How did we get here?: Vivian McConnell

I got a chance to hang out in the station with local singer/songwriter/heart-throb Vivian McConnell to talk about her musical past and future. That's pretty much all I have to say for an introduction. Here's an interview: JT: First off, what music-related things are you involved with right now?VM: Currently? Well, there's Grandkids, and then there's Santah. And then I'm going to try to practice flute a lot this summer because I played flute in high school.JT: And you play at Potbelly?VM: I play at Potbelly about once or twice a week. Oh! I'm on the new Elsinore record. Yeah, so I guess those are my musical projects. I don't know, this summer I'm gonna be writing a lot of songs and playing with Grandkids a lot.JT: Do you have any past projects? You can go as far back as you're willing to go.VM: Well In high school I had a band called the Dolly Llamas. D-O-L-L-Y Llamas. And it was just a trio of girls-- well there were five of us, but then we just didn't invite two people back. I still feel kinda bad about that because they were really cool. But we just only played at my high school talent shows, and we'd do pretty hilarious covers. And by hilarious I mean-- we thought they were funny. We played like one original.JT: Where are you from?VM: Dixon, Illinois. It's a very small town. It's the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan.JT: Ohhhh!VM: I marched in Ronald Reagan's funeral parade as a sixth grader. I was dressed as a patriot. It was actually quite funny because we had these patriot hats. It was Ronald Reagan Middle School. We had these patriot hats, and these nice little outfits, and it was raining that day so we all had to wear plastic bags over our outfits, and we all looked like a bunch of goofs in Ronald Reagan's funeral. There's a new statue of him in a white tee by a river, and it's just really ridiculous. I come from a pretty silly town.JT: Going back to your childhood, how did you first get into music?VM: So my dad is a musician as well, but he never really played or performed, but he would sing to us all the time. I remember him playing me Beatles songs when I was going to sleep when I was really young. I have these vivid memories of my dad singing and playing for me. When I was in 4^th grade I started playing guitar because I was really influenced by my older brother Stan who's four years older than me. He started playing guitar somewhere around the same age as I did, and then I picked up so it was kind of like this whole family. My dad would help my brother play, and then my brother would help me play. My mom's not very musically talented, but she's really into music too, so I definitely came from a musical family. I remember the first song I ever performed was “Wonderwall” for my 4^th grade music class so I felt pretty cool about that. I was really nervous, but I sang and I played it. I remember trying to figure out singing and playing guitar for the first time, which is very difficult. The first time you do it you're like “How does this interact?” but now it seems so natural. So that's kind of my history. I played at this Thai restaurant when I was in high school, and I would play at all the talent shows and bring my guitar everywhere.JT: Any more super interesting stories?VM: I guess touring as a part of music is a really weird and awesome thing. Emphasis on weird, especially if you don't have the budget to stay in hotels every night, which is very common. So I've just slept in some very interesting places. On an upside-down dog mat in this apartment in Brooklyn. I've slept in a walk-in closet in Tennessee. On weird floors with tons of animals. But the cool thing is you just meet so many awesome people.JT: What's in store for the future?VM: I'll be going to Spain to finish school, and I'll be there for about a month and half. Then after that I think I might move home for no more than a month. That's a promise I'm making to myself. To get myself re-settled, and probably move to Chicago with the Grandkids, and really try to nurse our relationship with the city of Chicago. We're gonna be demo-ing over the summer. We just released LP 1, but we're already thinking about LP 2. I'll be staying busy with Santah as well. Santah's gonna be working on LP 2 this summer. We're playing the Fenwick High prom. Gonna be playing all the hits. Yeah, that's the future. Then maybe Philadelphia. Maybe San Francisco. As much as I love the Midwest I kinda want to branch out, move toward the coast for at least some part of my youth.JT: That's super cool. That's about all I have. Thanks a bunch for doing this!VM: Thanks for having me!