Review Fix chats with Varna lead singer, Tiana Woods, who discusses her influences and the band’s new EP, “This Time, It’s Personal.” With a voice that’s been compared to Kelly Clarkson and Amy Lee, Varna is in a unique position to get more radio play than the average up and coming rock group.
Review Fix: How did the band come together?
Tianna Woods: The band originally came together as Living Eulogy in Jan. 2010. Ross (Pinkas)is an electrician by day and we met while he was installing a fan in my apartment. He heard me singing on my piano and asked if I was in a band. Rob (Shin) came into the group after he answered an ad at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, where I graduated from in 2004.
Review Fix: Who are your vocal influences?
Woods: I grew up singing pop and blues so my influences are Mariah Carey, Susan Tedeschi and any other female singer who has a great range coupled with pure emotion.
Review Fix: How is ‘This Time, It’s Personal” different from the plethora of other female-fronted rock bands out there?
Woods: We are a three-piece band and we can blend into both the pop and rock markets, which we haven’t witnessed a lot of female fronted bands do. We have always had the goal to bring our music to the masses to blend that commercial vocal with hard rock guitars.
Review Fix: How do you want this EP to resonate with the listener?
Woods: This EP is about personal issues in life not working out for you, fighting to make things better for yourself and the comfort in knowing that other people feel the way you do.
Review Fix: The musicianship on the EP is rock solid. The bass lines are smoothly hidden with the drum work and the guitars hum and hiss at all the right times. How do you guys put your songs together.
Woods: Thank you so much. I write the lyrics and Ross writes the music. We come together with what we have and work on it until it is finished or we end up messing around in our rehearsal studio figuring out music and lyrics on the spot.
Review Fix: “Down” is a catchy track that shows off the band, especially your vocal prowess. How was it written?
Woods: Lyrically, ‘Down’ was written during a time when I was homeless for a couple of months, this band was going through band member changes and not getting anywhere and I was dealing with different issues of love-people who you thought loved you and then come to find out was a different case. The music was written while we were jamming during practice.
Review Fix: What’s your favorite song on the EP and why?
Woods: My favorite song on the EP is ‘My Heart’ because I really fought for it. I believed in the song when no one else did. It is one of the most personal songs I have written.
You can listen to “Down” below:
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