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say wa?<br />
Musician<br />
Following in Footsteps<br />
Versing doesn’t mind being<br />
compared to other bands<br />
written by Ben Salmon<br />
Versing recalls the sounds of early ’90s indie bands like Pavement.<br />
SEATTLE’S VERSING EXCELS at making<br />
music that’s both sweet and sour. That was the<br />
goal from the beginning, said frontman and<br />
songwriter Daniel Salas.<br />
“Originally, I wanted us to [play] poppy<br />
songs with feedback all over the place,” he said,<br />
citing noisy rock bands like Henry’s Dress and<br />
The Clean, and influential indie labels such as<br />
Slumberland and Flying Nun. “I tried to keep us<br />
a three-piece for that reason. It lends itself to the<br />
simplified, scuzzy sound that those bands had.”<br />
Versing is a four-piece now, but its sound is<br />
still equal parts sugar and squall. The band’s 2017<br />
album Nirvana spills over with Salas’ catchy<br />
melodies, but also smears them with a persistent<br />
layer of feedback and fuzz. The result: songs that<br />
are wiry but warm in a way that recalls ’90s indie<br />
icons Pavement.<br />
In fact, Versing gets compared to Pavement<br />
constantly. Salas and his band mates are OK<br />
with that.<br />
“Those are the bands I love. I think we’re<br />
settling more into our own sound, but I’ve<br />
always seen us as a continuation of what those<br />
bands were doing rather than a rehash or a<br />
ripoff,” he said. “I personally think rock music<br />
was really incredible in the ’80s and ’90s but got<br />
really, really bad in the 2000s, so I just try to take<br />
up the mantle of the bands that I felt were doing<br />
it right.”<br />
Listen on Spotify<br />
16 <strong>1889</strong> WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE FEBRUARY | MARCH <strong>2018</strong>
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