Saturday, October 29, I ended up going to a concert I didn't plan on going to because I love my awesome roommate who was putting on a benefit concert to raise money for Radski – Radford and Pulaski – Young Life's campership fund. The concert's headliners were Virginia Man. And let me tell you, these guys are going places.
Let's start off by introducing each of the band members to you. The lead singer's name is Kristian Lietzan, on piano, we have Jacob Keller, on electric guitar, we have Andrew Burlingame, on drums, we have Jack Rutherford, and on bass guitar, we have Jason Ross.
All of them are incredible at what they do – they covered a NEEDTOBREATHE song that I have seen before in concert and honestly, their cover was just as good as NEEDTOBREATHE's rendition.
Being the ambitious little editor in chief I am, I could not pass up the opportunity to interview these fellas to figure what Virginia Man is all about.
And they were kind of enough to answer my questions after they rocked Radford Coffee Company.
How did you start?
Kristian: Andrew, an old band mate and I were playing downtown of Fredericksburg just three acoustic guitars on the street. Someone stopped and offered to have us play a three-hour set at a bar in downtown Fredericksburg; the set only lasted an hour and a half but we all had so much fun we knew we wanted to keep doing this. Then we slowly started growing the band to where we are now.
Would you rather wear denim on denim for the rest of your life or only be able to eat with a knife for the rest of your life?
Band consensus: Justin Timberlake. 2001. Denim suit. That is all.
Outside of the band what do you do?
Jacob: I'm a middle school math teacher and a high school young life leader.
Jack: I work at a coffee shop and volunteer with worship and production at my church.
Andrew: I'm a high school young life leader and a senior in college.
Jason: I'm a bird watcher, a long-walks-on-the beach-kind-of-guy...*laughs* but really I work part time construction and currently going to school for cyber security.
Kristian: I'm a high school Young Life Leader, a freelance construction worker and volunteer with worship at my church.
What's your inspiration?
Andrew: Musical inspiration for sure is The Tallest Man on Earth.
Jack: Mumford & Sons definitely is one my musical inspiration for sure with some others in there too, but I actually have a story about my inspiration to do music. When I was ten years old my mom took me to a New Boyz concert and on stage, they had this spinning drum set. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. That was the moment I knew I wanted to play music for the rest of my life.
Jacob: 80's pop – Madonna, Pat Benatar, and Chaka Khan. No doubt.
Kristian: Creeds Clearwater Revival. That's it.
Jason: I grew up with a bluegrass influence from my dad so Tony Rice and Ricky Skaggs.
Where do you want this to go?
Jacob: Part of the song Andrew wrote, Elegy, talks about leaving your old life behind. We want to do music excellently so that one day there could be thousands of people singing in dance with us about leaving their old life behind.
Other Band Members: Yeah, that is pretty much how we all feel.
Andrew: We definitely see this as an act of worship, but it's more than that too, it's a gift from the Lord; He is loving us by letting us create music and share it with others.
These guys are worth your time and your support. Check out their campaign to help get their EP recorded.You want them to have their EP recorded because their music is so fun and so good. And then you will have access to it. And then you will always be able to listen to it. And it will make your day to day life better.
If you like The Lumineers;
If you like The Avett Brothers;
If you like NEEDTOBREATHE;
If you like Judah & the lion;
you will love Virginia Man.
