In their three years as a serious band, Visual Aura has undertaken three Midwest tours because “everybody is best friends and being on tour helps the band grow together, not only as musicians, but as a family,” Gartner said.
Several members of Visual Aura, from Lincoln, Neb., have been friends since childhood. Some met in high school, and some went to kindergarten together. Visual Aura includes lead vocalist Erik Hustad, guitarists Zach Stivrins and Ryan Gartner, drummer Brunken Justin and Jerod Also on bass.
The band said they have never experienced any significant turmoil among members. They attribute this success to being friends before band mates.
“The fact that I was a fan for so long, before I was even a part of it, helped a lot,” Gartner, who is the youngest and newest member of the band, said. “We have been friends basically our whole lives.”
Visual Aura is a medical term for colorful, flashing zigzag patterns that blind areas of one’s field of vision. Symptoms usually last less than 60 minutes. Gartner suffers from classic migraines, which can cause visual aura. Stivrins and Gartner describe Visual Aura’s music as “energetic.” They said fans describe them as somewhere between Pink Floyd and thrash metal.
They said their motivation is to create music they would love to hear in their own CD players. Right now, Stivrins said he listens to Underoath and Jimi Hendrix, while Gartner listens to Story of the Year and Fiona Apple. The band claims influence from Tool, Glassjaw, finger eleven, The Deftones and Silverchair, among others.
The band does not like the Lincoln music scene, they said, because Indie and punk rock has taken over. They prefer to play in cities with music scenes like Austin, Tx. and Kansas City, Mo.
“There has not been a change in the scene during my life.” Gartner said. “We need a rebirth.”
Visual Aura stands behind their claim that they do not play music for the money. They hope only to make a living with music, but do not necessarily want to be “filthy rich” or on the covers of magazines.
“We play because we love it,” Stivrins said. “It is all about a live show that is energetic, with a heavy sound that is melodic at the same time. When the clubs are packed, that is just an added bonus.”
The band said their crowd is diverse, but consists largely of college students. Visual Aura said their crowd response has been positive, and that people get more into the music with each song.
“We put on a hell of a good show, I am just going to say it,” Stivrins said.
Each of the five members took one week to fine-tune their forthcoming album, the follow-up to their four-song EP Audience for One, recorded and released in 2003. The new album, The Legacy, is scheduled to release in July. The band went to a barn in the country with no phones and television to tweak the CD. Gartner and Stivrins said the week in the barn is what really “made” the album.
“Even our die hard fans are not going to expect what they will hear on this album,” Gartner said.
They plan to tour extensively in the Midwest and along the coasts to support the album. Following the CD release, the band hopes to find a record label. They said several have shown interest, but both the band and the labels will wait to see the effects of The Legacy.
“We do want to be signed, but we want to send it [the record] out first,” Stivrins said. “If some label wanted to pick it up, we would definitely be interested.”
