Drama Rock

Brian Viglioni, drummer with New York four-piece rock band Scarlet Sails, agrees there’s a theatrical edge to his band’s latest release, Future from the Past. Scarlet Sails is fronted by Viglioni’s Russian-American wife, Olya Viglioni, and Brian himself is known for working with well known acts like Dresden Dolls and as a studio musician and touring drummer for Nine Inch Nails and Violent Femmes.

“It’s about exploring whatever world the song is going to take you to,” Viglioni says of the new record, which has songs ranging from rock to cabaret and soul. “There’s a lot of pressure to really want to fit in with whatever’s popular,” he continues. “We raise the middle finger to all that.” And it’s impossible to talk about Scarlet Sails without mentioning classically trained Olya’s deep and operatic singing voice: a little torch singer, a little all-around badass.

Her formal training also shows up in places like the piano intro of tracks like “Alive.” Overall, Viglioni says, Scarlet Sails draw a lot of inspiration from glam rock legends like David Bowie and T. Rex as well as the melodramatic stadium rock of Queen. So, Viglioni says, it’s natural audiences hear a heightened sense of drama in what they do — or, in other words, Scarlet Sails sound European instead of the blues-based rock many Americans are used to.

“It’s the four of us putting everything we have into song,” he says, “giving everything we have to the audience.” Scarlet Sails plays alongside Radiator King 9 pm Thursday, August 3, at Black Forest; FREE, 21-Plus. — Will Kennedy

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

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Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

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Thank you for standing with us!