Hailing from Atlanta, VYB play a blend of uplifting pop rock and electronic dance music to create a truly unique sound.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Tom Belau- Lead Vocals, Keys, Guitar
Noah Phillips- Lead Guitar
Ryan Jones- Drums
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to VYB? How long has the band been around?
No one was in a band prior to VYB. Tom did a solo EP before but once VYB was created, all of that was behind him. VYB was formed in the Fall of 2018 but first released music in February of 2019.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
VYB when it comes down to it is just a different spelling of the word “vibe”. We know it might be a little cheesy but we want people to vibe to our music and we think the name fits us as a band. We’ve never undergone an official name change. Back before we had an official band name, we just used to call ourselves Limp Pizza because we typed random words into a band name generator and that’s what came out. We came up with the official name “VYB” when we landed our first gig.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
We all write our songs together, however most of them start with our singer Tom. He’ll create a skeleton (Very basic first draft) of a song and everyone else will come in and flesh out what they want to do.
Tom writes all of VYB’s lyrics, mostly on the subject of his personal experiences with relationships, stress and memories. He uses lyric writing as a vessel or a dairy to make sense of his emotions. Since every lyric is personal to Tom, we’re sure that the topics of songs will change over time just like people do.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Our first album, Mood Swings was very indie sounding. We were often compared to The 1975. Since releasing Mood Swings, we’ve really gotten into more rock sounding bands like The Band Camino and even Bring Me The Horizon. A lot of our next album has definitely taken some inspiration from that side of music. We think listening to Mood Swings and Deja Vu back to back makes it very apparent the direction we’re moving in.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
I (Tom) first tried to start a band in college when I was really into Coldplay. I always loved studying frontmen of bands like Chirs Martin (Coldplay) Matty Healy (The 1975) and Nich Petricca (Walk The Moon). These guys inspired me to start writing music and made me realize that I feel most content when I’m creating.
Noah listened to a lot of classic rock music growing up and still listens to rock and indie rock, and always wanted to make his own mark in that area. An artist that was a big motivation for Noah to join into a band was Muse, he pulls a lot of his inspiration from them in a lot of his guitar licks and riffs.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …
We don’t have any weird rituals, but something we have made a habit of doing is going out to dinner together beforehand. A lot of us have super busy schedules and we aren’t always all together a lot, so it’s really special when we have a gig because that means we all have the night together.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Up until recently, I think our collective highlight was the last show we played before quarantine. We played a show at The Vinyl with a couple bands called Cake Jam and The Orphan The Poet. It was a week night so we weren't expecting the turnout to be that great, but it ended up being the best crowd we ever played to. It was a really great experience. One of the bands brought a bunch of balloons and we brought glow sticks, and the crowd loved it and it provoked a lot of participation from the audience and it was a lot of fun.
I think now our highlight would be the music video for Deja Vu getting featured by Vevo. We ended up getting over 10k views in under a week. We’ve never had our music receive a reception like that and it makes us really excited for what the future holds.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Tom- My dream band to tour with would be Coldplay, just because Chris Martin is one of my Idols, but some other bands that I think would be amazing to tour with would be The 1975, Walk The Moon or the Band Camino. I think we would all mesh really well and have a blast on the road together.
Noah - I think if our second album, which is far more rock-inspired, were to get us a tour, it would be awesome to tour with Muse or even Bastille. Both those bands have high energy songs like we try to provide, both those bands seem fun and in touch with their fans, and it would be awesome to share the road with them.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Deja Vu marks the beginning of a new era of VYB. There will be a lot more music, content and other fun surprises releasing in the coming months, so be sure to follow our social media! Our handle all across the board is @vybband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vybband/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vybband/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQdfNw6QX2Rnu8LIr-GMVHQ
TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/JLqA2hg/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3o7qPCv
VYBCAST: https://spoti.fi/2T7kFnP