Volante

Volante has, since its inception, grown a reputation for fine songs, strong records and live shows that leave converts old and new speaking of the band with an enthusiasm that stops just short of fanaticism. Static Until Sunrise (Guilt Ridden Pop), the quartet’s latest long-player, finds the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based group striking forth into new territory. The band has finally come to a point, bassist/vocalist Gabe Shapiro observes, where it no longer expects its studio sound to translate to the stage.

“ We’ve evolved to a point where our records are different than the show. Somebody might come to a show and say, ‘Oh, I like the piano part on the record, you didn’t play that,’ but I want the live show to be a different thing that’s worth watching,” Shapiro says. “So whatever’s not there from the record, that we don’t do live, is immaterial because you’re watching a show.”

We sit down to speak as the band is on the eve of a tour that will take it from the buckle of the Bible Belt to the Left Coast Cities of Sin, then back for a end-of-tour show in the outfit’s sometime “second home” of Wichita, Kansas. It’s a two-week jaunt and the band members, worn out from a hard day of traveling from Minnesota to the Sunflower State, remain curious about what the experience will bring. Perhaps that is why we wind up focusing, for some period of time, on the group’s growth as a performing unit. Shapiro, as the band’s vocalist, speaks at great lengths about the band and its evolution, while drummer Josh Madson and guitarist Jeff Mitchell chime in mostly to clarify points. Jeff’s brother in life and guitar, Jon, barely speaks once our interview has started. Shy, but never less-than-polite, he seems much more comfortable listening.