Hillbilly Vegas was formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2008/2009, but didn’t get everything fully formulated until 2011. There have been some lineup changes, but it’s always been a continuation of the same story. Consistently described as Southern Rock, vocalist Steve Harris says it’s really up to the listener. 

“Whatever people decide that we are when they hear us, that’s how it should be. They should decide and get to put us where they want to put us in their music collection. We just play rock and roll; we’re influenced by country and blues, but in the end, if something sounds great, we want to write it.”

Their new album, Á LA MODE, is out now, via Quarto Valley Records, and was self-produced at their home studio in Oklahoma. Both keyboardist Geraldo Dominelli and drummer Gunnar Molton are producers with their own studios and are very accomplished engineers. After hashing out as much as they could remotely, it only took eight days in the studio. Harris says:

“Instead of having somebody just tell us what to do, we decided to fight it out with each other and make an album, and it worked out. We might have thought it was going to be a little easier than it was, but it turned out great. We’re very happy with it, despite a couple hiccups the first couple days with equipment, everything ended up going fine, and we will absolutely be doing that again.”

With that creative control comes a more fluid process, with everything recorded in pretty much the first or second take. When Harris is doing the vocals, he doesn’t like to sing 12 takes and then cherry-pick the words to come together; he just records it as it sounds and hopes for the best. Choosing to record themselves allowed a deeper release of different pressures present in a studio setting, some of which they might not even realize are there.

“We have worked with some really good guys who have co-produced and produced with us, and this is nothing against them, but I don’t think anybody knows us better than we know ourselves. We’ve been around long enough now to know what we want in a song and what we want to sound like. We did it ourselves this time, and I think it was a success.”

When Harris is writing and hearing a piece of music, he can usually see the whole story in his head without even starting to write the words. If it paints a picture for him, he locks in; if not, he moves on to a different piece. Either way, he is very proud of everything they do in one way or another.

“Once you finish writing a collection of songs, you should take a break and get a different perspective before you start your next collection of songs, so they don’t all sound the same. I just want to do what sounds good and what tells the right story.”

After signing with TKO, the band is hoping to hit the road this coming August. Since 2023, they have done five tours overseas while they were working with Conquest Music, with whom they are no longer. They are very excited to be hitting the road again in America, but Harris says he’s going to miss the people they’ve come to know the most, but they will be back, he promises. He is exactly where he wants to be.

“There’s just something inside you that feels like being creative. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had good things come along at the right time, a lot of times, and keep us going. The biggest thing you learn is that the highs aren’t always that high, but the lows aren’t always that low.”

Photo Credit: Joe Ward