We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful The Vig Arcadia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with The Vig below.

The Vig, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of our most meaningful projects is the one we’re working on right now; OUR FIRST ALBUM! Although listeners don’t always care about an album vs. a single, its a proud milestone in every artists journey. There’s something nostalgic about a full length album, and its a major accomplishment. We’ve really honed in on “our sound” and really look forward to capturing that in this album. Each of us comes from a different style of music, so the variation between the songs will be unique, creating a very cool collection of art.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

The Vig Arcadia is a metro Detroit group that creates indie, pop, funk music. We came together during the height of the pandemic, but each of has been writing, playing, and/or performing since we can remember. As kids, each of us had our own backyard bands with our neighbors, or garage bands with our closest friends. We held performances and made our friends and family watch, even through our cringy teenage angst years. Our music is a wide variety of pop, funk, blues and rock. We write based on real experiences hoping to give listeners something they can relate to. Majority of it is electric, upbeat songs; we try to give something that everyone can dance to!

We play locally, several times a month so please follow us on social media to see where we’re at next!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The key to a successful group is to surround yourself with like-minded people (cheesy, I know). But, if you’re trying to force your mindset or goal onto other people because they don’t want it for themselves, it will never work. Being aligned on your destination is not negotiable. Our band started with six people, of which one remains today. The other five had different goals in mind (which is absolutely OK by the way!) but it never would have lasted it if the one person tried to force it on the rest. The turn over is natural, and we now have a group of people that all want the same thing, and work toward it every day. The second, and equally as important ingredient, is not quitting. Giving up when something gets hard, and in music that’s about every other week, is very easy to do. In fact, it’s much easier than sticking it out. On average, getting even a small following takes five years. So for almost 2,000 days, you will go relatively unnoticed. You will play shows where fifteen people attend. You will put in more time and money than you get out. You will record and release music that gets only fewer than 100 listens; music that you put your soul into, by the way. You will argue with your peers, because some days its too much. The temptation to abandon ship, and do something different, or do nothing at all, will be strong and frequent. BUT, if you can push through for one year, for two years, and so on, it does get easier and things do start to happen overnight. Approaching three years, we can personally vouch for that!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

One of the biggest challenges along the creative journey is that there are not many resources that are made EASILY available. There’s no roadmap or how-to book, so it’s pretty difficult to find guidance, especially with so many paid ads for things that are really just money grabs. We’ve spent plenty of time and money on “resources” out there that really are just scams. The best way to start, is to build a network. Facebook groups have been a great help in connecting us with others in the industry, both locally and nationwide! It’s put us in touch with booking agents, publicists, and other bands. We’ve become close with others like us out there, which has helped in so many ways! We went from struggling to book 1 show, to booking 4 a month.
Another sure way to connect with people in the industry is to go to shows at your local venues! You will meet bands you want to play with and get your foot in the door to play at those venues yourself.
Once your network is established you can ask for recommendations on studios, interview opportunities, etc.
Finding a great studio with expert engineers and producers is very tricky. BUT, once you find a good one, they become one of your greatest resources. From writing, to release strategy, and even getting your music listened to – they can be the game changer.
All things we wish we knew starting out!    

Contact Info:

• Website: thevigarcadia.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/thevigarcadia
• Facebook: facebook.com/thevigarcadiaband
• Twitter: twitter.com/thevigarcadia
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thevigarcadiavevo2002
• Other: linktr.ee/thevigarcadia

Image Credits
Joie Baldwin Brianna Ash