HORNET STAFF: So, you attended graduate school at Sac State? When were you here? Describe your Sac State experience.

VINCE DIFIORE: I finished in 1992, and I got a master’s in psychology. I got a bachelors degree at UCLA. I had some friends who had grown up in Davis and said good things about the area. I was actually planning a career in counseling. While I was getting my degree, I got involved in the music scene here, and met John McCrae and started playing with Cake. It was around 1994 that things started getting really serious with the band – we got an offer from the record company, and at that point I decided to put my eggs all in one basket. I had jobs that were related to counseling – I worked in a group home and at a preschool.

We played at Cafe Montreal, which is now called Cafe Paris we played at the Cattle Club – which is not my favorite place, but it?s a good venue. Also at the Fox and Goose and Old Ironsides – all great venues.

I’m not as involved anymore. I’m married and I have a child – so I don?t make it out as much as I’d like to. It was sort of an ideal situation – paying low rent for a place downtown and riding your bike everywhere you need to go.

Its really good, it seems like a lot of camaraderie and a lot of really good bands. It seems that no matter how big a city is, the local scene has a similar feel. People make the scene by going out to see the shows.

It was um, kind of a very pleasant limbo land – someplace to go and enjoy your life, and feel like you were part of a community, see some familiar places. It was simple – not very complex.

HS: Did you have any involvement with the music department?

VD: Yea, I did. There was a time when I felt like, I really wanted to work on music more, so I took a semester off and worked in the music department. I was part of a brass ensemble and took some private instruction from professor Dillworth.

HS: Any favorite local musicians?

VD: Tom Parin is a really good trumpet player – every time I see him I’m entertained and impressed – he plays be-bop, which is something I aspire to do. I saw the Low Flying Owls, they’re really good.

HS: Do you guys ever play smaller shows locally?

VD: No, we did at the beginning, we went to a place called the Backdoor Lounge, it’s in Firehouse Alley. Great bar – we played there and at Capitol Garage. Those are the local venues we’ve played.

HS: You played keyboards on Comfort Eagle. Was that your idea? Had you always played, or did you just pick it up?

VD: Yea, it all started with a keyboard riff on “The Distance.” That’s when I started playing keys. I just started coming up with more keyboard parts. The trumpet is something that you have to take it easy on, especially with our kind of music. It can be overwhelming, so in order to have something to do on stage, I started playing keys. I really got into it starting with Prolonging The Magic.

HS: If you were reviewing the new CD, what would you say about it?

VD:Its easy on the ears, bit has its moments of exhilaration and excitement. There?s nothing caustic about it but at the same time, it does have its thrills.

HS: The line-up is amazing, but not your average summer festival bill. Do you know who picked the bands?

VD: We did, we brain stormed and thought of as many bands as we could that we liked – saw who was available and went from there. Most of our first choices were available.

HS: You guys were great at Coachella. Was this the first year you played there?

VD: That was cool – we kept the crowd there, which was good. Nobody seemed to wander off. If they invite us again, we’ll probably play it. We’d love to go back – we were honored to play a lot of great festivals this year. We played the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and then we played the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. I admire Bela Fleck a lot – he’s a really humble guy and an incredible musician. We saw Emillou Harris and Linda Rondstadt. at Telluride. I got to see Nicholas Peyton and Kenny Jackson at Montreaux.

We just got back from Istanbul – they were having something called Modern Rock Festival – I think it was put on by their radio station – we played with a couple of other bands that are popular in Turkey.

HS: How is playing overseas different from playing here?

VD: It?s surprisingly similar – even though they speak Turkish – they learned English in High school, so they sing along with the songs. Certain places that are over-entertained, where life is so exquisite – people don’t seem to really appreciate music – like San Diego and LA – I don’t want to dis any of our audiences, but life is so good, that they are not all that excited to see us play.

HS: What musical direction do you think you guys will go next? When can we expect a new CD?

VD: Probably another year, we take a long time with a record – the hours just go by in the studio. We might keep on doing some concerts for the next few months… some of it is written already, but it?s pretty raw. We’ve always gone back into the studio being more mature and capable of doing what we do. The music originates more from an instrumental base – influenced more by the band coming up with instrumentals and laying lyrics on that.