Vid Pick: VISTA – Hellbent

As a female fronted pop punk band with an edge, VISTA undoubtedly receives endless comparisons to early Paramore, and Tonight Alive. Do you know what … that’s some pretty damned impressive company to be in, and with their latest single, “Hellbent,” it’s clear why so many would put them amongst Warped Tour royalty.

“Hellbent” is off of VISTA’s recently released EP, Long Live, and the video for it was filmed during the band’s summer tour. Never ones to sit down for too long, they’re currently on a fall tour, as the road has become their second home.

I caught up with the VISTA duo of Hope Vista and Greg Almeida to find out more about their tour life, the video for “Hellbent,” and the prospect of lyric tattoos.

Of all the songs on your new EP, why is “Hellbent” the one you decided to create a video for, and why did you want to make it a live performance video?

Greg: I personally notice that song has a shitload of energy. It's real dang fun. One of my favorites to play. So we just decided to film it every night and see what we could make of it!

Hope: I think there was something really special about The Long Live Tour, (with it) being our first headlining tour, and finding a certain groove that we fit into once we got a few shows in.

“Hellbent” was what we opened our set with every night on that tour, so we wanted to see if we could capture that energy on film.

Speaking of tours, you’re currently on the road again. What are three things – and you can choose literally anything … a favorite van food, a specific type of coffee, or even simply time to sleep – that you consider to be true lifesavers while on the road?

Greg: Well, Chipotle gave us some free meals, so they saved lives. Baby wipes are life savers. Having a solid mechanic to call is also a lifesaver.

Hope: Vitamin C!!! I do not travel anywhere without a container of Vitamin C gummies. I take them every morning.

Sunglasses. The van has a weird glare sometimes when we’re driving, and I usually sleep with them on in the van, as silly as that seems.

Most important to me, probably, is protein bars. It’s really hard, on the road, to eat healthy, and if I don’t get enough protein before a show I don’t have enough energy to perform to the best of my ability, so I have nut-free protein bars that I eat every morning.

You’re a high energy band. How do you prepare for each show, and what do you do after the show to cool down, and bring your adrenaline back to a more human level?

Greg: Haha, at that point I'm a bit cooled down. To be honest, loading out, and talking to fans, usually cools me down. I love talking to folks.

Hope: I usually don’t feel leveled, adrenaline-wise, until after we load out, and get back in the van to drive.

I also get very anxious right before our sets, and you can find me kind of just walking around whatever city we’re in an hour or so before the show. Greg will text me multiple times wondering where on Earth I am.

So before each show I try to go on a short walk an hour or so before our set to calm myself a bit.

After our sets are done, sometimes I lay on the floor for a minute or so before I go to merch.

I have weird show habits. I just have a hard time controlling my levels of energy and adrenaline.

I know you’re extremely personable with your fans. What have been some of your favorite fan interactions over the years?

Greg: Our fans are so dang cool. Whenever I see a \/ /\ in a (social media) bio I smile quite a bit.

We've seen some custom shirts, and someone overseas even made a dang cake with our stuff on it. Awesome.

Hope: The cake was bomb. I think a girl named Morgan from the UK made that.

It’s always funny for me at shows, because I know people by their Twitter handles. If someone comes up to us, and I recognize their face a bit, I’ll shout out their Twitter handle, because that’s just how I remember people.

In Virginia, on The Long Live Tour, a girl that has followed me on Twitter for at least two years came to the show, and I was like, “YOU’RE JAS MELON!” and it was the funniest thing I experienced that whole tour.

I think it’s incredibly important to be as personable as possible, because we’re just people. We want to talk to everybody, and at the start of shows, and in between sets, you can usually find Greg and I walking around the venue saying hi to every person there.

Do you know of any VISTA lyric tattoos, or is this something you’re still eagerly awaiting to see?

Greg: Oh my god I'm EAGERLY awaiting it so bad. Not that anyone has too, but if it does happen I'll be like, “Yo. That's literally nuts.” I wouldn't even be able to comprehend how sick that is. Again, our fans are the best.

Hope: I haven’t seen one yet! I was actually thinking of getting a \/ /\ tattoo, hahaha. So I very well may be the first!

For more VISTA, follow them on Twitter at @ThisIsVISTA.