NICO VEGA

INTERVIEW BY SEAN TYSON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANK W. OCKENFELS 3

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Their intensity is genuine, their motivation is sincere, and their live shows are an unadulterated display of raw talent. Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Nico Vega is a three-piece alternative-rock outfit that believes in what they’re doing and thoroughly enjoys themselves in the process. Signed to MySpace/Interscope, the band released their self-titled, full-length album in 2008, and has been touring extensively ever since. They were already turning heads when a performance on Last Call with Carson Daly in 2009 thrust them into the limelight. Whether it’s an office cubicle or a packed and sweaty Viper Room, this group never hesitates. Their on-stage performances involve very little compromise, and often very little clothing. I was able to catch up with their captivating front woman, Aja Volkman, while the band was on the road in Austin, Texas.

SEAN TYSON—So, you’re from Eugene, Oregon – go Ducks!

Aja Volkman— [Laughs] Yeah. I’m from a really simple place, and it’s got a kind of hippy mentality – it’s a really laid-back town. I grew up with natural food stores and naked people so it is quite a bit different from Los Angeles.

ST—Your tours have taken you pretty much everywhere. Can you tell me more about your Nordstrom show? I heard you played in an office cubicle…

AV—Well we don’t like to limit ourselves, so wherever we are we try to use the environment to make it whatever it is. The Nordstrom show ended up being funny because I’m dancing in these people’s faces and they’re on their lunch break wearing their office clothing. It’s just normal day-time and there are neon lights. [Laughs] We’ve had a lot of fun everywhere we’ve played. And yeah, we played in a cubicle at MySpace Records during the day.

ST—Nico Vega was named after [original band member] Mike Peña’s mother. He’s no longer in the band but you’ve kept the name, can you elaborate on that?

AV—She had a large impact on my life. And that’s even more of a personal topic, but I’m happy to talk about it with you. She had a history of using psychiatric drugs – Prozac and things like that, and she didn’t react well to the medicine. Eventually, she actually died from the side effects. I used to take a lot of psychiatric drugs, and when I met Mike I really wanted to get off them. I’d wanted to get off them for a long time and I really couldn’t find any help. I wanted to take a more holistic approach to healing, whatever it was I thought was wrong with me and she was the spark in my life change, I guess. So I felt like it was an important thing to honor her. Mike’s still a really big part of our life and he really helped me through a rough time. Now I’m on the other side of all that and I think that it’s kind of part of our message to inspire people to look for other methods of healing, because there is an over-prescription problem, especially in the USA. I know
a number of people who have committed suicide who were on psychiatric drugs. And that’s not to say I don’t think highly of Western medicine but I’m really an advocate of looking for another approach. It worked for me after years and years of the wrong drugs. So that’s part of our message, just finding a more liberated approach and accepting who you are versus trying to suppress everything.

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