The Vanity fair

Pursuing pop perfection

By Cassie Hood
hoodc@mscd.edu

Vanity is the term for one who exhibits excessive pride or conceit, and it's a common trait among the self-absorbed, pretentious hipsters in the indie scene.

It's somewhat ironic that the Denver band, The Vanity, doesn't fit the description at all.

They took the name as a way of "poking fun at ourselves," said guitarist Kamruz Mohager. A love of pop music of all kinds, from acceptably cool indie pop to reviled mainstream acts (the name Hanson came up) is the basis for their sound.

"We are huge fans of pop music and the '80s sound," said bassist Kamtin Mohager.

"So, we like to take a lot of our influences and mesh them together," singer Brandon Paluska finished. He said the band wanted to take the dark sound of Interpol but add a pop and dance flair. It's an uncommon sound, but it works well.

"It just pours out of us," Paluska said, "We never try to stop what's coming out."

He continued by saying they try to be as positive in their songs as possible, they don't want to let the things going on in the world bring them-or their music-down.

The Vanity's songs bring the listener into a strange trance. The guitar and bass pull the mood into a dark and dreary place, with melodies that twist into a knot of dismal heartache. Kamyab Mohager's drumming brings the mood up a little by pounding out a solid, steady dance beat. Paluska's vocal style is upbeat and catchy. His lyrics are easy to sing along with, his smooth, deep voice is calming and uplifting. The end result is an unexpected mix of elation with the desire to dance, tempered by an edge of depression.

In November 2004, Paluska met bass player Kamtin Mohager through a friend. They immediately hit it off and talked of starting a band. Shortly after meeting, they added Mohager's brothers Kamruz and Kamyab to complete the band. Within months, they started recording and playing shows throughout Denver.

Thanks to the Internet, especially myspace.com, the band has built a fan base throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. The recordings available online are a bit raw; Paluska's vocals occasionally go out of tune and one song suffers from poor mixing. On the positive side, the lyrics are good and pull attention away from the mixing to the song itself. Overall, The Vanity has a unique sound worth checking out. They have even managed to catch the attention of a few big labels, but nothing has developed from this attention, yet.

Despite these successes, The Vanity is virtually unknown in its hometown. They said they've received a good response from the people that come to their shows, but Denver isn't a "huge music city."

"Denver's scene is just so diverse that we have a hard time fitting in," Kamtin said.

Regardless of the low turnout at shows, Kamtin said playing live is their favorite part of being a band. "We have always considered ourselves a live band," he said, adding that when people actually see them live they become instant fans. Their favorite Denver venue to play is Rock Island, but they are really looking forward to their December show at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, Calif. After all, it could be just the kind of exposure needed to kick-start the momentum they'll need to make the switch from unheard indie band to mainstream pop stars. If so, it won't be long before The Vanity has the egos to fit its name.