On
this Friday evening, the air is breezy as it drifts down Phelps Street in
Downtown Youngstown on a Saturday night. People are casually walking around and
some are making their way to Suzie's Dogs
and Drafts, a popular downtown spot that serves unusual hot dogs and tater
tots among other things. There is a calm atmosphere as people are interacting
with each other and lifting bottles.
The
band for the evening, The Vindys, is setting up. John Anthony (guitars/vocals
and Jackie Popovec (lead vocals/ guitar) are lightly strumming their guitars as
they smile, laugh and occasionally lean down to Suzie’s sound technician for an
adjustment.
Keyboardist
Clay Colley’s fingers dances across the keys of his MOTIF keyboard as the
sounds of his musical expertise come through the speakers.
There
are two drum kits already set up. Yes, The Vindys will have two drummers all
night long. The band likes to experiment with their sound. The Vindys’ drummer
Ed Davis will be sharing the beats with Bryan Teeters, who has a bachelor
degree in Music Education from Clarion University and a master’s degree in Drum
Set Performance from Youngstown State University (YSU).
Scott
Boyer, the Vindys’ bassist moves his head with the coolness of a musical
surgeon as his fingers glide up and down the strings of his bass guitar.
This
is not The Vindys’ first time on Suzie’s stage. In fact, they were the first
band ever to play at the venue.
As
a clock strikes, a few minutes past nine, The Vindys start right into Amy
Winehouse’s Valerie without a band
introduction. The band’s version is smooth, mellow and setting the right tone
for the evening.
As the song ends, Popovec greets the enthusiastic audience with a 1,000-watt smile and says, “Thank you so much for coming out, Vindys back again, Youngstown.”
With
that, The Vindys go straight into another song, Loving You.
The
Vindys started in 2013 under a different name with Anthony from New Castle, who
is a YSU graduate with a Master of Music in Jazz Studies degree (he currently
teaches music at McDonald High School) and former Vindys drummer Nick Sainato
who has since moved to Nashville.
According
to Vindys.com, the band's website, their sound is a blend of pop, jazz and
rock. Their musical influences are from
Amy Winehouse, Norah Jones and Alabama Shakes.
Popovec
of Youngstown who attended the Mike Curb College on a scholarship for Music
Production in Florida tells why she likes being in The Vindys, “ Everyone is
very versatile in the group and I like so many genres and I like to kinda
stretch my limits. The band allows me to kinda be creativity in that aspect.”
The
rawness, uniqueness and strength of her voice showcases Popovec’s versatility
as she to moves back and forth from multiple musical genres singing from KT
Tunstall’s Black Horse to Linda Ronstadt’s “You’re No Good” to ballads like Like I’m Gonna Lose You by Megan Trainor
to The Beatles’s Oh Darling.
Anthony
tells how the band has evolved “ At that point, we were just playing covers at
V2, [a Downtown Youngstown restaurant)] and were more of a dance band on a
Friday night. Then, Jackie started bringing her originals to the group and we
started to phase in the idea that we could do more originals that just covers.”
In
2014, The Vindys released an EP called Red
Wine that featured originals such as Something
I Can Feel, You Never Know, Red Wine and a crowd favorite, Bang.
Davis,
now of Youngstown originally from Columbus,
a drummer since age eight, a Capital University graduate studying World
Music and has a Masters in Music Performance from YSU where he met Anthony
talks about the talent of the band, “We
like to have fun within that, there is a lot of improvisation. There is a lot
of group riffing back and forth. We all are at a certain music level that
allows us to do that.”
During
the Ronstadt’s classic, You’re No Good, Anthony face’s tightens
and loosens as he strums his guitar with intensity. His neck moves forward as
he goes for a note. He is wearing a Van Halen t-shirt as his guitar playing
does justice to one of rock’s guitar icons, Eddie Van Halen. He tells how the
band got its unique name, “It was a Jackie thing for the name, she wanted to do
something as far as a Youngstown base name. So, being the Vindicator she wanted
to kinda tie it in something with the city and make it, The Vindys.”
The
Vindys are constantly experimenting with gigs. Sometimes, the band will have a
horn section adding to their musical mix. Tonight, along with having Teeters on
the second set of drums, the band extended an invitation to play with them to Nadya
Stratton of Boardman, a flautist who was a student at Mount Union College and
this fall is transferring to Youngstown State University to major in Jazz
Performance.
She
met the band at a show at Squaw Creek a few months ago and expressed to them
that she was able to improv musically on the flute. She said she is grateful
for the opportunity “ The band overall, they are just all very nice,”she
said. I think they have a unique style
of music that connects with everyone and use popular music in a way that no
other band does at least that I have heard of.” Stratton joined The Vindys for
Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning and Megan Trainor’s Like I’m Gonna Lose You.”
Like I’m Going To Lose you
Stratton
is not the only Vindys’ fan, Gary Smith of Champion who was seeing the band for
the first time live, said “They were awesome, the vocals were amazing and the
music, too. I really enjoyed myself.”
Popovec
takes the audience to a musical stratosphere as she makes the Fleetwood Mac classic
“Dreams” with lead vocals by the legendary Stevie Nicks her own. Even what Popovec is wearing supports the
song as she is wearing dark stretch leggings and beige open toes high heels and
a sleeveless shirt with a trench tail that goes to the back of her knees that
flaps with the light breeze of the room which seems appropriate as if an
invisible Nicks with her trademark shawl around her shoulders is next to
Popovec as smoothness of her voice moves the Suzie's crowd.
With the garage like window of Suzie’s wide open where the band is playing, the Vindys’ music is traveling up and down the Phelps Street. There are some people outside Suzie’s stopping and dancing on the sidewalk.
More
people are able to see The Vindys live even when they are not at an actual
show. The band has really embraced
social media with Twitter, Snapchat especially Facebook Live with streaming
live video. Anthony talks about the impact of their social media effort, “We
noticed the first time we did this, the video had 1,000 views in a day or two,
getting a lot of compliments. People who can’t see us or are out of town really
appreciate the idea of kinda seeing something live rather than having the CD
and other random YouTube videos that might appear.”
Davis
tells what is next for The Vindys, “We’re working on new material that’s going
to become our next thing, we want to do a new EP, and we want to do some new
recordings, “ he said. “Jackie has been
writing like a maniac, so we have done a few sessions where we get together as
a band. She plays her tunes for us and we start collectively to work on
things. We all really enjoy that
process.”
The
Vindys have played colleges such as YSU, Slippery Rock University and others as
well as musical festivals. The band is trying to create larger fan base in
proximity to Youngstown. Anthony has a game plan for the band.“ The hope is to
get bigger and better, play more and expand our reach especially in Pittsburgh,
Cleveland and hopefully bigger than that.”
As
The Vindys wind down the show with the title track, Red Wine from their EP, the band’s energy level remains high as the
emotion of Popovec’s voice and the great level of musicianship comes through as
the drums hit the last beat of the show.
The Vindys are playing throughout the Valley this summer. Check their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Upcoming shows:
8/19 Apollo Maennerchor- Sharon, PA
8/20 Suzie's Dogs and Drafts-Youngstown, Ohio
The
Vindys Article Video
