While at Vans Warped Tour in Syracuse, NY I was lucky enough to talk to Davey Muise of Vanna about something a little bit different than expected. Today we talked about his Find Your Shovel initiative and the clothing line to coincide with it, Shovel Brand. Check out the interview below to see what Find Your Shovel is about and see how Muise is helping clothe homeless teens. 

Sam: "Hey! I'm Sam and I'm with Kill The Music. Please state your name for me." 

Davey Muise: "I'm Davey and I'm the vocalist of Vanna!" 

S: "Yes, but we are actually here today to talk about Find Your Shovel!" 

D: "Cool!" 

S: "Which is, I think, obviously Vanna is tight, but this is way cooler because it's giving back to a lot of people and doing some really cool stuff." 

D: "Absolutely! Yeah!" 

S: "So, Find Your Shovel is an initiative for teens to find their purpose, and for everyone to come together as a community and share their stories. Have you recently heard any stories that have really kind of touched you or can you think of any off of the top of your head?" 

D: "Yeah, actually about three days ago I had this transgendered boy come up to me and talk to me about...I took like a, when the gay marriage rights bill got passed, that was something we've been fighting for a long time. My dad is married to another man and it's been something I've been fighting for a long time and it was just this huge victory! When it happened, there was weird backlash from people that...I don't even know, I don't understand people that think these things but I went on a big Twitter rant about how I stand with the LGBTQ community and I have my whole life, ya know? That this isn't okay, if you come to Vanna shows and think these things (spreading hate and discriminating against the LGBTQ community) then stop coming to Vanna show because there is not place for you here. I took an avid stand and then I made a post from Vanna's and I made a post on my Instagram. I went back and forth on all the social medias, letting everyone know that like negative stuff isn't going to fly with us. So I had this trans boy come up to me a few days ago, and it's been rough for him and of course being a teenager it's rough anyways. Being a transgendered teenager is like...I can't even wrap my head around the things you must be going through. And he said multiple times that he had thought about killing himself and apparently I'm like one (this kid is like 15) I'm like one of his heroes in his life and he had no idea what my stance was on the gay community or anything like that. So when I made that (post) he was like I've been fighting this fight, I can do this! I have people that are willing to stand with me." 

S: "I got goosebumps!" 

D: "Yeah! I got sort of teary eyed talking to him. I gave him a big hug and I was like if anyone fucks with you, you just come bring them to me man and I'll set them straight! Ya know, it's little stories like that around the world. I'll tweet stuff, or I'll say stuff or whatever. I say what's on my mind, how I feel. And I never know if it impacts people like that. I didn't meet that kid till then and that one tweet that he read and felt empowered. Which is why I love social media, because I can reach people like that. But yeah, it's little stories like that I hear. I hear stories at schools when I go to schools, shows when I have shows. I never switch it off, ya know? It's not like now it's Vanna time; everything I do in Vanna is based off of this. The whole reason I figured this out is through Vanna. No matter where I go, I never shut it off. I always talk about stuff. My whole life is hearing other peoples' stories and that is cool because the number one thing that I ask people when I share my story is that they share their story. So I guess it's working, I guess people are listening. So it's a really cool thing!" 

S: "Yeah, it's awesome. I saw you actually speak at So What?! like two years ago and that was my first introduction to Vanna and you as a whole and it was a really cool experience for me to get introduced to you because it's a different light than seeing you on stage. You can say a lot of the same stuff on stage, but there's something more intimate about the talks." 

D: "I get to tell more of a story and where I'm from. It's more of a behind-the-music, I'm doing this, here's why thing." 

S: "Everything has to have a purpose and that's really kind of cool. Now you just launched the clothing line recently to go along with this (Find Your Shovel)." 

D: "Shovel Brand, yeah!" 

S: "And now from what I understand you're giving away a shirt to a homeless teen for every fan that buys the merch?" 

D: "Yeah, it's an equal opportunity, 1:1 merch company. No profits. So what we do, for now we have tee-shirts, sweatpants, leggings, beanies, and hats and every time you buy one, we print another one. That goes and gets shipped to my house in a box every month, and once a month I go down to the teen center that my wife helps run and we give these clothes out to all of these kids. 'Cause I was down there going through all of the clothing and donations and I realized how awful these clothes are. And I hate the phrase, it's come up so much, and I try to speak out against it. I hate the phrase "beggars can't be choosers." These kids, they're not beggars. They are going through a situation beyond their control. And these kids are teenagers, and think about when you were a teenager or even if you are a teenager now. Think about how you just want to be cool and to feel like you're a part of something. You know what I mean? These kids, they don't want to feel and look homeless. So my thought was, if we could figure out a way with cost to drop our operation costs so low that we can print two of everything and keep the prices and we figured it out. My drummer, owns a screen printing company and he is the one that is screen printing everything. So he is a partner with this and me. It's cool man! Everything is working out great! We have been up and running for two months and we have been able to cycle everything and it keeps on going. So I'm going to bring a box down here on Warped Tour for a lot of bands who want to donate. I hope next year to be on Warped Tour. Because I feel like a lot of the time these kids want to help other people. I've noticed that a lot about the punk-rock community, they want to help, but a lot of these kids don't know how. They need direction. So it's like 'yo! Here's the deal, you want to help? Buy a shirt. Want to help? Buy a hat, buy sweatpants because when you buy one, and you wear that shirt you're walking around and someone goes 'what is that?' you can be like 'oh well I have this shirt, and another kid has another shirt just like this that is homeless' It's as simple as that. I've gotten asked in interviews and stuff before 'so what are you doing this for? Like there's no profits right? You said there's no profit' and I'm like 'I just want to help people.' There's no agenda, there's no profits, it's just help. People need help and I'm in a position where I needed help. I was homeless for awhile and I lived in a van. Like an actual, just lived in a van. And man, I got help along the way and I'm here (thankfully) and I'm like man, if I ever get into the position where I can help people, I want to. No matter what that means, how big or small the help may be. So now, I love merch. I do all of our merch spreads with our guitar player, Nick. I've been merchandising our merch for years, I advertise for our band, I do all of that stuff. So I'm like, I can run something like that. So I figured my two loves of fashion and wanting to help people and putting them together." 

S: "Right? It just makes sense" 

D: "Yeah, so I'm going to have a video released and if you see these kids faces when we bring a box down. They know what's in that box. When I bring, at the end of tour we bring a bunch of Vanna merch and I'll collect merch from all the bands on the tour and they'll just be like 'Yeah! Here's a box. Here's a box." and these kinds love metal and punk-rock and all this other stuff. So then when I bring a box of Shovel Brand or Vanna merch or The Color Morale donated to it, Chelsea Grin donated to it, these kids know what's in those boxes and they, their days lighten up. It's like, it gives me goosebumps even thinking about them. So it's like, it's worth it. That's, there it is; my payment is their smiles. That's all that matters." 

S: "Now I was looking at the line, some of the pictures you guys have released of the merch. What has been your inspiration for some of your designs?" 

D: "Well, we made...a long time ago actually, the girl that's standing behind you now, she designed the first, original Find Your Shovel, Shovel Brand logo and she's an artist and she's incredible at what she does. And I wanted to incorporate her because she's been a big part of my life and I wanted to incorporate her into that. And then our new branding has been done by a guy named Adam Toomey who designed the new Vanna record, who also was literally a kid at a show I met eight years ago or something like that and now he's one of my best friends in the entire world and I want to incorporate his desire to help out people. And he's like 'What can I do?' and I said 'design stuff for me' so between the two of them they design all of my designs for me and the "S" with the shovel logo is like, I want something that looks cool that's like an insignia for kids. I want someone to be like 'What is that?' and you question it when you see it. We are going to have some new designs coming out it's just like, it's teenagers man. Whatever's cool with them! I'll print on shirts, but I want to do it in a way that's a little inspirational to them. And the biggest thing that people don't realize is that I'm not like putting inspirational quotes on tee-shirts because for them it feels normal. I don't want them to feel like a charity case when they're walking around. It's just simple. Really cool clothing line that can easily be sold in like Zumiez or anything like that. But it's just, it's a one for one program so that these kids, we're not pitying them. We're just helping them." 

S: "Right! Now besides potentially getting on Warped Tour next year is there any other big things you have for the brand and for Find Your Shovel as a whole?" 

D: "Yeah, well I'm going to keep speaking at schools my fall and spring are already pretty booked up already. So I'm not on tour with Vanna, I'll be on tour speaking at schools and Find Your Shovel. Then as far as Shovel Brand goes, my goal is to have a brand rep in every state. Delivering a box in every state, every single month to a teen center in their location. So we have worked out budgets, so once we start hitting a monthly goal for our teen center we will move on to another one and start hitting that monthly goal. We literally just want to go like state by state, until it's everywhere. I want to sponsor things, I want to do everything I possibly can. The biggest and coolest part is that I don't depend on money for this at all. I'm not looking to make a dollar off of this, I just want to help people. And I think the fact that it is a non-profit. People gravitate towards it a little more and they want to help. Cause I'm not, no offense to any singer of a band who owns a clothing companies, a lot of my friends that are in bands own great clothing companies that I think are truly awesome and they help the kids that buy them and make them feel good about themselves. But I didn't want to be one of those guys. I'm not in some insanely popular band which anything I drop I immediately make thousands of dollars off of them, I just wanted to help people." 

S: *pretends to make it rain* *laughs* 

D: *laughs* "Exactly! I'm not here making it rain. I just want to help people and bless other peoples' lives. I want to be on Vans Warped Tour. I love the Warped Tour, their embodiment of what they do is exactly what Shovel Brand is about. I just want to do as much as I can!" *bouncing up and down* "I want to sponsor festivals! I want to get like famous ass dudes to like take a second out of their day to be like 'What is this?' Check it out and maybe rock something on stage! I just want to spread it as far as I can because the bigger 'it' gets, the more people are helped. That's how you have to look at it. It has nothing to do with me, the bigger that Shovel Brand gets the more kids that are getting clothed in the country so that's all it's about. Getting it big so that kids can just be clothed, man. I got a couple companies, I work with a really cool team. I've got a couple companies that aren't clothing companies that are out in the other worlds that would like to do collabs and have reached out to me. So that's coming soon! I'm literally looking for like a flannel company to be like 'Let's do a collab!' Denim company, be like 'Let's do jeans!' Shoes, let's do Shovel Brand shoes and collabs. Because I don't care about money I'll be like whatever the cost margin is, I don't care. As long as we can bring two every time." 

S: "Right? You just gotta make it work! I really like that you're trying to pull in as many people as you can to get more people involved and really make this special." 

D: "My whole life has been a team effort, ya know? From my band, to my management that has honestly been a rock for me over this past ten years, my friends, my family, fellow artists, fellow bands. I didn't get here alone. Even these kids, they've helped me get here. So I really just want to pull everybody in I possibly can. And then if someone sees it and goes 'I like that shirt! What's it about? Who did the artwork for that shirt?' they can say 'Oh! This guy Adam, he's a designer. Check him out!' He did our record, he's doing the To The Wind record, he's doing a lot of Pure Noise stuff now. It's because we like to keep it all, all of our good friends doing it. I always want to involve all of my friends in everything I do!" 

S: "I love it! Is there anything else you'd like to add?" 

D: "People keep on coming up to me and asking 'How can I help?' Go buy a tee-shirt, buy a pair of sweatpants, go buy a hat. We will have new stuff out in September for 'Back to School'. A whole 'Back to School' line done. But if you want to help, buy something. I think so often people look, even band guys like myself, we look for what we can get for free. 'What can I get for free?' 'Can I get that for free?' 'I'll promote if I get in for free.'  

S: "Right. Taco Bell!" 

D: "Exactly!" *laughs* "Just buy a tee-shirt. Wear it and talk about it. That's really all I want people to do. Just try and spread this message. The more interviews I do, I watch the social numbers prime and people are starting to be like 'Oh! This is a thing.' And I'm not trying to hype anybody up, I'm not trying to blow smoke up anyone's behinds. I'm not trying to say more than what it is. It's literally just helping kids be clothed and if you're into that then go buy a shirt." 

S: "That's awesome. Thank you for talking to me today about this. I'm really stoked on the message and I hope this can help spread the word even more!"