Version 5 are two brothers from Minneapolis. Drawing influence from both the EDM and rock worlds, creating an infectious combination of high energy and intensity.
They have released their new single “Absolute Zero” and expect a music video to co-inside with the single in April.
You can hear the track here:
Andy and Spencer also took time out of their busy schedule to answer some of our questions. Check it out below:
Can you give us a brief history of the band ?
We started playing music because our Grandpa gave us our first guitars when we were like, 5 & 7 years old. We had no interest at that point, and hardly even knew to do with them. They collected dust for a bit, but eventually we picked ‘em up and haven’t let go since.
As Version 5, we released our first EP in 2015, which was co-written with Jeff Blue (Linkin Park, Macy Gray). Since then, we’ve been playing, producing, and writing as much as possible. We have a very clear vision for Version 5, and it helps being brothers; makes working together a lot easier.
What gives you the motivation to write the music.
It’s so rewarding. When you receive positive feedback and people are digging on something you wrote, it gets addictive. On the writing and producing side, when you start to see a song forming it’s really exciting and totally gets you buzzin’. Breaking through the writing struggle can be brutal, but hey, that’s what makes it so gratifying.
What genre would you place your band in ?
We call ourselves electronic rock or electro-rock. We like to combine beats and sounds from EDM and meld them with forceful rocks songs. If you had a triangle with Rock at one point, Industrial at another and EDM/Electro-Punk at the third, we’d be right in the middle.
Who Are Your Biggest Influences?
Nine Inch Nails and The Prodigy. The energy and the grit to those groups are unmatched.
Reznor (NIN) is a sonic craftsman – he is always so damn tasteful and deliberate with his songs. No idea how he continues to create spectacular pieces after 25+ years. I might get some hate for this, but I prefer a lot of his newer material (Hesitation Marks anyone?) over his first couple records.
The Prodigy have single-handedly crafted the electro-punk genre. Liam Howlett creates beats and sounds that are so in your face – it’s just insane. Who else has as much energy packed into a track as they do?
Also rum. Rum is an influence.
Any meaning behind the band name?
It’s the password to all of our bank accounts.
Where is the best place you have performed ?
The Fine Line in Minneapolis is a great venue, we really enjoy playing there. Last summer we also played a rad 4th of July event.. Great atmosphere,great crowd, and the fireworks went off behind us just as we were finishing up our final tune. Fun stuff.
What are your biggest obstacles facing the band right now.
Just time I guess. We always want to be writing more, producing more, playing more, but unfortunately it’s not that easy. It’s a lot of work but we love it, and aren’t going to stop.
Do you have any plans to come over to the UK ?
That would be super rad, we would love to and at some point I’m sure we will. A lot of our favorite artists are from there and we’re curious to see how the response is in the UK compared to the US.
What plans do you have for the future?
Well, we have some really cool video projects that we’re wrapping up, a full length album is a rough sketch at this point, but set for the not-so-distant future. Other than that, just continuing with producing, writing, and all that. We’ve been in talks with a few local artists and will hopefully do some cool collaborations. I feel like “the future” is a pretty daunting idea, but we have some cool stuff lined up. Stay tuned & join the addiction at version5music.com
You can buy and stream “Absolute Zero” below:
Spotify: https://goo.gl/58tB0C
iTunes: https://goo.gl/nNtLcc
Amazon: https://goo.gl/E9DeHW
Google Play: https://goo.gl/Cfz3Ry