Q&A with Maryland hard rock band VEER

By Mike Alahverdian, Rock At Night New England

How do you balance the need to make a living as a musician with the desire to create music that is true to your artistic vision?

Ronald Malfi: I think when you write and perform music that you’re passionate about and that speaks to you, you find that it speaks to other people, too. We’ve never created anything musically that was something we were passionate about.

Jon Malfi: I always tell people, streaming is great, but buy a CD if you want to hear another album from us, lol.

Christian Mathis: Balancing the need to sustain ourselves financially as musicians while staying true to our artistic vision is something our band values deeply. Each of us maintains separate careers and pursues other ventures outside of our musical collaboration, which provides us with diverse perspectives and influences. Being part of this band serves as a creative escape from our daily routines, allowing us to explore and create music that resonates artistically with us. We prioritize authenticity in our sound, which is fundamental to our identity as musicians. This approach not only enriches our artistic expression but also enhances our ability to connect with our audience on a deeper level.

How did band members meet?

Ryan Fowler: We have all been friends since we were kids basically. Christian and I met when we were around 13. We never played in a band together before when we were younger but we both had bands and we have been close friends ever since. Ron and I met when we were just about out of high school and we had a different band together that included the third Malfi brother Darin on drums. I met Jon around then as well, who was playing drums in a different band.

Christian Mathis: I’ve known Ryan for years, since high school, I met Ron through Ryan while they both were in a band called Nellie Blide. Fast forward to 2016, Ron’s brother, Jon, was creating a festival that featured some musicians his company, Freestate Custom Guitars, were sponsoring at the time. Jon and Ron would normally put a band together to jam annually. That particular year Ryan reached out mentioning they were looking for a bass player, so I dusted off my bass, played the gig and something must’ve clicked cause i have been here ever since lol.

Jon Malfi: Yeah, pretty much what both Ryan and Christian said. Me and Ron have been playing music together our whole lives and through the musical circle, I had played with Ryan on some occasions too. VEER formed out of the want and need to start a new musical project because of the time myself and Ron took off from playing. It just so happened that the jam session sparked something bigger.

Describe your creative process when you write new music.

Ronald Malfi: The process varies. Sometimes we come up with riffs or chord progressions during some impromptu jam session. Often, I’ll approach the band with the rough skeleton of a song, and rely on the other guys to flesh out their parts, which, in turn, fleshes out the song as a whole. The collaborative aspect of songwriting is really the most fun, and most fulfilling.

Ryan Fowler: Our process is fairly typical. Most ideas start with one person bringing something to the band. It could be a riff or a whole song and we just go from there. Some songs make it and some get shelved. We also record just about everything at rehearsal now which is a big help in the writing process. You would be amazed how easy it is to forget things sometimes!

Christian Mathis: Our creative process for writing new music is a collaborative journey among the four of us. It usually starts with compiling a collection of riffs or ideas, which we then jam on and refine until they begin to take shape. There’s a lot of freedom for each of us to contribute different perspectives and ideas, which enriches our sound and creativity. More importantly, we communicate constructively when an idea doesn’t quite align with our collective vision, ensuring that everything we create serves the purpose we intend. This collaborative and open approach allows us to explore new musical territories while staying true to our artistic goals as a band.

Jon Malfi: The one fun thing about this band is that we do not contain ourselves in a box when we write music for VEER. There is no real sound, or “style” we stick to. If we enjoy playing it and it feels good, then it is a VEER song. Don’t get me wrong, there are some sings that we like that are a little too far out there, but of rate most part everything kind of has its place.

How would you describe the music that you typically create?

Jon Malfi: It is kind of hard to “label” or describe our style of music. I usually just tell people it is rock/hard rock. I know a ton of bands say that, but all four of us have very different approaches to music and how we write music and what we listen to. I am very into heavy modern rock/metal. Ron and Christian probably have the closest taste in music, and enjoy a lot of 90’s/00’s rock. Fowler is a very big blues guy and that shows a lot in his playing. Don’t get me wrong, we all listen to a lot of the same stuff and have a large variety of musical influences, but we each have a unique perspective on how we write music. I think that is how we achieve the “VEER” sound. Take any one of us out of the equation, and we would sound totally different. I feel we really took the time to explore and hone our skills as a band. This album sounds like VEER and we really pushed each other during the writing process and in the studio. I believe one of the biggest accomplishments as a band is to create your own sound and musical identity, but more than that, you have to create an identity that other people enjoy listening to. It sounds like an easy task, but it really isn’t, took us a very long time to do that, lol.

Ronald Malfi: There is a trend in popular music where artists tend to gravitate toward a singular, homogenized sound, to the point where the current rotation of music on mainstream radio all starts to sound the same. I’m not sure that’s a new phenomenon, but it appears that way now more than ever because mainstream radio has narrowed their platform. With VEER, we decided there was no point in sounding like every other band—we wanted our music to sound exclusively like us, and no one else, so that people hearing us would say, yes, that’s a VEER song. We’ve found this niche where our music straddles some invisible genre line—the songs are straight-ahead rock songs, but they’re deceptively pop songs, too, at their core. There’s a pervasive darkness underlying the verses, yet those choruses hit—what our drummer, Jon, calls the “money shot”—and the listener is struck with a hopefulness that comes through. At least, that’s my hope.

Ryan Fowler: I can’t say I draw from anything specific these days. I listen to all sorts of music from all kinds of genres. As one of the engineers I was really focused on finding some really organic instrument tones and blending them with some more progressive ideas that we have been exploring. I’m really into the process of making a good album so for me, the more I can listen to and read about, the more I can make informed artistic decisions when we write and record.

Christian Mathis: One of the neat things about VEER is we all have vastly different musical backgrounds and tastes, I think because of that, there is an organic method when putting these songs together. Most of the time Ron comes in with a selection of riffs to play around with, and then some songs are constructed by just riffing, everyone has an opportunity to voice their opinion of the direction of the song. We don’t have a playbook/guidelines or rules of what the VEER sound is or should be.

If you could open a show for any artist, who would it be?

Jon Malfi: I don’t think there are necessarily certain bands I want to open for as much as certain shows. We are trying to push towards getting on more festivals and playing in that type of atmosphere. Festivals are always a ton of fun to play, especially when you run into bands on tour that you haven’t seen in a while and you get to hang out. Most recently we played the Rock on the Hill Festival in Pennsylvania and it was a ton of fun to see everyone. We will be pushing for more festival dates in the future for sure.

Christian Mathis: Tough question lol, I would say HUM, Smashing Pumpkins, or Weezer.

What are your goals as a band?

Jon Malfi: I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we just want to continue to create together. We are working on some cool stuff now that we should be releasing this October. We are always working on things creatively, and I feel that’s what keeps us motivated. We all probably have different goals or achievements, but in the end it is the same thing, move forward.

How do you engage with your fans online and at live performances?

Ronald Malfi: Admittedly, we’re into big, sensationalized shows. A VEER concert is also a party, which is also an experience, which is also…well, often a headache for Jon, who sets a lot of it up. But they’re a blast. We just had our album release show for Soft Machines last July, where we performed the entire new album as well as tracks from the first record. It was a 90-minute set and Jon almost died. Literally. But we’ve cultivated such a dedicated following that it’s pure joy to see people at the foot of the stage singing along to the songs, and pumping their fists in the air among a sea of VEER t-shirts. We don’t perform every weekend—we’re particular about the shows we play and how close together they are—so we’re able to make each of our concerts into a huge event with a great turnout.

Jon Malfi: We always try and keep things fresh and fun. Most of our stuff, whether it is online or in a live setting, are really thought out. We don’t half ass anything in this band. I think that helps us stand out from a lot of other bands who just continuously put out stuff with no real meaning behind it. There is already a ton of crap out there, why add to it!

ROCK AT NIGHT’s review of Soft Machines is HERE

Can you share any upcoming projects, tours, or collaborations you’re particularly excited about?

Ronald Malfi: The future is bright…and busy. We’re looking at releasing both albums on vinyl—the demand for this has grown exponentially over the years—and Jon has some other slick merchandizing enterprises on the horizon. Personally, I’m aware of the long gap between our first and second records, and I don’t want that to happen again, so I’m already working on material for the third album. I want to continue down the path we’ve already started, although not regurgitating anything we’ve done in the past. It’s more about continual forward momentum, like a shark. Once you set the bar at a certain height, you can only go higher. There’s no going backward for VEER.

Jon Malfi: Yeah, like Ron said…BUSY, LOL! We will be releasing Soft Machines on vinyl later this year! We are also going into the studio in July to record some special songs that should be dropping in October for a really cool project we have been trying to get done for Halloween. We also have a collaboration we are working on with Rapture Brewing out of Oklahoma, and will be dropping the first VEER BEER towards the end of July. We have some other tricks up our sleeve, but I don’t want to spoil any of it yet.

I love the title “Soft Machines” and what I perceive to be the meaning of it. How do life experiences, personal or global events, influence your songwriting?

Ronald Malfi: Soft Machines is a metaphor for people–just fleshy, thinking, spiritual little engines that populate this planet. The title of the record implies that we’re a hearty bunch, but we’re also vulnerable, too, and that’s what a lot of songs on the album highlight: human frailty, human fallibility, love and loss and indecision. All of those things. At its heart, it’s a concept album, in that there was a singular focus on where this record was going from the very inception. We had three early tracks that we cut prior to the pandemic shutting things down—“Science,” “Red Tide,” and “Keep It Good”—and we sort of used those songs as a blueprint for the rest of the record. Even the album title, Soft Machines, comes from a line in “Red Tide.” It’s just another phrase for human beings, toiling their way through life—all these soft, fleshy machines going about their lives, right? So while we refer to this record as our “space” album, it’s a bit grander than that—in my mind, it’s about humanity, and our place in the whole damn universe, in the cosmos, whatever that might be. The songs themselves are all reflections on that—from “Science” and its narrator’s plea to not having modernity rob him of his wistfulness; from “Red Tide” lamenting the cyclical nature of mankind; “Photograph” is about regret, much like “Astronaut” is, too, although dressed up in metaphor. “Bring Me Life” is about what a lying, cheating bastard someone can be, while “Keep It Good” is an anthem pleading just that: love each other and keep it good. The record runs the entire collection of the human experience in that way.

How do you define success in your musical career, and do you feel that you’ve achieved it?

Ronald Malfi: For me, success in music is very personal. I feel our last album was a huge success because it was crafted from an idea, to a concept, to a thing that exists, and we never really lost sight of the blueprint of it. It’s rare for a piece of art to exist in its final form in a way that is so close to the way it was originally conceived, but I feel, as a band, we achieved that with Soft Machines. I’m very proud of it.

Ryan Fowler: Well that’s a very loaded question!!! Success means different things for different people. Creating art and being paid to create art separate ideas to me. Many artists will have periods where they are well paid followed by periods where you start to question your existence. It’s the artist’s journey so to speak. Music has literally taken me all over the world. My whole career has been filled with ups and downs like that so I would say that I feel very lucky to have had the support that I’ve had over the years and yes….I’ve certainly achieved some amazing success in my career but I’m not resting yet!

What’s the most meaningful fan interaction or feedback you’ve received, and why did it resonate with you?

Ryan Fowler: I’ve had a couple fans at different times tell me that our music has helped them through some really hard times. Divorce, family trauma and one person who was thinking about suicide. There are a lot of people who struggle in life and it’s a very special feeling when someone says that my music helped them through their struggles.

Jon Malfi: There have definitely been some awesome interactions over the years that we all have encountered since playing music and performing. I think it is really amazing when you have fans that are so involved in the music that they create stuff. We have had multiple fans over the years make us some amazing things! For example, one fan handmade us custom mini hot wheels that were hand painted with our logo on them. The attention to detail was amazing and our music helped spark his creative process for it. Stuff like that is really awesome and I cherish things like that!