A Conversation With Alex Vercnocke Of Panoramic.
We were first introduced to Panoramic back in 2016, after meeting with Alyx Poska of Pacific Nature we rediscovered the group and had to reach out. We met with Alex (vocals/acoustic guitar) last week. Having just released their EP, Paper Bag & Demos, Panoramic will be heading out on tour June 27th! Meeting with Alex was such a treat, he’s a sweet and talented soul. Thank you for your time, Alex, we wish you nothing but the absolute best.
Enjoy our conversation, cheers!
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The first time I saw Panoramic perform was back in October 2016, but since then you’ve had a lineup change, right? Talk a little about that. How’s that process been like?
Thank you for having me! Yeah, we’ve gone through a change. In a way, it’s been like starting over since we’ve had to connect with new people musically. People have different playing styles and I don’t expect them to play exactly how other people have played the songs before. Our drummer left because he wanted to leave, it got to be too much for him, and he had other things going on.
We’ve had lineup changes when we were in high school but those weren’t as amicable and it’s cool that we can still be friends with someone even though they don’t want to be in our band anymore. It’s given me the opportunity to think about what the lineup even means and I’ve been wanting to have more of my friends play in the band too, like my friend Kiki Ruiz! She has been playing with us a lot lately and I’ve just been wanting to get more people into the band now because the more people we have the have more influences!
But when we practice it definitely feels like we’re starting over, the songs aren’t the same as they were before, and sometimes it’s kind of a bummer because I felt them a certain way.
Does Panoramic have a drummer right now?
We do, our friend John Arden Klawitter. He’s the most amazing musician, ever, so creative and funny! We asked him to play with us and for the time being, he’s our drummer. He has his own band, Arden Klawitter + the Powerclaps. He’s a genius.
From what I’ve noticed, it seems like you guys are always on the go, always doing something, and I really appreciate that!
In January, we went out on tour for about two weeks, then most recent has been Southwest in March, and now we’re currently working on going on our first U.S. tour. Starts off June 27th and we return home July 31st. It’s our longest tour yet.
What has been one of the most memorable tour memories?
When I think of shows, Bellingham, Washington stands out because they were so nice to us and that’s the most north we’ve ever been.
We’ve also had hardships but I found that I always have a good time during the hardships because I think it’s kind of funny. People freak out and I just laugh. For example, we had a window break while we were driving while on tour once. It just shattered right next to me, luckily no one got hurt. All we had to do is pull over, get all the glass out, and cover it up.
Glad you are all in one piece! Since your Southwest tour, you’ve released a new demo, right? Were the demos written just after the lineup change?
Well, one was from 2015. When I have an idea for a song, I like to record them after I write them. There’s just something special about that. I had all these tracks on my phone and I really liked what I had done already, and I didn’t want to wait until our next big release to release these songs. It worked out well with the lineup change because it’s mainly just me on it. Our old drummer did do percussion on the first song, ‘Paper Bag’, which was really cool, I love everything he did with it and on the second song too.
You’ve described your demo as, ‘A therapeutic batch of ideas…’, after listening to it that description is spot on.
Yeah, it’s exactly that. They are just ideas for songs. When they come together for a full release, they’ll, of course, be different. I want to change them all. But I like the way the ideas are now and I really wanted to share that with people.
All the songs came together at different times in my life. They’re mostly about what’s going on with me. It’s kind of like, ‘Hey everyone! Look what I’m thinking about.’ These songs are more open than ones from the past to the point where I get a little shy when I perform them. Sometimes I even think, ‘Why am I telling everyone about this?’
A lot of times before, the words would come as I was writing the music. Stuff that I wouldn’t even realize until I’d analyze it later. While now, I’ve been getting more into writing down my actual thoughts and stuff, not necessarily having to link it to music.
Are you the primary songwriter for the band?
Yeah. Austin plays piano, he does vocals as well, and even though I write most of the songs, he does write amazing songs. He’s my best friend forever.
So sweet! So how did you get introduced to Pacific Nature?
It all started when I went on Craigslist, at the time I was looking for a drummer for a Math rock band, and this guy replied to me saying he was into Math rock. Around that time too, our drummer of Panoramic wasn’t really working out so we asked the Craigslist dude if he was down to drum for our ‘folk-ska’ band, we used to be really into ska. He didn’t really want to do that and then he added Austin on Facebook because he thought Austin was me… long story short, he’s the one who connected us with Alyx Poska.
He also recommended us for the first Friendship Trail that Alyx put together. We refer to the first Friendship Trail as the ‘Big Bang’ for the scene because that was when everyone met each other. So yeah, I’d say the first Friendship Trail, 2014, was when we first got hooked up with Pacific Nature and from then on Alyx would ask us to play shows, he put out our tape, and during all that we become really good friends.
So what gear do you primarily use?
I use an entry level Martin acoustic and in the past year, I found this old amp from the 80’s, the California Blonde, that I bought used from Guitar Center. Finding an amp for an acoustic was so hard for me. Nothing was loud enough and I was always getting feedback, so I didn’t have one for like a year. Whenever we’d play, I’d just plug it into a PA, and it always worked out somehow. Austin has some Yamaha or Casio keyboard and a bass amp that we bought from a church. It’s worked out very well for him.
Why were you interested in starting a band with an acoustic?
When I started making music I was all about the electric guitar, shredding, all of that. But I never liked my guitar tone, it never sounded full, it always sounded like garbage to me. It would kind of bum me out because you couldn’t hear the chords as well and I was also extremely bad at singing. I haven’t got much better, honestly, but at the time especially I couldn’t really hear the the notes I was hitting or anything. But now with my acoustic it’s so clean that I can hear every note that I’m hitting and it helps me sing. With Panoramic, I can’t imagine ever going back to electric. I’d be down to add an electric guitar for someone else to play, which we’ve actually done before, but for me acoustic just feels right.
So at one point your singing sucked? I find that hard to believe.
Yes! So bad, completely off key! I had a full 5 singing lessons that helped me so much. I was taught scales and how to listen for notes. Growing up, my dad would play different chords and he’d ask, ‘Can you tell how they’re different?’ I’d just say yes but to me they would all sound the same. I couldn’t tell the difference between chords. Thinking of it now, it’s really weird because I have the ability now. Everyday I hate my voice less, I get more comfortable with it, and now I primarily hate my regular talking voice compared to my singing voice [laughs]
Are you working on anything new at the moment or would you say you always are?
I always try to be. I always try to write out ideas for songs even if I’m not on the guitar. I’m constantly writing down thoughts or if something funny happens I like writing about that. Little notes basically.
What are your thoughts about creative slumps? How often do they occur to you and how do you get out of them?
That happens fairly often, however, how long they last usually varies. They can be for a long time or not long at all. For example, after our album came out in August I wrote some stuff in October and September but for months I didn’t really write anything. It made it hard to start writing again because it felt like I hadn’t figured out how to get the ball rolling. Starting a song is always the hardest part. I felt like I had lost that and that just, made me not want to write.
But I’ve realized that those slumps are influenced by the personal stress we put on ourselves to come up with something, especially when you think, ‘I have to come up with something better than my past work’ when in reality you don’t! You don’t have to do that at all because what is ‘better’? I feel like you have to change your point of view when you’re in a slump because you can’t expect to get the result you want to get every time. I think you get better results when it comes together alone and you’re surprised by it. That’s truly the most exciting thing, when you’re surprised by something you made.
What’s next for Panoramic?
Well, we have a tour coming up! From late June through all of July we’ll be gone. Hoping to work on a full length album after tour. Still not sure what I want the full length to be yet, however I don’t want it to sound like our old album or anything else we’ve done. So when we come back from tour we are definitely going to start demoing but I also have a project with my friend Kiki called Knee Toy. In September, we plan on going out to Arizona on tour for the weekend. My friend Kiki is an amazing songwriter and singer. She’s super talented and so nice! Working with her has been so fun because she has so many ideas and she’s also helping me become a better singer, our voices go along very well. It’s been one of the most exciting projects I’ve been working on recently.
Words of wisdom?
I don’t know if I’m at a place to give people real advice but just keep it interesting. Don’t just create what you think other people want to hear, create for yourself!
Where can readers keep up with Panoramic?
Instagram primarily: @Panoramiclol
