{"id":196349,"date":"2026-04-29T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/?p=196349"},"modified":"2026-05-20T17:24:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:24:38","slug":"localized-modern-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/music\/interviews\/localized\/localized-modern-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"Localized: Modern Speed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ice is melting, the sun is out and the flowers are in bloom \u2014 it\u2019s about damn time for another SLUG Localized<\/em><\/a> and we\u2019ve got you covered. Witness the sonomatic sounds of Fiig<\/strong><\/a>, melt your face to a punk fusion with Mortigi Tempo<\/strong><\/a> and retrieve your soul back from the underworld with Modern Speed<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s a night you don\u2019t want to miss! Make your way to Kilby Court<\/em> Thursday, May 21 for one helluva time! Get your tickets here<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\n
\"The
The stage was set for a rather unique interview with Modern Speed. Photo: Ethan Clewell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The room I interviewed Modern Speed in was particularly unusual. There was a surfboard in the corner \u2014 in a city roughly 650 miles from the nearest ocean wave \u2014 an indoor hot tub, a massage table and two walls covered in mirror panels from floor to ceiling. If I hadn\u2019t seen Tyler Vella<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s guitars and pedalboard racked in the corner, I would have assumed I had just walked into a porno set. The stage was set for a rather unique interview.<\/p>\n

I had already listened to their single \u201cStegosaurus,\u201d which was released last March, but as the rest of the band gradually filed into the room, Vella played the rest of their upcoming album in its unfinished state \u2014 an album which left me pleasantly surprised, as it sounded significantly more refined and polished than the band\u2019s original demo EP from 2021 and subsequent singles. Their modern sound is akin to Tame Impala<\/strong><\/a> in their prime: a laid-back atmosphere with punchy 70s drums that sound as dead as a doornail.<\/p>\n

“I feel like this lineup that we have right now is just such a powerhouse.”<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Vella, the only consistent member in the band\u2019s tenure, explained that a reduction in output was the catalyst for an entire lineup change, explaining the change in sound. Besides \u201cStegosaurus,\u201d the band had not released any material in about three years. Scott Madsen<\/strong>, known for his solo project Adrift Airship<\/strong><\/a>, was brought in to play keys and help produce after several successful sessions with Vella. Next was Kevin Egbert<\/strong>, brought in to cover bass guitar and the band\u2019s stellar album artwork. And the most recent addition to the group is Steven Siggard<\/strong>, who refers to himself as Kevin Parker\u2019s \u2018Choppleganger.\u2019 He\u2019s a drummer-vocalist polymath best known for his solo project The<\/strong> Psychsomatics<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s an updated lineup that Eric Watson<\/strong> of Mortigi Tempo called a supergroup, a sentiment that Vella seems to resonate with quite heavily.<\/p>\n

\"The
Modern Speed’s sound is akin to Tame Impala in their prime: a laid-back atmosphere with punchy 70s drums that sound as dead as a doornail. Photo: Ethan Clewell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI feel like this lineup that we have right now is just such a powerhouse. I think everyone here is bringing so much energy\u2026 The collaboration is just insane!\u201d Vella says. \u201cI think we have just leveled up tremendously.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be inclined to agree. The band has a musical savant in the form of Siggard \u2014 who manages to play consistent beats in time while singing droning, moving vocal lines \u2014 an incredible graphic designer and bassist in the form of Egbert and a seasoned veteran of engineering in the form of Madsen, who has been mixing and producing for the last 18 years.<\/p>\n

“I think everyone here is bringing so much energy\u2026 The collaboration is just insane!”<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With how refined \u201cStegosaurus\u201d and the rest of the unfinished album sounded, I was under the presumption that the band had worked with Aggressive Audio<\/strong><\/a> or Sunspell Records<\/strong><\/a>, who pushed out the band\u2019s previous singles. As it turns out, \u201cStegosaurus\u201d and the rest of their record are entirely home-grown. Madsen runs a studio in Bountiful called Planet B Records<\/em>, which Madsen explained is a complete and proper recording company in all but legality, as he had not registered the name as an LLC yet.<\/p>\n

During our interview, Madsen and I spoke in some detail about the state of Utah\u2019s music scene: \u201cWe talk about this often, and we think that anybody who has a chance of making it from Salt Lake immediately moves to LA, and I think that\u2019s sort of the problem, because if we had a band who made it who stayed in Salt Lake, I think that would bring a lot of people to a lot of venues,\u201d Madsen says. \u201cThat\u2019s my goal as a producer, to help somebody make it who stays here and helps the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band states they plan to release another single on May 8, with intentions to release their full album on the day of their SLUG Localized<\/em> show on May 21. Their latest single \u201cStegosaurus\u201d<\/a> is available on all streaming platforms.<\/p>\n

Read more from past Localized<\/em> features:
\nLocalized: Cathode<\/em><\/a>
\n<\/strong>Localized: Nadezhda<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

To help SLUG continue supporting the local music scene, consider becoming one of our donors!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Made up of bandmates Scott Madsen, Tyler Vella, Steven Siggard and Kevin Egbert, the band Modern Speed is pumping out psychadelic sounds. … read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":196534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[13054,323,355],"tags":[32472,32477,32476,32473,13227,6585,32468,32469,3930,32475,32471,32474,21593,32470],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}