SPILL FEATURE: OVERCOMING ADVERSITY, EMERGING VICTORIOUS – A CONVERSATION WITH ROBBIE LITCHFIELD OF SAVING VICE

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY, EMERGING VICTORIOUS

A CONVERSATION WITH ROBBIE LITCHFIELD OF SAVING VICE

For most DIY bands, many would quickly become disheartened by the number of challenges Vermont-based metalcore band Saving Vice has faced since their inception in 2017. Whether it comes to local shows or tours, the band has become resilient to the fact that things do not always go as planned. Having two similar tour disasters happen in the past, any band would have considered dropping the tour all together in the wake of The Hellbender Tour‘s recent events. But for Saving Vice, this was not an option.

“We were first made aware that Vampires Everywhere was dropping via email from one of the promoters one morning. I remember it being a Thursday. That was probably six or seven weeks ago at this point,” laughs humble guitarist Robbie Litchfield. “We were sent a picture of the flyer and told the show was not happening, and that it was cancelled. I was like, ‘That’s weird.’ I talked to my bandmates; no one knew about this. So I reached out to Michael Vampire. I sent him the screenshot and asked him what this was all about. I figured honestly, it was a mix-up of some sort. He responded back with, ‘I’ll give you a call in an hour.’ I was like, ‘Oh great,’ You know, haha, I know where this is going. I can say this now since it’s been publicly announced. They had a tour opportunity sent their way for Alesana. They just announced this recently. LIMBS is direct support. Michael and the Alesana guys are very close. He tried his best to make both tours happen, but due to a radius clause, it just wasn’t possible. He had to make a hard decision. Either drop this tour and do the Alesana Tour or drop the Alesana Tour and do The Hellbender Tour. They chose Alesana, which also put us in a tough position. We were pretty saddened to hear the news when our agent, Wesley, video called us the following Friday. We were asked if we wanted to call it quits or if we wanted to salvage the tour, talk to the promoters, and put on our own headliner. We agreed to do this. We knew a lot of fans were excited about this, and we had already bought merchandise for this tour. We had already put a lot of time and effort into this, so it made sense to stick with it no matter what. This wasn’t our first rodeo; this has happened before with the Lil Zan Tour and this past summer of 2022 with the Dichotomy Tour to celebrate our split EP. This is technically the third time. After all the prepwork has been done, someone drops off. I do want to go on record and say that I don’t have any ill will towards Michael Vampire; he’s a good dude and always genuine based on our conversations. I wish him the best of luck on tour,” he says with a warm smile.

With a brand-new tour to create, Saving Vice would set out to create one of their best tours to date, The End Of Winter Tour. Comprised of some of the greatest local bands from each area, Saving Vice would conjure up one of the best tours within their current careers and only within a few days. Saving Vice used the fifth anniversary of their debut EP Colder Than Dark as a chance to commemorate the release. Colder Than Dark was an enormous accomplishment for the band, ranking at #10 on the Billboard Heatseekers list, an amazing debut into the scene. Despite the popularity of its success, the bulk of Saving Vice’s fans had yet to hear these songs performed live.

“While I wish things had gone differently, I do understand. Looking back now on this tour, this is the first interview I have done since we got back from tour, we had an absolute blast,” replied Robbie. “It was our headliner; we stocked it with some incredible locals across the country. While some of the stuff fell apart due to the nature of the changes from The Hellbender Tour to The End of Winter Tour, we had to remarket. Certain dates had dropped. On a technical level, we celebrated our five-year anniversary of Colder Than Dark, which was our debut EP. I love those songs, we all do. But we felt it was time to retire those songs. We get asked to play those songs a lot. But, it’s one of those things where we have to start playing newer material. We will always play “Hell Here” because that is our most streamed song and most popular. So we will most likely continue to play that, at least in the near future. We did include songs “Run To You” and “Black Ice” on this tour, which we hadn’t played in years. So, this was our way to sort of celebrate those songs, and kind of put them to rest as far as live performances go. This was all Tyler, our vocalist’s idea. We plan on doing a headliner in Vermont that is also Colder Than Dark themed. This is the first place I am telling about this. We plan on doing a headliner at Higher Ground. I am currently working on self-booking that show. We are really excited for that. For the most part, though, this was a really successful tour for us. We made a lot of good connections. Obviously, The Blue Ridge Rock Festival is a huge deal for us. Overall, this was a really great tour. I don’t have any regrets. If anything, this has made us look better. It’s something to market on our band resume for other support tours, that we as a band have been through so much adversity and still figured it out. It’s a good look to show that we are callused to the touring lifestyle.”

While Saving Vice had a tough start to their tour, they not only departed with fantastic connections and festival to boot, but they also left with some incredible experiences to last a lifetime.

“I think think overall this tour did really well. There were a lot of people that came out that were appreciative of hearing those songs. Some for the first time, others for the last time. The people that did come out were very happy about it. Out of all the shows, I feel inclined to say that our Manchester show, just because this was our homecoming show of the tour,” he laughs. “It was the most packed, it was a great energy. When we play locally. People actually sing along and stuff. When we play new markets, for the most part, except for those in the front row, it’s their first time. You get a lot of people just soaking it all in and falling in love with your music for the first time. But it’s those same people that will soak it all in and will be back for another show. It’s just a pattern I have noticed. As far as a show that surprised me the most, it was probably West Palm Beach, Florida at Respectable Street. I had no intentions of that show popping off. That room was absolutely packed and we sold the most merch at that show. It was crazy and everyone was so in love with us.”

Saving Vice is a band founded on struggle, as well as the creative limbs and fierce independence that have kept the band together over the past six years. Through it all, one learns and grows from the experiences, making a musician not only wiser but also battle ready for the obstacles that lie ahead in their careers.

“There was a lot of adversity with this tour, having to piece things back together so quickly and having to do this pretty independently,” surmises Robbie. “It’s hardened us. I think in that sense, it made us stronger. As far as takeaways, though, at least for me personally, I have always been a transactional, business-oriented person. I’ve always been straightforward and blunt. As I get more into this industry, working with other people and strangers, I’ve realized the importance of relationships and kindness. Just being a pleasant person to be around. A lot of this industry is based on who you know. It’s not always about who’s the best songwriter or who has the most streams. It really does boil down to who likes who. I’ve just learned to be more personable with others and do kind favors. I think I am just learning that as I get older, especially on this tour, just building and fostering relationships is super important.”

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