You could call them an indie power couple. DoubleVee’s Allan and Barb (Hendrickson) Vest certainly have the credentials to be designated as such. Allan was the primary force behind Oklahoma City’s Starlight Mints, who kicked off a four-album string of orchestral-pop excellence with 2000’s The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of before disbanding toward the end of the decade. Since then, Allan’s work has been featured in movies (Barnyard, The Art Of Getting By), on TV (Malcolm In The Middle, Californication, Gossip Girl) and in animated shorts for Disney. His varied portfolio also includes podcast themes and production gigs for Francine, Skating Polly, Bishop Allen and other artists.
Obviously, these are the sort of lucrative distractions that can draw one away from the life of a struggling (if well-regarded) recording artist. That brings us to Allan’s 10-year partnership with Barb, who’s diverse background includes 16 years in public radio, where she hosted and produced the nationally syndicated Filmscapes. She’s also edited a music webzine, marketed and produced garage-sale events featuring live music and merchants, and provided backup vocals for various bands. Two years after they were married, the duo released doubleVee’s brazenly theatrical 2017 debut, The Moonlit Fables Of Jack The Rider. In 2022, a track from their Treat Her Strangely LP found its way onto an episode of the Tim Burton/Alfred Gough/Miles Millar Netflix series Wednesday.
Following three years of relative silence, doubleVee is currently prepping the self-released Periscope At Midnight EP for a July 25 due date. The latest single, “Maybe Tonight (What’s Inside Of Me?),” re-imagines a song written during the Starlight Mints era.
“I was originally going for this ‘Devil Went Down To Georgia’ thing, but with a piano hook instead of a fiddle,” says Allan. “The two songs are nothing alike, but I think the hook still holds up after so many years have passed. Barb and I had a good time producing a more sonically enriched version of the song and complementing it with a self-shot video, taking a bit of a clinical approach to it.”
We’re proud to premiere doubleVee’s “Maybe Tonight (What’s Inside Of Me?).”
—Hobart Rowland
