Making Sense Out of Vanity Heist

The two-guitar quintet cites a range of influences, with the most pertinent
ones centering around At the Drive-In, Avenged Sevenfold and Green Day -- emotive upper-register vocals, pop-punk in tempo and approach, with riffing that's a little chunkier than, say, a band like Jimmy Eat World.

In a word, they're accessible. And their debut, It's Gonna Make Sense, definitely does make sense considering how this band formed.

The quick version of the Vanity Heist back story is this: Founding
guitarists Aaron Garcia and Andy Gonzalez met lead vocalist Drew Garcia
and bassist Ernesto Lopez, formerly of This Way Backwards, back in 2009
while doing session work with Old Shoe Records. At the time, Vanity Heist
was fronted by Katie Poe, who's known best for her sultry vocal work in
the genre-mashing OC group Bayadera. There was a vague falling out: "There
were some differences in opinion, and the guys decided to take the band
in a different direction," Drew Garcia says of the split, which
coincided with the dissolution of This Way Backwards.

It made sense to join forces, Garcia says. They hooked up
with drummer Evan Kilbourne of  Save Ferris and Starpool, to lay down
the pre-production drumwork for the EP. By early 2012, the search was on
for a permanent drummer.

"We wanted to find a drummer who had the skills to match what Evan laid out
for us," says Garcia. "We tried out several people, but eventually went
with Aaron's brother Andrew, who fit right in with the rest of the
band."


They also decided to keep the band name in tact. "Aaron and Andy liked the idea of using the word Heist," Garcia says. "We wanted to take away the vanity of pop-slash-rock music today and bring it back to being about the music."


Vanity Heist perform with The Dares at Slidebar, 122 E Commonwealth Ave.
Fullerton. Friday, July 6, 8:30 p.m. No cover. 21+.

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