What non-musical thing (a book, a piece of art, a smell, a bizarre historical event) had the greatest unexpected influence on this new album/EP?

VIELE: I was reading "The Book of Charlie" while on tour — a true story about a man who lived to be 109. It’s a book about love, curiosity, and squeezing every ounce out of life. I was reading it curled up in a motel room in Portland, Oregon, in the dead of winter, stuck there for three days between shows after what felt like a year straight on the road. At that point, my brain and my heart were in constant conflict — questioning whether I was wasting my life or living it exactly the way I was supposed to. When you’re chasing a dream this big, the lines blur fast. That book didn’t give me answers, but it helped me sit with the question — and I think that uncertainty seeped directly into this EP.

What is the one sentence “more of the story” or life lesson that you hope a listener takes away from this specific body of work?

VIELE: Every choice we make is also a sacrifice, time is fleeting, and no one ever truly “has it all” — but meaning comes from understanding what you’re giving up and what you’re choosing to chase.

Which one track on your new release has a private, personal “liner note” or backstory that fundamentally defines the song for you?

VIELE: The entire EP is pretty gut-wrenching in hindsight, but the line in “Silo” — “distance can’t divide true counterparts” — might be the one I’d tattoo on my forearm. If you’ve followed my music at all, you know I wear my heart on my sleeve. But this rock-and-roll life doesn’t make it easy for someone to hold on for the long haul. Writing that line was a realization — that the right person, the true counterpart, won’t let distance or tour schedules break the bond. That idea carried straight into the next track, “We Can’t Have It All,” with the line “keep writing songs and know the right ones sing along.” It was me learning to trust both the journey and the people meant to walk it with me.

In your personal or creative life, what is the one difficult truth you keep having to “be a goldfish” about - using a short memory to forgive yourself and move past a failure?

VIELE: Creatively, I always go through a phase where I hate what I’ve made. Every single time. I’ll finish a record, feel proud of it, then revisit it weeks later and suddenly hear only flaws. Eventually, I realize it’s just my brain playing tricks on me — that I’m listening like a hyper-critical scientist instead of a music lover. I know this pattern, yet I still fall into it every time. Being a goldfish, for me, means remembering that my ears lie — and trusting the instinct that got me to the finish line in the first place.

What are you most genuinely and urgently curious about right now in life, and how is the pursuit of that curiosity currently driving your music?

VIELE Two themes run through almost everything I write right now: the reality that time isn’t infinite, and the double-edged sword of empathy. Those ideas weave in and out of my songs and my life. They’re the reason I run annual nonprofit fundraising concerts from Vermont to West Virginia through the label I founded, Bigger Beast Records. They’re also why I spend so much of my free time building infrastructure to help independent artists I love grow sustainable careers. Curiosity about how we care for each other — and what we do with the limited time we’re given — is driving both my music and my purpose right now.