accent, kind of sexy. But don’t tell them I said that cause I think they are trying to go for rock n roll scary cool vibe.

What does it mean? No idea. All I know it is a rocking band out of Windsor, Ontario that by this time next year you will be saying… OMG The Vaudevillianaires are coming to town and I have to go see them!

The band consists of…

Ted Dimoglou (guitar / co-vox) formerly from Big Daddy A & The Merves – aka Tiki Manchild (The Ring Leader)
Jamie Greer (lead/backing vocals, percussion) formerly from The Golden Hands Before God – aka Phineas T. Faust (The Bar Keeper)
The Milkman (lead/rhythm guitar, backing vocals) formerly from Hogfat – aka Mr. Whiteman
Ken Jean (bass, backing vocals) also in The Tyres – aka Murder (The Chinaman)
Damien Zakoor (drums, backing vocals) also in The Tyres and formerly from The Golden Hands Before God – aka The Amazing Zakoor (The Heroin Shiek)

I had the utmost pleasure speaking to The Bar Keeper about the band…

The name of your band The Vaudevillianaires... tell me about it?
Well, we knew we wanted something bizarre and theatric, but also dark - a "macabaret" as we call it. We initially wanted to be called the Vaudevillains but after checking around discovered a psychobilly band with that name. After some consideration, Damien re-worked it to The Vaudevillianaires. It completely encapsulates our band.


What would you classify the type of music The Vaudevillianaires play?
Tough to say! There are SO many influences that it all kind of comes out. We love the prog metal of bands like Iron Maiden or Mastodon, combined with the huge stoner riffs of Monster Magnet or Queens of the Stone Age, with the theatrics of KISS or New York Dolls, and the power psychobilly of Reverend Horton Heat or Supersuckers. But we also love bands from Rammstein to Jane's Addiction, plus with the Windsor/Detroit connection, love Motown. Somewhere in the muddled stew, we are the carrots.

What brought the 5 of you together as a band?
Something to do! Ted and Damien initially started jamming and it progressed to bringing in Ken (who played in The Tyres with Damien), then The Milkman, who played with Teddy years ago, then me. Initially, I was just to reproduce my percussion role I had in The Golden Hands Before God, but once we started jamming and writing new songs, I knew I had to sing. It started as a Monday "get-out-of-the-house-and-jam" band to a "holy-shit-this-might-be-decent" band. It's driven itself.

Are there any plans to record a full length album?
We start recording in two weeks! We've been writing and doing pre-production (the tracks on MySpace are early pre-production demos), so we're close to knowing the songs we're bringing, but the big goal is to have our album done for February and start REALLY touring in spring of 2010.

Will you be managing and producing the album\tour independently?
Yes. We're slowly building a Vaudevillianaires "team" and management is a part of that. Right now, myself and Seth "Hootie" Perera are handling the management of the group, from a booking and business stand-point. As for the record, we'll definitely be doing it ourselves to make sure we get it done the way we want it, from the artwork to the sound. If, after all is said and done, outside help decides to join the Team, then we'll re-examine how we can help them and they can help us. If it fits, we'll join forces! But we're being very particular this time around building our own team - it's more of a family really. Hootie is a good friend of ours, so we trust him completely. We've also got some great people on board, such as our Make-Up and Merch Co-ordinator Hilary McDonald, some great graphic design people like Matt LeBlanc from Ocktober Design (who used to front the amazing horrorpunk band Razoreater in Hamilton) and Francois Jacques from Mack Flash. More and more people keep approaching us with ideas how they can help out and luckily it's all been amazingly talented friends, so it's been really smooth to work with.

How does the writing process happen for you guys?
Ted writes the riffs. He comes with ideas and concepts, then we jam them, the band re-arranges it, and I ride the groove and work lyrics off that. It's all about vibe and circumstance. Some songs are as intelligent as Motley Crue on a Saturday night and some are Fugazi Sunday mornings.

On your myspace page http://www.myspace.com/thevaudevillianaires, your band seems to have a theme. Can you elaborate?
Again, we wanted to bring back the escapist rock and roll show. Grunge and indie rock is great and awesome, but they pulled back the inescapable mesmerizing rock and roll live show. We wanted to bring that back. So we're combining old school vaudeville theatrics and combining it with the rock and roll we love. It will only grow.

What does each character in your band represent?
Each character is just an exaggerated extension of ourselves...sort of. Like that Star Trek where the crew of the Enterprise had alternate universe versions of themselves, except they were evil and had goatees - only ours wear make-up and rock out.



Your live stage presence is reminiscence of the 80's theatrics mixed with a hard core edge. What as a band brought you guys to this?
Combining just that! We lived through KISS and Motley Crue, but then moved on to Fugazi and Jane's Addiction, then embraced Mastodon and Monster Magnet. A show is a necessity. We learned from our inspirations and now want to bring that all to life.

What's next for you guys?
Keep rocking. It HAS to be about fun first. And it's been off the charts fun. And so far, everyone is feeling that, band and audience alike. So many friends come to shows with that "okay, I came, don't ask me again" attitude initially and then when they're done look like 14-year kids yelling "dude, that was AWESOME!" in our face. We just want to rock and roll all night. And party every night. Every day.

The Vaudevillianaires have 2 shows this weekend. First show will be in Hamilton, Ontario this Friday November 6th at This Ain't Hollywood. They will be sharing the stage with Hamilton's own Rackula. This event is a fundraiser for Hamilton Artists Inc. So come and support the arts.


Saturday the 7th they will be in Toronto at one of my favorite stomping grounds Rancho Relaxo's. Beers are cheap, the bartenders are grumpy, the sound is pumping and now The Vaudevillianaires will be there. Joining them are Poisonous Gas and Cobra. Do it, just do it. See you rockers there!