In ten years, there’s a good chance Peter Vance will be an actual celebrity, but you’ll be able to say you knew him as our Campus Celebrity first. A junior from Washington D.C., Peter is the frontman of Morning Brigade, a folk/rock/indie band that has gained widespread popularity not only in Chapel Hill, but also throughout the entire Triangle. The talented musician is also a Dramatic Art and Media Studies & Production double major, and he radiates with drive and creativity. Your music library will thank you after you download his band’s album—it’s free, there’s no excuse not to! Plus, he resembles James Franco and he’s met James Franco (no big deal). Read on to find out all about this campus celeb’s exciting life.
HC: Morning Brigade has become one of the biggest and most popular local bands. How does it feel to be successful doing something you love?
PV: It’s incredible. This is kind of like exactly what I wanted to happen but wasn’t necessarily what I thought would happen. I’ve been playing music and writing songs forever and at first they were really bad, but I came to college and people started to like them. What really helped is I found musicians that know the direction of the music I want to take it to, and who are just really talented. Being part of a six-piece band is extremely beneficial. But it feels great, and I try to be as humble as I can. Also just the fact that people have like memorized the words that came out of my head. I write these songs that are very personal, and I see all these people singing them back and that’s the coolest thing.
HC: How have you managed schoolwork and the band? Do you find that one often becomes priority over the other?
PV: This semester has probably been the busiest I’ve had. I’m doing 18 hours this semester plus because Morning Brigade has gotten this kind of recognition from the community, we’ve become a lot more active as a band. The academics and the band kind of overlap and it’s pretty stressful. But the great thing is that I have five other members in the band and they can do a lot of the other work. I try to spend my time writing the songs and the other members can do things like social media and booking shows. It’s incredibly time consuming, but at the same time I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.
HC: If you could perform with any artist or band, who would it be?
PV: Andrew Bird or Sufjan Stevens—those two artists are the epitome of what I want to be. I not only feel an incredible connection between their music and mine, but just also the type of people they seem to be and what they’ve accomplished. A lot of it has to do with their humble attitude. It doesn’t feel like they’re trying too hard, and they’re just extremely talented and digging deep down to the emotional chasm I think great music has to stem from. Also, Andrew bird is an incredible whistler and I like to pretend that I am. It would be fun to do a whistling duet with him.
HC: What would we find you doing in your free time when you actually have some?
PV: When I have my free time a lot of it will be spent just messing around on the guitar, not even trying to write songs but just playing and seeing what comes out of it. I also enjoy hanging out with my girlfriend and going on reddit. I listen to a lot of music. Basically when I’m not talking to someone or not working, I’m listening to music. Like sometimes my ears will hurt because of how long my earbuds are in.
HC: What do you love most about UNC?
PV: I actually didn’t even know much about UNC when I applied, but I got in and decided to go, and when I came I loved it. Probably the thing I loved most was the music scene. Chapel Hill and Carrboro were surprisingly beautifully vibrant with these insanely good local bands as well as touring bands that come through. I made a lot of friends who were as musically inclined as I am and they introduced me to all these incredible bands, and it’s still going on. That kind of keeps me going, because there are so many bands out there. I don’t view that as something to push me away from the pursuit, but something that drives me to it. I do love it here and I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.
HC: What would you say has been your biggest musical accomplishment so far?
PV: Playing Cat’s Cradle was a huge accomplishment. Opening for Megafaun was a huge accomplishment. Playing at TEDxUNC was a huge accomplishment—we actually won that show by entering the contest to play and didn’t expect to win, but we got the highest number of votes. Getting awesome reviews in the Indy Weekly is awesome too. Hopefully bigger things are coming. We’ll see.
HC: Wow. That must be nice having so many accomplishments to choose from. Where do you see yourself after college? Do you plan on continuing to pursue music?
PV: That’s a great question, and it’s one that’s been in the back of my mind since I’ve started my music career. It’s tough; I have this mutual love between music and dramatic art. The band is obviously a huge priority, but at the same time, if there were an opportunity for one of the members that would be their dream, I wouldn’t stop them. We’re all individuals; we all came to UNC for reasons. As for me specifically, I plan on taking a year off, getting a job, and probably applying to the grad program here depending on what the band’s doing. I would get an MFA in Theater with UNC’s PlayMakers. If by that time, the band is in the same place that it is right now in 5 years, well at least I’ll have an MFA.
HC: Having an MFA in acting or being a successful musician? Not too shabby for post-grad options. Speaking of acting, has anyone ever told you you resemble James Franco?
PV: [Laughs] I don’t know but the funny thing is I met James Franco and got a picture with him. I met him my junior year of high school in New York City. It was a school trip, and some friends and I walked over to NYU and I go, “Isn’t that James Franco?!” And I go up to him, and ask for a picture and he’s like, “sure man.” He was super nice.
Pictures taken from connellycrowe.com