Columbus’ Own: Vesperteen uses music as mode for authenticity

Sophie Yates, Andres Ibarra, Maya Neyman, Olivia Manettas
Tue, 21 Sep 2021 23:44:20 +0000
Arts & Life, Columbus' Own, Entertainment, Instagram Page, Music, News, alternative, alternative musician, alternative pop, authentic, authenticity, ballads, blue, brandon hughes, burnout, cbus, Cbus own, colin rigsby, Columbus, Columbus Ohio, columbus' own, coronavirus, covid, COVID-19, creative energy, give me a break, jazzy, love songs, music, musician, Ohio, pop [and 6 more]

Colin Rigsby sits down with Columbus’ Own Sept. 8, 2021. Credit: Maya Neyman | Managing Editor for Digital Content & Andres Ibarra | Arts & Life Producer

Columbus-native alternative artist Colin Rigsby, also known as Vesperteen, said he seeks honesty in all of his music.

Rigsby released a new song, “Give Me A Break,” Sept. 3, which is available on all music streaming platforms. Rather than creating music purely for the approval of his fans, Rigsby said he is willing to take the risk of being unappealing for the sake of authenticity.

“I try my hardest to present myself as genuine and honest as possible,” he said. “Sometimes that means it’s crappy and not appealing, but I would still rather be authentic and myself than fake.”

Rigsby said he was able to create one of his favorite songs, “Blue,” by taking a step outside of his comfort zone.

“I’m just a sucker for ballad love songs, and it’s very much that and it’s very chill and emotional, but also kind of croony and loungy and jazzy, which I love,” Rigsby said. “So that one, I could say, took a little bit of a risk.”

Over the last 20 years of pursuing music professionally, Rigsby said it hasn’t been a linear journey of success and there have been bumps along the road.

After spending some time in Los Angeles in 2019, Rigsby said the pressure of the business side of music resulted in burnout and hurt his relationship with music.

“I just got real cynical and real jaded to a point where I just didn’t even like music, and I didn’t even like listening to it,” Rigsby said. “I was trying to be so real and genuine and it just stripped me of my ambition and my motivation to create anything and it’s been a slow approach back to it.”

Musical burnout led to the pursuit of other creative outlets, such as tattooing and graphic design, Rigsby said. Although he had always been interested in tattooing, he said he only became serious about it as a business at the beginning of quarantine in March 2020.

“My tattoo endeavor is very related to my burnout on the music side of things,” Rigsby said. “I was so immersed and entrenched in the business of music, and that got so obnoxious and really affected my creativity.”

Brandon Hughes, the booking agent for Vesperteen, said Rigsby’s tattoo endeavor gave him another creative outlet and distinguished him from other artists.

“I think that it’s been a really great avenue for him to just, like, keep his creative energy flowing because it’s something different than just making music, to exercise those creative muscles, and I know he really really enjoys it,” Hughes said.

Hughes said Rigsby brought a fan onstage to give them a live tattoo at a headliner show in Columbus Sept. 4, combining his passion for tattoos with his love for his city.

Rigsby said the recent hometown show was particularly special to him because of all of the fans he has come to recognize over the years.

“I even took a poll of who was at my first real Columbus show, and it was cool to see how many of them were there,” Rigsby said.

Rigsby said after all these years, his perception of what is important has changed. Focusing on obtaining textbook success instead of enjoying the things that got him there, especially his music, does not ensure fulfillment, Rigsby said.

“Having anything be successful does not bring you satisfaction, fulfillment and joy,” Rigsby said. “It can in little doses, but it’s here and gone so quick.”

Looking to the future, Rigsby said his main goal is to learn to immerse himself in the here and now instead of constantly looking ahead to what’s next.

“I think my real challenge and goal would be to be more present in the moment, appreciating what I do have and not always lamenting what I don’t have,” Rigsby said.