Kyle Lucas of Vonnegutt

Vonnegutt is your girlfriend's favorite new band.
Here's an unlikely recipe: Take classic emcee skills and dope lyrics, add pop sensibility and rock energy. Stir. Sprinkle a dash of inspiration from a literary icon. What do you get?
Vonnegutt.
Formed in early '07, the band has quickly built a tremendous buzz, placing in the top ranks of several unsigned band lists, drawing an ever-growing fan base, and catching the eye of several record labels (including Big Boi of Outkast’s Purple Ribbon Records). Recently, their popularity earned them a spot at the Vans Warped Tour in Atlanta.
Though the band's success may seem to have come easily, Vonnegutt's two founding members had been paying their dues for years before crossing paths. Frontman/emcee Kyle Lucas was earning a name for himself in the underground hip-hop and mixtape scene. Guitarist/singer Neil Garrard was busy doing session work for some of the south's biggest names in Rap/R&B(Dungeon Family, Pastor Troy, and Kelly Rowland).
Looking to create something that fit his expansive musical tastes, Lucas decided to form an alternative hip-hop band. Garrard soon responded to his flyer at a local music shop, and after meeting they recognized their shared vision and musical chemistry.

"Well one of the reasons people didn't like the name at first was because we don't talk about political elements or counterculture aspects as much as he did in his novel. But i think if we focused to much on his material in our songs we would come across as a gimmick band"

Within months, with the help of friend and producer Michael Woodruff, the duo had created their first record, a promising marriage of rock, hip-hop, funk, and electronica. The Vice Nine EP lit up the internet with thousands of plays on Myspace and a big response from college radio with their single “Bright Eyes”. Their style has been described as "refreshing" and “a unique blend of hip-hop & rock.” They went on to play many shows in and around the Atlanta area earning a sizeable following.
On the heels of the spark that was the Vice Nine EP, the band has solidified its lineup with the addition of Mike Hardin on drums and Patrick Postlewait on bass. Recently Vonnegutt went back into the studio and refined their sound with producer Simon Illa. The result is their brand new ep The Appetizer EP, which is set for a fall release.
So, only one question remains...
Are you hungry?!

118: Alright Kyle, break down Vonnegutt for all the My Swag readers out there, who makes up Vonnegutt?
Kyle: No Problem, Vonnegutt is a live hip-hop band that consists of myself on vocals, Neil Garrard on guitar/vocals, Gage Brown on bass/vocals and Mike Hardin on drums/vocals

How did the band come together? Was it the typical high school friends who started practicing in a garage story or was it different?
Yea it was pretty different. I have been rhyming forever and got kind of bored with rapping and really rap music in general so i decided the next thing to do was start a band. I started posting up flyers about starting a live hip-hop band and then neil called. And the rest of the members filled in as well after that.

Cool, so how long ago was the band finalized. When was the roster set?
We've been a band for about a year and a half now. But we are still changing and growing, we want to add a keyboard player next.

Foreal? Anybody in mind or will you be holding auditions for that? If so, do you know when?
I think it would probably be best to find them through musicians and industry people we already know. Not saying that the average joe couldn't come aboard but i think everything will fall into place.

Tell me about the name Vonnegutt. Whats the story behind it?
It's actually the last name of my favorite author from high school Kurt Vonnegut Jr. We added an additional "t" for copyright reasons. At first we caught alot of shit from critics and magazines about using his name, but eventually it kinda caught on and i always meet kids after shows who come up to me and say how much they love the name. So i think it worked out well

Definitely, I think its an awesome and original name for a band. I did some research on Kurt Vonnegutt Jr when getting ready for the interview and I read that he was a counterculture writer. Would you say that you implement some counterculture elements into your music?
Well one of the reasons people didn't like the name at first was because we don't talk about political elements or counterculture aspects as much as he did in his novel. But i think if we focused to much on his material in our songs we would come across as a gimmick band. We do however pull from all elements of music and are trying to be a little more original then what's out there, and that's what i think he did as far as his novels. I'm also a little sarcastic at times in my rhymes, so i think he would of appreciated that

"Umm, not really star struck any. I got a chance to connect with Matt from Gym Class Heroes so that was ill. Shouts out to GCH! They killed it today!"

Speaking of your rhymes, who are some of yoru favorite emcees and why?
Umm, i am such hip hop head its unhealthy. So for me to tell me all the rappers i listen to or grew up listening to it would take forever. Haha. But my top 5 emcees as of this moment, in no particular order would have to be Jay-Z, Royce da 5'9'', Black Thought (of The Roots), Joe Budden and Wale. I just got into Wale like a month ago and i was blown away. I felt like a fan again. I haven't felt like that in 3 years since the first time i heard Saigon. Wale is the shit!

Ooh heavy into underground hip hop i see. how would you classify your rap style? anybody that it can be compared to?
I don't know how i would classify my rap style to be honest. But i was talking to Matt from Gym Class Heroes today and he said i reminded him of Slug from Atmosphere and i thought that was funny cause the only 2 rappers i ever get compared to are Slug from Atmosphere and Travis from Gym Class Heroes.

Well I never heard of Slug but I definitely would agree with the Travis comparison. Vonnegutt's music seems to be a little more soulful than GCH's music though. Was the soulfulness of Vonnegutt's music coincidence or was it MEANT to be that way?
Well at first i was just going to rhyme in the band. Then i found out Neil could sing, and we took it a step further. Neil is very soulful and i think it comes across heavy in our records. Like i said we are still brand new and our new material blows the old cd out of the water so its pretty exciting coming into our own and finding our sound.

Speaking of the album, what are some of your favorite tracks on the new album and how has the music changed from the last album to the new one?
As of now its "Ex-Girlfriends Are Stupid" and "City of Clones." Of course we are still recording every week and coming up with new ideas, nothing is final until we get an offical release date. And Vonnegutt's music has definatly evolved, because we are kind of finding our niche and working together better just because we've grown as far as band this past year.

But once I'm up there i'm fine and you would never know I was trying not to throw up for the last 3 hours. Haha, but Warped was dope!

I know from the band's MySpace that you are in negotiations with Purple Ribbon Records which is huge, can you update My Swag on the progress of the deal?
Umm. well from what im told things are moving along, i mean these things take time and we might of announced that we have contracts on the table a little prematurely but i mean c'mon, were kids, when Big Boi says he's going to sign you and your lawyer gets contracts, you get extremly excited! haha, but i was pretty naive to the industry and how long things take as far as negotiations and what not. So hopefully soon everything will be wrapped up shortly, but i mean were moving right along as far as building a buzz and doing shows and recording. We have a manger now, so things are cooking a little more. We had a meeting with Big Boi not to long ago and he was really excited with the project and that was very re-assuring.

I think that would be huge for hip hop music in general to have a real rap BAND on a label such as Purple Ribbon. I have never heard of anything like that so I'm personally excited to see what comes of it. I think everybody is looking for a new sound and I think Vonnegutt gives you that. How did Big Boi even come into the picture?
Well our guitar player Neil was one of Dunegon Family's studio musicians and has played on whole heep of rap/r&b records. So once we finished our first EP, Big Boi's camp was just the first person who we handed a cd too. The rest just kinda rolled into place, we had contracts before we even did a show.

Pays off to have friends in high places and when you have the talent its pretty much a no brainer huh. When you and I talked yesterday you mentioned that you still get nervous at your shows. Well today you played the Vans Warped Tour, THATS HUGE! Just how nervous were you? lol
Haha i was really nervous. I mean ima pretty emotional and over dramatic and i tend to obsess over issues and getting on stage is one of them. But once i'm up there i'm fine and you would never know i was trying not to throw up for the last 3 hours. Haha, but Warped was dope! It was such an awesome experience and an honor to be included in it. Especially since we are such a new band.

No doubt no doubt. Were you startruck at all? Any new friends and colleagues as a result of the show?
Umm, not really star struck any. I got a chance to connect with Matt from Gym Class Heroes so that was ill. Shouts out to GCH! They killed it today!

So should we look for any future collaborations with GCH or any other artists for that matter? Any collaborations on the new album? Any artists the band would like to collaborate with in the near future?
Well, we have a few people in mind that would fit our album perfect. Big Boi will def be on it, we have something in the works featuring Big Gipp being produced by Ray Murray Organized Noize. As far as Gym Class Heroes, I’m definitely down. I'm really up for anything.

Big Gipp, now THAT would be interesting lol Its obvious that Vonnegutt's music is a very different type of hip hop. Are you ready for the criticism, if any, that the media might have as far as the classification of your music as far as the appropriate genre that it should be labeled under? What do you have to say to those that say that your music is not "real hip hop" but anything else?
I don't like being boxed in with categories or anything. I try to stray as far away as i possibly can. But if necessary, i would say we are live hip-hop, alternative hip-hop or just hip-hop. No rap rock. I hate it when people say rap rock, we are definetly not that. It makes me think of like limp bizkit or something. We are Hip-Hop.

Well said. What would you say that Vonnegutt's mission is? What are you guys out to prove or change, if anything?
To be honest we just wanna make dope, fun music. We touch on alot of topics and subjects, but we just want you to enjoy yourself while listening to our music. We're fun!

Yea I noticed that! Its awesome to see hip hop that’s headed in a different direction and with the different topics that the band brings to the table are definitely a step up from cars, hoes, and dro lol Not that there's anything wrong with that because I know I definitely bump to that shit too lol When can we expect the next album to drop, go ahead and plug it for My Swag along with any future shows or anything the band has coming up
Well I think we got a few shows coming up in Atlanta. We are working on a tour nationwide soon. And the album isn't dropping until this label thing gets sorted, but we almost have a album worth of new material. If it ends up taking to long, we've discussed about dropping it independently or on the net or something.

Well whatever way that the band chooses, I know i'll be copping. Anything else you would like to say to the Vonnegutt fans and My Swag fans that are reading this right now?
I just wanna thank all our fans. I try to express it as much as possible, i'm always down to sign every autograph and take a million pictures with you guys. I love our fans and i just want our fans to know how much we appreciate them. "Vonnegutt fans are the best fans in the world!"

Click here for Vonnegutt Myspace