Crowbarred's Mellow Mix Volume 1: MM Vol 1 - 021

MM Vol 1 #021

Vast

"I Don't Have Anything"

(2000)

Genre:Alt Rock

Gotcha!

Jon Crosby (or Vast as he is known in the music industry) is probably someone you haven't heard of before. That's a shame because this artist is immensely talented & i implore you to have a listen. When i researched "Vast" in 2000 bugga all was available about him & for some strange reason you get the feeling he likes it that way. Since 1998 Jon Crosby has released 5 Albums. "Music For The People" in 2000 was critically acclaimed .... and rightly so. One of the albums lead tracks "I Don't Have Anything" is one of the most heartfelt songs i have ever heard in my life, it captures the feeling of longing for someone and trust me .... i know how that feels.

Jon Crosby

VAST is one man and one man only, Jon Crosby. Crosby grew up in Humboldt County, California, and at the age of 13, was profiled as a promising guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine. He was nearly signed to the guitar-based label Shrapnel, but decided to turn it down to hone his songwriting chops. Crosby soon left high school to do home study, and set out to form a band to perform some demos he recorded all by himself, under the name VAST. Although he was able to play shows, the band was a revolving door of members, with Crosby still recording demos all the while. The music was original, as it encompassed elements of industrial/alternative (Nine Inch Nails) and ambient, with unpredictable samples added. One such demo started to get some heavy airplay on a local station, which led to a fierce major label bidding war.

VAST was eventually signed to Elektra, and released the debut Visual Audio Sensory Theater in mid-1998. At the time of its release, auditions for a backing band for a subsequent tour were under way. Two years later, Crosby hooked up with producer Blumpy and a band made up of guitarist Justin Cotta, bassist Thomas Froggatt and drummer Steve Clark to create the 2000 release Music for People. VAST returned in 2004 with Nude. ~ [Greg Prato, All Music Guide]

Music For The People (2000)

VAST's Jon Crosby is mysteriously alluring -- the dark's scene artistic poet. And on his sophomore release Music for People, he molds his one man show of elaborate classical orchestration and shadowy industrial layers into another enigmatic piece of cathartic wizardry. Music for People is haunting and vividly edged with heavy metal elements and Crosby's somber vocals. It's cutting with Crosby's use of the Bulgarian Voices, his signature chanting backdrops made famous on his debut Visual Auditory Sensory Theater. "What Else Do I Need" and "Song Without a Name" showcase the dismal impressionistic view in which Crosby has aimed to create: harmonies so lushly sculptured into a new metal sound. It's not raging, yet it's angst-ridden with bittersweet tongues of love and deception. "The One Alive" is reminiscent of goth-rock's Sisters of Mercy, brooding along to the band's 1985 cut "Marian." "Lady of Dreams" and Free" illustrate Crosby's therapeutic nature. He's oddly similar to Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, for his material appears to be an outlet for his mind's distractions and frustrations. But his compositions do not solely reflect him. Music for People is bizarre and beautiful in capturing social apathy. ~ [MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide]

Influences & Trivia

S teve Vai, Joe Satriani, U2, and Depeche Mode. Nine Inch Nails, the Cure, Metallica, the Doors, The Tea Party, Mr. Bungle (whose first drummer, Jed Watts, played briefly with VAST), Machines of Loving Grace, Mozart, assorted early 90's Techno, World Music, and Nirvana, as well as goth clubs, which he frequented in San Francisco and NYC.

Loves foreign films and David Lynch.
His great-grandfather was Congressman John C. Crosby; his ancestry on his mother's side is English and Native American. It is speculated that his father, who was a lounge guitarist whom he never met, may have been partially Japanese.
An extremely proficient chess player.
He has had a number of spiritual affiliations, ranging from Hinduism to Christianity to Shamanism, which is reflected in his music.
While Jon has never been married, he has been engaged twice, once to ex-manager and writer Sakina Gerhard and once to adult model Debra Jean Schwartz a.k.a. Debra Jean Danger. ~ [Source:Wikipedia]

Roll Call ..........

For Steve Vai visit Def 1000 Number 896

For Joe Satriani visit Def 1000 Number 688

For U2 see MM Vol 1 # 129 & #038

For more U2 visit Def 1000 Number 661

For Depeche Mode visit Def 1000 Number 804

For The Cure visit Def 1000 Number 881

For The Doors visit Def 1000 Number 851, Number 746 & Number 729

For the Tea Party visit Def 1000 Number 663

This song has a crowbarred rating of 95.6 out of 108 pts