Voted Most Random is Quinnipiac’s very own pop-punk quintet. The band has just released their first EP, “Everything You Want and More.” The members are Bennett Pisaniello, Ian Reibeisen, Joe Mauti, Sal Salemme, and Scott Gunter. They have been VMR for exactly one year, and in that time, have made enormous strides. They have performed at Toad’s Place in New Haven with We The Kings, and earned the grand prize for the East Coast Indie Battle of the Bands. As a result of that honor, they spent last summer playing several dates apart of the Warped Tour 2010 lineup around Connecticut. Last Friday, they made many of their own dreams come true with their sold out EP Release Party at The Space in Hamden. Here they look back and remember just how far they have come in such a short amount of time.
1. How did VMR come to be?
Scott and I found each other early on at Quinnipiac and immediately connected over our love of music. Bennett joined us when we started playing around with the idea of forming a Blink-182 cover band. However, that group never came to fruition. It was at that point that we decided to name the band Voted Most Random, after the senior superlative I earned senior year of high school. We met Joe at a QU Music meeting where I pretended to know the band on his shirt. It wasn’t long before he was added to the VMR line-up as the bassist. Bennett knew Ian through a class, and the other three guys vetted him immediately. I met Ian almost exactly 1 year before the release of “Everything You Want and More.” He was the front man to the band before we had ever even played a song together.
This band and how it came to be can be described in one word, backwards. Usually a band gets members, writes songs, records them and then books shows. We booked a show, wrote songs, got members then recorded. We did everything out of order, which made things more challenging, but a lot more fun. –Sal Salemme, Drums
2. What are your dreams and goals for the future of VMR?
Some would call my dreams ambitious or unreal, but after all we’ve been through with the band, I have learned that nothing’s impossible. My current goals include getting on Warped Tour again, playing on Bamboozle, and increasing the density of our fan base in the regions we have already touched while reaching out to areas we have yet to discover and becoming the band they talk about for weeks after the show. Long term goals include getting signed and getting to the levels of our idols. Fame and fortune would be nice, but if we could get to the point where we can do this for a living and pickup a guitar to go to work instead of a suitcase, we can say we are “living the dream.” – Scott Gunter, Lead Guitar
3. How did you coordinate recording and releasing “Everything You Want and More”?
I did research on different recording studios in the area, and I heard about Rob Freeman because of some of the big names he produced, such as Hit the Lights, Cobra Starship, and many more. As far as releasing the album, we knew from the beginning that The Space was where we were going to have the EP release show from the beginning because that is where we got our start and they have done so much for us, so that was a no brainer. We also wanted to do something different, so we turned the event into a multi-stage thing, and asked DJ Tanner to perform to make the time in between sets more like a dance party. –Joe Mauti, Bass
4. How does being in a band affect your life as a student?
Well I’ve never been a bookworm or the academic type anyways (don’t tell my dad) so it hasn’t really made much of a difference. I’ve always wanted to do music so anything would come second to that, including school. Socially, as a student, I feel like more people recognize the band and me around campus, which is pretty cool. The band definitely made my time in college better then I ever imagined and has been the best possible escape for me. It’s better then a dream come true. I’ve woken up many days and it still continues to be my reality. –Ian Reibeisen, Vocals
5. What was it like landing a spot and performing in last summer’s Warped Tour?
Playing Warped Tour last year was literally a dream come true. I’ve been going to Warped Tour for many years, even before I was ever in a band, and I always looked forward to see a ton of my favorite bands all in one day. To get a chance to be a part of that was just unreal. It’s something I am honored to have been a part of, will cherish, and never forget. –Bennett Pisaniello, Rhythm Guitar
6. How do you go about promoting yourselves and booking shows?
We all promote the band in any way we can think of. We cover all social networking sites, and we just do our best to let everyone know about upcoming shows and just try and keep the fans updated. At shows, we try to walk around to everyone we don’t know and get them interested in checking out our show and hopefully they enjoy it. I do most of the booking for shows, and depending on the venue, the way I book them changes. Over the past year, we have made many connections with venues and other artists, so I have a specific person to contact. For a venue or band that we do not have a contact with, I usually just email the promoter with some of our information and just hope for the best. –Joe Mauti, Bass
7. What has been your favorite part about being in Voted Most Random?
My favorite part about being in Voted Most Random is the montage of experiences we have been through together. Although we can walk into a supermarket and not be recognized, we have lived many nights feeling like rock stars doing things we thought only existed in the movies. We have headlined a few shows, played on a Glamour Kills sponsored tour, played on Warped Tour, and all of these have thousands of stories that will never be forgotten. It is these stories and the people we have met along the way that keep us motivated to succeed. -Scott Gunter, Lead Guitar
You can keep up with Voted Most Random on Facebook, and their EP “Everything You Want and More” is now available for purchase on iTunes.