Since 2013 the Canada-based songster, Vaxxo, has been taking names and pulling on heart-strings with his finespun, hallmarked, and absolutely scintillating rock 'n' roll sound.
It's the sort of aural amalgamation that only comes around after a decade's worth of studying the minutiae of rock music; and how it made countless listeners want to trade-in their modish button-downs and polite demeanors for a slim-fitting leather jacket and some fist-gesturing temperaments.
Influenced by the man who manifested the extra-planetary martian, "Ziggy Stardust," and with an innate ability to super-charge the atmospheres from which he performs, this Portuguese-bred rockstar takes his hot-red microphone, a manifold of scintillating guitars, and a dose of Elvis Presley inspired mannerisms, to create an unforgettable experience on, "Is This Love."
It's his latest stratagem for total musical dominance in the realms of rock, and with it, Vaxxo cultivates the ultra-studied sonic formula for a complete transformation of what you thought you knew about electro-rock.
The latest single comes appended with a music video that lets audiences experience the sort of hot-blooded, neon-tinged, super-amplified vehemence budding icon has been manifesting for years now.
Opening with a combination of gritty synths and heavy-riffing electric guitars, this track swings it's first punches like it's never lost a fight, waving around a robust rhythm with the drums, a magnetic riff from the lead-guitar and a plethora of subtly-distorted and bolstering amps to make the experience that much more immersive. When the verse comes arrives, shifting-down the gears into a speed more suited for sweet-talking, fans are met with a salubrious bassline that colludes with its rhythmic kin, who smashes over the tom-toms and cymbals like an industrious and rowdy rule-breaker.
Then, Vaxxo comes in nonchalant but confident, decrying the feeling most woman might feel after their first encounter with a womanizer ("men control you, men will fight you, men will burn you to the ground, men besieged you, men will teach you, men will turn you upside down,") but next, with only a moment's notice, and a short pause, the songster erupts into an anthemic roar that pays homage to the rock legends of the 90s.
The band bolsters Vaxxo from behind as he hoists the fiery discussion within his rousing masterpiece to a higher plain, where he arises with an intoxicating intensity in his voice to inject some confidence into the steps of listeners: "hey you, rise again, your weapon only love, hey you, rise again, fighting for the things they say!"
The entire sonic endeavor comes festooned with a visual that helps aggrandize the immense feeling "Is This Love" gives you. Established through scenes cut between a plethora of exciting and eclectic characters that strut through a world painted with an unmistakable hue of red, Vaxxo's attention to visual artistry is just as pristine as his attentiveness to the beat.
It's a theme that stays present throughout the electrified rock 'n' roll phenomenon, and as Vaxxo appears—planted firmly on what looks like a mountain top, with the suns rays coloring his backdrop an extraordinary shade of orange—the Portuguese rocker takes governance over his unmistakable and uniquely red-colored microphone, like a frontman who's seen his days of selling out stadiums.
While he sings, and the camera travels from a desert-scape to scenes of night-time meanderings in a vibed-out studio for a performance shot that makes it feel like the souls of rock's greatest have undergone metempsychosis via the body of Vaxxo; exercising the cornerstones of icons like Elvis, Bono, and Bowie, and reimagining them in a trade-mark, ultra-intensified, and super-charged way.
Can you run us through how the production of "Is This Love" went? What key steps led you to the electro-rock aesthetic that "Is This Love," and it's music video present with? It all started in 2015 when I was writing the songs for the new EP and I had the idea to write a song about how love can be tricky at times and that’s how “Is This Love” came to be. My idea was to create songs that had a little bit of all my influences like rock music, pop-rock, and a little electronic and that’s when I got together with my producer Ben Pelchat to start putting all these keys into place. I always knew that there was something special about this track and I wanted to transfer that into the power of a video so that the fans could better understand what “Is This Love” is was all about. I was also lucky enough to work with Vira Solovyova and Oleksandr Chuiko, who came up with this great concept for the video and that was the ‘cherry on top’ as they say. When thinking back to the vocal performance you've captured on "Is This Love" and the emotions you need to channel into, what comes to mind as the most prominent? Does this emotion differ from the ones you centered-on for the music video? Looking at this track now and looking back at the time that I was in In-studio cutting the vocals, I think the most prominent emotion was anger and the urge of wanting to get out of it without hurting anybody. These were different times but I feel that when the fans watch the video they can feel a bit of that emotion and that was our goal, to keep that anger on top of all the other emotions. What inspired the narrative behind "Is This Love"? Is this something you have experience in your own personal life? Why did you feel like this was an important message to present to fans right now? All of the songs in the EP are about me and my experiences in life. “Is This Love” happens to be a song that was inspired by what I was going through at the time and all the things happening in the world at that moment, a feeling that you give but you never get the same love in return. I felt that it was important to pass this message to the fans and show them that you can be drowning in quicksand but if you raise your arms and fight for your life there’s always a chance of surviving. And that’s what this track is all about. If you could give us a few words that would act as the prologue for the experience you set-out for fans can on "Is This Love," what would you feel the need to say, and why? “Is This Love “ is more than a song. It’s a story of love, pain, and freedom. It shows that it doesn’t matter how hard life can get, there’s always a way out. What has been keeping you inspired throughout 2020? 2020 has been an atypical year and it’s really hard to keep your focus on one thing while knowing that the world is going through a change right now. I think that’s what has been keeping me inspired this year and gave me a chance to write about ten songs already for my next album.