Its been a while since my 'last confession'...

All was good in the land of Vida when i last made a blog post, we were in the studio, creating magic, and then.. well, at the end of August, during another yr of great gigs, Jon went and died on us all. Myself and Benno, have been, still are, and probably will always be totally heartbroken that our friend & band mate was unfairly taken from us without a single word of warning.

It's been the worst 4 months i've ever had, and i know i can speak for Benno too. 

I wrote a song one morning in September i think, about Ashby. I didnt want to write a sad one for him, but still wanted to say the words i needed to say to him. But, in true Ashby fashion, thought i'd bring out the 'lad' side of him in it too. so, for most who hear it will have a warm sense of his humour, along with the heartfelt words i need to say to him.

It's official title now, is, "Until That Day (J.B.T)" and i will be getting it recorded very soon - all proceeds i ever make from this song with be donated to the "Jon Ashby Memorial Fund" which has been set up at Cliff College in Calver, Baslow, where we had his funeral. This is all for the training and nurturing of new musicians who attend that college.

To Jon;

"Brother, we will always miss you. There will forever be a hole in my music and in my heart. I can still hear your piano solos and your voice, and i hope that will never fade. The only comfort i get from it, is knowing that you're last year on this earth was easily your happiest. I love you mate, and think of you everyday. Until that day brother, until that day" xxxxXXxxxx

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Rich will now also be playing live gigs with top Chesterfield band - Firecracker. This should be interesting for fans of both bands, as we've learned new sets, so as fresh as the new yr, and hopefully, to your liking!! There will be some Vida original songs in there, along with some of the Vida covers,  and also a few songs from the original Firecracker set.

A gig schedule will be updated very soon.

I hope to see some of your faces at any gigs i do as a solo artist, or with the Firecracker boys, or myself & Benno. I will always clearly state what gig it is your coming to see, to save confusion!

See you soon, and thanks for everything

Richy V xxx Jan 2011

Ok, so i thought it best to write an update of the Vida camp...

We're currently in the studio recording the follow up to "It's All Fun and Games 'Til...". We are using a great studio in Sheffield, with 2 spunky engineers, Luke & Alex (look for the credits) who are both nice lads, who know what they're doing, and are very accomadating to our obscene demands!! haha (the 'kick the pony' game was brill, cheers fella's)

At the moment, the working title for the new album is "Stages". This depicts the different stages of Vida, and kind of a title track for "The Stages Are All Empty".

We're very excited about this song, and as Vida are getting a lot of fans over the pond with the songs from "Fun & Games" we are hoping they will love this, as this is our strongest connection to the American Country Rock Market (which is H.U.G.E)

"For a long time, people have said to me that they hear traces of Country in my songs, and for years, i've fought against it, thinking it's not cool or whatever, but if that is my natural writing genre, then i will embrace it instead of fighting it. Vida's main fanbase is 88% USA, with people comparing us to Matchbox Twenty, John Mellencamp, Eagles, Fogarty etc, so we are producing this record with that in mind, if we already appeal to the US market with "Fun & Games" then we are hoping for 10-fold with this album!" - Rich

Vida have had over 2000 airplays across the world since Jan '10 with the main belt being the States, 88% and the rest being divided across the UK, Denmark and India.

"We are hoping to release singles on this album too, with the B sides being gag-reel versions and acoustic or solo piano versions. You create your best material when you're having fun, so we're keeping the gag reels on every track we record." - Benno

"We decided we should use different musicians for certain parts of our songs, in order to capture the very element of the song we have in mind when writing. We have hired Chris Sheldon for his sweet country licks & impressive Lap-Steel on 'Stages' & 'Find A Cure', and hired the excellent talent Benji Heenan on guitar for the new version of 'On The Otherside', and obviously me on everything else!" - Ashby

We will be updating this blog frequently with studio pictures and news, we welcome any comments and thoughts.

cheers and look forward to the album launch party!!!!!

ok, so last week i decided on Sunday night to just have a week in London, by myself, playing at some of the best open mics in and around the capital. i booked myself in to these on the journey down, so first off i played in Camden, i stayed at the Camden Lock hotel right opposite the Roundhouse (where Robbie happened to be playing that night for the BBC Electric Proms) and i played up the road at "Monkey Chews". After sitting through 13 other artists i played. the 2nd night was in Islington, at the cool "Filthy MacNasty's" bar, there's YouTubes of Pete Doherty and The Libertines playing in there back in the day, and there was a lot of  "Pete D's" in there on this night too! All very Bohemian and quite pretentios too. So i just did my thing, and blew them all out of the water. getting a few comments of "my god, didn't expect that" or "fucking hell man" etc etc! Then i visited a bar in Wimbledon called "Nelsons Arms" The host was very kind to let me queue jump on the running order as i had to get my train back to Kingston and didnt know when the last one was! Had a nice reception in here too, just a shame i couldn't stay longer to hear more of the other players.

Anyway, that;s me for last week, i will be going down again very soon, there's a bar on Tower Bridge called 'Nine Bar' that i want to play. i called in there in the daytime, and spoke to the guy behind the bar who, very kindly, gave me a drink on the house after a told him i was to play there..

Will report back when i'm off down again!

Adios Amigos xx

 I'm wanting to put together another band, under the same name etc, but totally dedicated to doing original music/gigs/tours. As most of you know, my original music is more important to me than anything, i have so much more passion in it than doing covers gigs, and have so much more to give than playing to 50 people in a local pub, wanting to hear a 'Jovi' or 'phonics' or 'KOL' song! Don't get me wrong, it's still fun for me but not enough!

Me and the boys will still be doing our normal gigs, which as you know do include many original songs, but i want to form another band that is dedicated to just that.

So! What i'm looking for is a drummer, lead guitarist and bassist. all male, between 20 to early 30's, who have a strong desire to better themselves, be somebody and make an impression with their music, instead of just sitting on their arses 'telling' people how good they are or could have been! People who can sing (good!) and harmonise will be considered more than those who cannot,  obviously, your playing ability and dedication is a must.

You must look good, have lot's of charisma (in your own way) and have stage presence, a good band consists of not only the music, but the individual character's of each member, and of course the show you put on as a band.

I have a lot of contacts who can organise important gigs and opportunities in and around London.

If you really want to be part of something, and are prepared to work your ass off on making / creating something to be proud of, then please contact me on here, sending a private message to my inbox, and i will organise a meeting and take it from there.

Those that just want to 'be in a band' need not apply, i am as serious about my music as can be and just as serious about taking it to a higher level than gigging locally!

Many thanks for reading this, i look forward to speaking with you!

Rich xx

I will keep as up-to-date with the recording as possible x

Rich - Vida x

So we are on the bill at The Plug in Sheffield on Tuesday 2nd June, as part of The BritBus UK Tour. During the daytime the Tour Bus will be driving round the city centre with the bands playing on the roof!

The show will be starting around 7pm, with 5 bands on. 

This is in connection with the gig we did in London, and the prospect of touring in India (which has now been put back to November), so we want to go out and have a feckin good show, with hopefully a load of you lovely people tagging along!!

But, for this gig, i have decided to really rock things back up to how the album was written, instead of the acoustic/piano show that you all like so much! With Tiddler back in on the drum throne (yes, you all missed him i know...) and with Benji on lead Geet duties (those who know him will KNOW!) and Mr Ashby on Bass/Piano duties (see bottom of gig guide for new pics or Tiddler and Benji) the songs promise to be bigger and better than ever before, and the show will be the best we have done to date!

NME radio will be there also, along with several other media sorts waiting to capture the 'magic'!

This promises to be a great night for anyone attending, an evening of top bands, and then at the end, you get to strut your stuff on the stage - playing Guitar Hero on big ass screens in front of the audience, with a chance to win tickets to New York!!!

Anyone wanting to come, can book tickets from us NOW for ONLY £4, email us on here via the CONTACT tab, leave your name and your own contact details and we will call you straight back (these details will not be published online) or call us on 07779 160 040 to secure yours!

RV xx

I have had a strange few days really, i have been asked to write a song for a new Indian / British film, by the director of "Bend It Like Beckham". So, the producer - Bally Sagoo - emailed over a rough idea of the scene in which the song is required so we have an idea of the kind of track. Leanne, the singer of Midnight, a very talented vocalist & writer (who happens to also be my cousin) and myself have written and recorded about 5-6 different songs from scratch, all with the same message/feel etc, in about 8hrs ish!

We went down to Bally's studio in a lovely part of the country, Stratford, on Monday night, til stupid o clock, just to jam out some (crappy) ideas on the piano, with a glass of whiskey on the rocks and a very busy headache! We had ideas, but nothing we were all happy with. We have been in the studio since, and recorded some great tracks, with both myself and Leanne sharing lead & harmony vocals. The track that gets accepted by the Director of the movie is to be re-recorded with Bally producing for a massive sound and a different female voice, but will ultimately remain very much our song.

Excitng stuff eh?! Well, i will post any updates as soon as i get them, and will also post up the chosen track, our recording, and also Bally Sagoo's version of our song as soon as we've sorted all the legal crap!!

Whoop!

RV xxx