Photo courtesy of Michael Messina.
Giants and Toys
Giants and Toys members are, from left, James Vance, Jack Kish, Chris Estes, Michael Messina and John Nicholson.
Aspiring to be a part of a rock and roll band is not uncommon among youngsters. Few people get to achieve that dream, but for James Vance, that dream has become reality.
Vance, who graduated from Oak Mountain High School in 2008, is the bass player for the band Giants and Toys. The band — Vance along with other members Michael Messina (guitar, lead vocals), Jack Kish (guitar, keys), Chris Estes (drums) and John Nicholson (guitar, keys) — has been riding a tremendous amount of momentum into the summer as they prepare to record a new album.
The band’s songs have seen a steady amount of airplay locally, namely on Birmingham Mountain Radio, 107.3 FM.
Giants and Toys will play June 14 at thethird annual Southbound Festival at Avondale Brewery, which drew about 1,000 people last summer. The inclusion into the festival was based on the band’s popularity among the listeners to local radio. The festival begins at 2 p.m. and lasts until midnight, and all-day passes can be purchased at the door for $10. Giants and Toys are one of 13 bands playing the festival, and their set begins at 3:30 p.m.
But Vance said his musical journey has not been a short one. “I have been playing music pretty much my whole life,” he said. “I started playing piano when I was really young, then took violin lessons for a while. When I got into sixth grade, I started playing French horn in band then picked up the trumpet.”
Vance said he started getting serious about music while at Oak Mountain High School, where he played more instruments and branched out more musically. “Later in high school I started playing guitar, and I was playing trumpet in a couple of ska bands.” He said he knew he wanted to pursue music further.
Vance enrolled at the University of Montevallo, where he studied music education, and that was where he started playing bass guitar and met the other members of Giants and Toys. “Mike and Chris and Jack all went to Montevallo High School,” Vance said. “When John and I got to Montevallo, we joined (the fraternity) Lambda Chi Alpha, where we met Mike and Chris.
“The initial incarnation of Giants and Toys began some time around our freshman year in college in 2008. However, we really did not start seriously playing shows until early 2010, playing mainly in Montevallo,” Messina said.
“The lineup as it is now has been together since summer 2011. We have played shows in Birmingham, Montevallo, Tuscaloosa, Decatur and Mobile to name some.”
Giants and Toys’ previous self-titled EP (also called “The Strand EP”) was recorded in Athens, Ga., at Chase Park Transduction, and the album became popular quickly among Montevallo students. Messina said the experience was a rewarding one. “We spent three days tracking and mixing five songs,” he said. “We had a blast recording in Athens.”
Messina said the band is currently back in the songwriting process and plans to record an album this summer. They plan to try to produce the album themselves. “Currently, we are writing new music and in the early stages of recording those songs ourselves. We want to explore the recording process in a different way this time around,” Messina said.
See them perform
What: Southbound Music Festival, featuring 13 bands
When: June 14; Giants and Toys’ set should begin at 3:30 p.m.
Where: Avondale Brewing Company, 201 41st St. S., Birmingham 35222
Cost: $10 for an all-day pass
Visit them online
