The Endicott Observer Talks to Viv

by Joe Wildey
The Endicott Observer, September 24th, 2004

Blending a style of alternative and contemporary rock sounds, the music group ViV performed songs from their new album for students at Endicott College on Friday September 24th.

ViV, which will tour at more than forty venues this Fall, is rising fast in the charts. The San Francisco native group recently made it into the top one hundred lists for college radio stations, and their songs have been heard on shows like The Real World, Road Rules, America’s next top model, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

After the release of their first album in 2001, titled “ViV White Album”, the group began developing a fan base that has since remained loyal. The album which sold more than eight thousand copies earned the band their recognition as a group whose style matched that of other groups like Cold Play, U2, and the Wallflowers.

In March 2004, the band released their second album, “Flawed”. Since then, the group has been traveling from school to school promoting their newest release. “We’ve had incredible reception, better than we thought it would be,” said Matt Ostrander, lead singer/guitarist for the band.

In addition to band member Matt, the group contains the talent of Erik Semo, Mike Fioretino, Justin Dorbin, and Andrew Griffin. Both Erik Semo and Matt Ostrander attended Cornell together in New York, and later moved to San Francisco where the band was first formed.

Ostrander, a communications major, knew from the beginning that being in a band was something he wanted to pursue. “Really find people who you respect and who you want to be with all the time,” said Ostrander as a bit of advice to aspiring bands, “Make sure to do what you want to do, and play the music that you want to play.”

Things are definitely looking up for this band whose popularity has seen enormous growth in the past year. Besides having their music featured in television shows recently, ViV has also landed a deal with Frontier Airlines which will be playing clips from their soon to be released DVD on flights later this year.

For more information about ViV, you can visit http://www.vivtheband.com.