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| Voxtrot (Photo: Annie Gunn) |
Nearly two decades after releasing some of the most beloved indie pop of the 2000s blog era, Voxtrot are back — and they have a lot to say. The Austin-based band, led by vocalist Ramesh Srivastava, spent years as streaming-era cult heroes before reuniting and channeling that renewed energy into Dreamers [In Exile], a debut full-length that feels both like a homecoming and a declaration. We sat down with Ramesh ahead of the band's San Francisco stop on Saturday, March 28th at The Independent (doors 8:30 PM, show 9:00 PM) to talk about the slow rollout of singles, the band's recording process, queer identity in their music, and why San Francisco has always held a special place in Voxtrot's heart. Tickets are still available — don't sleep on this one.
SFBayAreaConcerts: "Another Fire" dropped September of 2023. "New World Romance" follows shortly after. "My Peace," and then "Esprit de Coeur," are released in February and July of 2024.
What is the intention behind this slow drip of singles leading to this year's album? It felt a little bit like unraveling a mystery. And what was up with the pause in 2025?
Ramesh: Well, I like the idea that it's mysterious; I like that that's how it came off.
The reality is that we were working off the old school model: release a single, release a few songs, and see what happens. Maybe that will turn into a record contract; what path will that open up? In the end, we ended up finishing the album ourselves and releasing it ourselves.
I think the reason for the pause in 2025 is that we released those singles, we got good feedback. We had some promising conversations with labels, but nothing final materialized. And then we got to the point where we thought, "Well, we really like the thing that we're creating on our own, so let's just finish it on our own."
And at that point, we realized, "Okay, there's already four songs that are out. We need to just save the rest for the album." We just kind of changed tack and focused on finishing the album.
SFBayAreaConcerts: With Dreamers [In Exile], you created an album that is Voxtrot, but feels new, feels energized. One word that comes to mind is "urgent"—as if the band has a lot to say.
There are all these references to racing and fighting. What was the band's frame of mind when it came to recording?
Ramesh: The recording? Well, there were two chapters of recording for this album. The first chapter started in January of 2023, right after that reunion tour. All five original members were coming to this town where I live, (Lockhart, Texas) where actually Matt, Jason, and I live.
We were rehearsing, working on arranging the new songs, and then trying to record them at the end of each one of those week-long sessions. It was a very organized, very intentional process.
That's how we recorded most of the songs on the record, actually. For the second half, it got to the point where the two members that live out of state just weren't able to come as frequently. Then, it pivoted to Matt, Jason, and I, the ones that live here, to finish the rest of the record.
But the majority of the record is all five original members.
SFBayAreaConcerts: The "Esprit de Coeur" Variant Project was pretty fantastic. It must have been exciting for the band to see so many different interesting takes on what's unarguably a great song.
Did you learn something after synthesizing the song through other musicians?
Ramesh: Well, I was honestly kind of hands off with that. Mitch, the guitarist—I think he might have been the one that suggested it; or maybe James, our manager... But Mitch was the most involved with it as I recall.
I guess what I learned from it was, I was just kind of flattered to see how much love there is for Voxtrot—that people would do that. And some of them were great! I really enjoyed them for their own artistic merit.
But what I really took away from it is that I was really touched that people were interested enough and cared enough to do that.
SFBayAreaConcerts: There's obviously something about that song ["Esprit de Coeur"] that speaks to people, I think that's fantastic too.
The bass on "My Peace" sounds insane. In fact, the whole album is recorded and mixed with great clarity; the separation is there. Tell us a little bit about some studio tricks.
Ramesh: Oh, gosh if only Jason were here with me!
Jason, who is also the bass player, also recorded this whole album. What sets Jason apart from a lot of other engineers recording music right now is that he's really, really invested in getting great gear; and a lot of it is vintage gear and really nice vintage microphones.
There is a lot of intentionality behind the pure raw signal, before there's any kind of 21st century digital trickery. (And there's not that much of that with us.)
But there's a lot of care put into the original raw sound being very, very good.
SFBayAreaConcerts: I can hear that. The Höfner in the video, do you know if he's using that on that song or?
Ramesh: He definitely is, yeah. That's very cool.
SFBayAreaConcerts: There are a bunch of great songs on Cut from the Stone. Obviously, you gave that to the fans to chew on leading up to the new album.
You talked about "Kindergarten" with Consequence of Sound, but "The Dream Lives of Ordinary People" is another really exciting, powerful track. Can you tell us a little bit more about that song?
Ramesh: Yeah, that song title is inspired by this French movie called The Dream Lives of Angels. It's been so long that I can't even remember what happens in the movie... (I might be mixing it up with that other incredible French movie, Blue Is the Warmest Color.)
I think Dream Lives of Angels might be a lesbian love story, but I can't remember. It's one of the only Voxtrot songs from that era where I make direct reference to my being gay or just to my queer life as it's posed in that song.
That song is recorded in the same session as "Berlin Without Return," and that was the last stuff we did. The first time we were a band, that was the final thing.
I remember going in with both of those songs, not really having a plan, just trying a bunch of stuff and being really free and experimental—I love the way both of those came out. They have, to me, just a very special, really memorable feeling to them.
SFBayAreaConcerts: It does, yeah, it's really courageous too. And it's really catchy. So it's kind of the best of both worlds.
"The Start of Something" has just under 39,000,000 streams on Spotify. That's pretty impressive. What's your current take on the digital landscape for musicians? I saw you've been communicating through Bandcamp—today is a Bandcamp Friday! What is your take on what's going on right now in the streaming space?
Ramesh: My take is that I stopped having opinions about it a while ago. At this point, I just accept that it exists. I am aware of some of the mechanisms of what makes tracks appear in algorithms, and I know there's a science to it. But I drove myself so crazy the first time around about trying to mastermind it; how to do everything right and have the most visibility.
Now, I'm not saying I never look at the streaming numbers and that I don't care, but I'm pretty hands off with it.
SFBayAreaConcerts: Okay, that's probably a pretty healthy way to be. We love tools like Bandcamp because it gives fans more opportunity to obviously engage with musicians; and the direct funding through Bandcamp Fridays is really cool.
When Raised by Wolves was first released, it felt to me that each song was like a little character or a short story: unique, different, and self-contained. Twenty years later, what strikes you most about that EP and can you tell me something you remember about recording Wrecking Force?
Ramesh: Well, something that strikes me about that EP is that I think... if I had to say what makes that collection of songs so loved as it is still, statistically the most listened to of the Voxtrot material, I would say that it's because the emotion on it is so pure.
All of those songs, except for "The Start of Something," are written about the first person that I fell in love with—one of my best friends in Glasgow. It was complicated by the fact that he was straight, and I was gay. I guess now, twenty years later, I think there's a little more room in the cultural consciousness for just the concept of queerness. That's the mystery of love: it kind of transcends, you know? Gender can transcend societal limitations.
But all those songs are, except "The Start of Something," about that one person. I think it's just apparent that the emotion is real, you know? Like, there's almost nothing cultivated about it. This is really how I feel.
Clearly, first love, the first cut is the deepest—pretty much everybody has felt that. So I think that's what makes it kind of eternally relatable. Definitely universal.
SFBayAreaConcerts: The Independent is a great venue. The sound there is fantastic with some great history. Do you have any favorite San Francisco stories to share? And do you remember that show at the Great American Music Hall in 2010?
Ramesh: San Francisco, and California in general, with both LA and San Francisco, we've always had great experiences there.
LA is a bigger market for us numbers-wise. I guess technically that's our strongest market; but San Francisco, that's like one of the places we felt the most loved.
Most of us had never been there before we played, and I just remember going there the first time on our first West Coast tour. And of course, because I'm obsessed with the 60s, I know so much about San Francisco. I've read about it since I was, like, 12.
Just getting out of the van, I just thought it was instantly the most magical place. It's unbelievable to look at when you're coming over the bridge—you just can't believe that any city in the U.S. or elsewhere could even look like that. It's like a fairy tale.
And we had an amazing time. We played at The Rickshaw Stop at this indie pop fest, and there was this crew of people who we ended up becoming friends with for years, to this day. They just loved Voxtrot, they knew all the songs, and they took us out to all these parties, just from the get go.
It was one of our favorite places and I loved playing at The Independent last time; those people are awesome.
We used to always play at Bottom of the Hill and then the Great American Music Hall. Truly, one of my favorite venues on Earth. It's really beautiful. The people that work there are awesome.
SFBayAreaConcerts: Thanks so much. And thanks for this album—it's truly something great.
Ramesh: Thanks!
