For a band that is always on the move, Virginia Coalition finally found some time to slow down. In June, lead singer and guitarist Andy Poliakoff found a free moment to get married in the Joshua Tree National Park in June.
He also enjoys perusing MySpace when he has 15-20 minutes to kill.
“I love MySpace. I’m on there everyday and check out what’s going on. It’s so easy to take a picture or video and make it a part of your own MySpace account,” Poliakoff said. “Somebody might wanna join our friends list or whatever. You see so much more of the people than just their name.”
But as far as his current free time is concerned, he may want to get in touch with Catherine Zeta-Jones to see if she can help him improve his cell phone reception, since it was scratchy during his phone interview with The Muse.
“[We’re] looking forward to playing in Boston. Get ready to rock!” he said.
This will be the band’s third trip in 13 months to Beantown, and specifically the Paradise Rock Club. VACO, as the band’s fans affectionately call them, came through last October to promote the release of its fourth album, OK to Go, and played with Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers last February.
“Traveling around with people that you care about, it’s really [a] great joy and rewarding when a show works well and there are people who wanna see you play,” Poliakoff said.
It’s the strength of their live show and their supportive audience that keeps the Alexandria, Va. natives out on the road so often. In fact, the response has been so overwhelming that the group has finally decided to release a CD/DVD of an upcoming show at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6.
“We’re really, really excited,” Poliakoff said. “We received a lot of compliments on our live show for years. We haven’t recorded it for people, but our shows are usually available online because people tape them.”
The boys of VACO won’t be stopping there, though – they have a fifth studio album currently in the works. Like their live album, it is not yet titled, but will still feature the recurring themes of missing home, being in love and other things that generally affect everyone and resonate well with the audience. But, according to Poliakoff, their songs are still totally rockin’.
And following in the footsteps of their first four albums, the group plans to include every member of the band in the process of making the disc, ranging from writing to performing. Poliakoff, who has been playing guitar for 15 years, can also play percussion and has been honing his piano skills.
“I’m working a bit on the piano, maybe on the live CD,” Poliakoff said. “All of us are trying to get better at the [instruments] we play.” m
Virginia Coalition Paradise Rock Club 967 Commonwealth Ave. $12, 8 p.m., 617-562-8800 w/the Southland, As Fast As
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