Vanilla Sky (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Vanilla Sky
Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|Italy Rome, Italy
Genre = Pop punk
Years_active = 2002 - present
Label = Universal Music
Wynona Records
Ambience Records
Capitol Records
URL = [http://www.vanillaskyrock.com www.vanillaskyrock.com]
Current_members = Vincenzo Mario Cristi
Luca Alessandrelli
Francesco Sarsano
Daniele Brian Autore

Vanilla Sky is an Italian pop punk group formed in 2002. Their first album, "Play It If You Can't Say It", was released November 6 2002. To date they have released 3 albums, and regularly play tours in mainland Europe.

History

Formation and early career

Vanilla sky was formed in February 2002. The band members met in Rome, Italy, intent on starting a new project which would mesh previous experiences with a new American punk style. They recorded a five-track demo entitled "Play It If You Can't Say It" and began playing live shows. Their demo sold out within the first two months, catching the attention of the Italian punk-rock scene and emerging indie label Wynona Records. In 2003, they signed their first record deal with Wynona Records. Their split CD, entitled "Too Loud for You", was released shortly afterwards. It was quickly followed by another split CD entitled "The Rest is History". This EP was released by indie label Ambience Records, which allowed for distribution and promotion around the world.

Concert tours

In the summer of 2003, the band took a break from recording in order to perform live. After returning home, they re-entered the studio in order to record their first album, "Waiting for Something". Upon releasing "Waiting for Something", the band began a six week tour across Europe with Forty Winks and The Break. In 2004, the band began touring Europe for a second time to promote their album alongside Maxeen. The tour lasted one and a half months. Shortly afterwards, the band was invited by The Ataris to open their Italian tour. Another European tour followed as the band celebrated the success of their first album.From June to September 2004, the band played at several open air festivals across Europe. They shared the stage as co-headliners with Yellowcard and Flogging Molly at the Bologna Independent Days festival. A month later, the band toured Italy for three months.

In response to their growing popularity, the "Play It If You Can't Say It" EP was re-issued by Wynona Records in December 2004 with three extra unreleased tracks. It was released throughout Europe and Japan. In January 2005, the band toured Germany including a live performance on national television. Towards the end of the month a Japanese tour was confirmed. The band returned home from the tour but shortly left Italy to headline the "Punk is Dead"-tour 2005 in Austria. Immediately afterwards, from March to May, another European tour passing through Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany followed, in addition to a maiden tour of Great Britain.

="Changes"=

On May 27, 2005, the band's first full length CD was finally released in the USA, distributed by Capitol Records. During the summer the band performed again at several festivals throughout Europe, which included the "Rock in Idro" with acts such as NOFX, Good Charlotte, The Offspring, The Hives, My Chemical Romance. Following this the band attained the role of support act on The Offspring's German tour. Changes sold more than 25,000 copies and over 5,000 copies sold of the EP reissue were sold. Building on this, Vanilla Sky entered the studio to start recording the pre-production of a new album. In the meantime, Mark Hoppus (former Blink182 bassist and later +44 leader) noticed the band, thanks to Atticus (a music sponsor company owned by Blink182 members). He enjoyed the band's new demos and interviewed the Roman band members live on his personal web podcast (episode #12); along with playing on the demo track, "Nightmare".

After almost a year spent on pre-production writing, arranging and constantly changing the songs the quartet started in early 2006 to record the final version of the album. Unfortunately all the recorded data was accidentally lost forcing the band to re-record the whole album. Later, the band returned to play the "Punk Is Dead Tour" 2006 and gaining the chance to support +44 in their Italian show. The 15 track album "Changes" contains three songs in Italian, breaking from their normal English singing style. The album is a mix of power pop and punk rock. The opening track and first single "Break It Out" pushed the band in to the mainstream with magazines and tv channels of the continental market taking interest (i.e.: Rock Sound cover, MTV Italy TRL chart, etc.). This allowed the band to promote the record through a video shoot in Las Vegas, USA.

For the first time in Italy, the band launched a video podcast, complete with video episodes uploaded twice a month, regarding band's life, recording sessions and private contents. It is know as "Vanilla Sky Television". They received several offers from the biggest companies in the music business, with the band finally signing with the major label, Universal Records. The major debut's album was release on June 22, 2007. After just a month, the group joined one of the biggest rock festivals in Europe: "The Frequency Festival" in Salzburg, Austria. It was complete with three days of live music and two stages, a sold out event with 40,000 people. The Roman quartet performed to 12,000 people and shared the stage with bands such as Beatsteaks, The Ark, Tool, Jimmy Eat World and Fall Out Boy.

="Umbrella"=

Towards the end of the summer, Vanilla Sky did more recording and in their practice room they recorded a cover of, Rihanna hit, "Umbrella" in a punk rock style. The band also recorded a low budget video for the song. The song received airplay on numerous radio stations in Italy and Europe, in addition to this, rock magazine, Kerrang has dedicated a ring tone to the cover. On YouTube, the video is in 1st place as the most played stream in Brazil and 64th all over the world. Additionally, MTV Pulse asked for and got a one week exclusive of the video, with the song featuring on TRL one week later. Following this, the band began touring again, promoting the album internationally, including a headlining tour in Austria.

Members

* Vincenzo Mario Cristi – Vocals, guitar
* Luca Alessandrelli – Drums
* Francesco Sarsano – Bass
* Daniele Brian Autore – Vocals, guitar

Discography

* 2002 - "Play It If You Can't Say It"
* 2003 - "Too Loud for You"
* 2003 - "The Rest Is History"
* 2004 - "Waiting for Something"
* 2004 - "Play It If You Can't Say It"
* 2006 - "Vanilla Sky - Tour Edition"
* 2007 - "Changes" (Universal Music)
* 2007 - "Changes - Edizione Speciale"

ingles

Links

* [http://www.vanillaskyrock.com Official Site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/vanillasky Myspace Page]
* [http://www.vanillafan.com/index Fan Site]