Von Iva

By Veronica Young

Photo by Hasain Rasheed

Von Iva is a fierce force to be reckoned with on the independent music landscape. The San Francisco trio has successfully accomplished some pretty daunting tasks - they've managed to embrace a DIY attitude toward recording, promotion and management that has given them total control over their musical careers, they've achieved their goal of replicating their studio sound for a live audience and they've imaginatively mastered the art of creating a rich and raw dance album with only keyboards, percussion and vocals on their latest Our Own Island.

Formerly a four piece, Von Iva was challenged with figuring out how to maintain their soulful rock swagger without a bassist. "We were going up against the odds last year," says vocalist Jillian Iva. "Anything that could go wrong went wrong. But Our Own Island is something that we can be proud of."

Recorded straight to tape, the 10 tracks on the album are truly performances rather than imperfect bits of sound, cut and pasted together. The band's new approach to recording makes hearing the album a lot like going to a Von Iva show, except without the legendary high-energy vibe that the women put out on stage. Producer Jason Carmer played a key role in bringing the band's new goals into fruition. "We wanted to do something stripped down and out of the norm," percussionist Kelly Harris says. "Jason [Carmer] was burned out on the typical ProTools recording, and we were tired of that whole thought process around how we could make tracks that appealed to the masses. We wanted to come up with something that was really original."

Backing Iva's sassy, soul-shaking vocals is Harris' MacGyver approach to percussion. Harris built a drum kit using metal objects found in a junk yard - the sound of a snare drum on the album was created by hitting the back of a dryer with a mallet, and then running the sound through different pedals. "I wanted to recreate that sound live, but the edges of this sheet of metal were really dangerous and I was freaked out about transporting it," says Harris. "So I rigged a baking sheet up to a stand and bang on that live. It sounds just like an electronic drum machine."

Rounding out the Von Iva sound on synths is Rebecca Kupersmith. Says Harris, "It says a lot about Becky's role in the band because she has completely filled in the sound range that could've gone missing. She's able to fill in the bass lines and the rhythmic stuff with one hand, and with the other hand she's able to play really melodic and beautiful riffs."

Given their organic approach to recording, their firmly rooted belief in severely rocking live, and their crafty and cutting-edge attitudes towards making sound, you'd think the women of Von Iva would need to rely on a little bit of help to carve their path in the music scene. But that hasn't been the case to date. Von Iva released their album on their own record label, Ruby Tower Records, and without the help of an agent they've been able to draw press and book some high profile gigs, including the X-Games and a VH1 Save the Music event at Bloomingdale's. They create all of their own merch too, with Harris designing and silkscreening the entire line.

"There are girl bands, and there are female musicians," Iva resolves. "But there is nothing as unique as what we are doing. This isn't easy, this pipe dream of trying to survive in Band Land. But I'm not ready to give up."

www.voniva.com