A conversation with Allan and Barb Vest about their 2025 EP

Transmission 225: Interview with doubleVee

doubleVee is the alt-pop project of Oklahoma City-based musicians Allan Vest and Barb [Hendrickson] Vest. Formed in 2012, the duo emerged following Allan’s tenure as frontman and songwriter for Starlight Mints, an orchestral pop band active throughout the 2000s. Initially conceived as a production venture, doubleVee evolved into a recording outfit after the couple began releasing demos and developed a growing catalogue of original material. Their debut full-length, The Moonlit Fables of Jack the Rider (2017), introduced a theatrical, narrative-driven format, followed by the EP Songs for Birds and Bats (2019) and the 2022 album Treat Her Strangely, partially recorded during the pandemic.

Title: Periscope at Midnight
Artist: doubleVee
Release Date: 2025-07-25
Genres: Alternative Rock, Art Rock, Indie Rock
Label: Bank Robber Music
Description: Interview with doubleVee on Periscope at Midnight, their July 25 2025 EP on Bank Robber Music, covering themes, production, and reworked material.

Their new EP Periscope at Midnight, produced and recorded in their home studio, continues their work in quirky, home-assembled pop arrangements, pairing detuned guitar, synths, and processed rhythms with alternating vocals. The tracklist includes reworkings of material originally written during Allan’s time with Starlight Mints, as well as new pieces like “Diamond Thumb” and “Everyone’s Lonely Under the Sea.” Co-mixed with Wes Sharon and featuring guests on violin and trumpet.

How did the idea for Periscope at Midnight come together, and what were the first sounds or fragments that set the direction?

[Allan]
We decided to do a remake of one of my songs, Submarine No. 3. That sort of opened things up.

[Barbara]
It was kind of the catalyst. We were in a recovery mode—Allan was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022, shortly after our album had come out.

We’d been focused on that for a while, with checkups every six months—he’s all clear now, thankfully. As we started working on the songs, it really felt like we were just lucky to be back at it, to be alive and have the time to create new music. Initially, we thought we might release an album.

But as time went on, it just made more sense to get these songs out there. We just wanted people to hear them, even if we didn’t have a ton of material ready. Let’s get them out.

What technical or production choices changed during the process compared to your earlier recordings?

[Barbara]
We have our recording process pretty dialed in at this point. We do all of our recording in our home studio here in Oklahoma City, and then finish the mixing and mastering with Wes Sharon at 115 Recording in Norman—about a half hour away.

Over the years, we’ve really refined our approach. This is probably our strongest release—I mean, we’ll have to wait and see what the world thinks of it. But we feel like we’ve dialed in our process now and would love to keep going if we can.

How do you manage the creative roles between you when recording at home—does one of you usually lead the structure or the texture?

[Barbara]
We’re both pretty much in it. Sometimes Allan will work a little later at night, and the next day I’ll listen to what he’s done and weigh in—yes, no, let’s not do that, or let’s take that effect off, turn it up here.

It’s very much a collaboration.

Was the narrative format of Jack the Rider something you had both discussed long before the album, or did it emerge during writing?

[Barbara]
When you have a title like Jack the Rider, you kind of want to think—what’s his backstory? It’s tempting to try to flesh that out a bit. We’d love to return to it someday and create some connector songs to make the storyline a little more coherent.

We both have theatrical sensibilities, so it made sense to do something that could be perceived as a bit bigger. We had visions of set pieces, rotating stages—all the things we would have done if cost were no object.

Are there any projects outside of DoubleVee you’re currently developing, whether scoring, collaborations, or production?

[Barbara]
Not currently, but we do have a music publisher who keeps an eye out for us. Occasionally, they’ll ask if we can try composing something in a certain style. We’ve done a couple of things like that recently—putting our own music aside for a bit to focus on cover songs and similar projects, which is a fun creative process. It’s nice to put our own spin on something else.

Right now, our main focus is promoting the songs that are about to come out. We just finished the video for the third single a couple of weeks ago.

It’s been a bit of a tighter schedule than we’d have liked, but we really wanted to go ahead and get these songs out there.

Do you ever feel a tension between narrative/thematic cohesion and spontaneous songwriting?

[Barbara]
I don’t think we ever feel an obligation for anything to make sense or to lead to the next thing. It’s fun when there’s a theme. With Periscope at Midnight, we kind of accidentally had two nautical-themed songs.

That made it seem like it was deliberately planned that way. At one point, we thought we might write a few more songs and turn it into a full album with a nautical theme, but we ended up stopping at six.

So now two of them are nautical, and the others aren’t. But that’s the great thing about an EP—it can be a sprinkling of whatever. It doesn’t have to be coherent.

Is there any equipment—analog or digital—that you keep returning to for its reliability or character, even across different albums?

[Allan]
I think it’s more about plug-ins and software. We have a small studio here. Right now we’re using an Audient interface, a Chandler preamp, and a couple of different mics.

We’ve updated our microphones recently. It’s a small setup, but it works.

Are you currently working on new projects?

[Barbara]
Not currently.

[Allan]
Like she said, we’re just focused on promoting this right now. After that, we’ll see where it takes us—so no new projects yet.

Are you going to tour now?

[Barbara]
We hope so. We don’t currently have plans. If it happens, it would be next spring or summer.

We practiced for a bit with a couple of friends as bassist and drummer—it’s nice to have others help flesh out the songs. There’s a lot going on, and only so much two people can do. During the pandemic, we had several practices, and it was amazing to hear what we could do with extra people.

[Allan]
Financially, we just have to weigh whether it’s worth it or not.

[Barbara]
Yeah, we’re at a later stage in life and would love to do it, but we can’t afford to lose money. The way things are—with gas prices and venues essentially charging bands to play—it’s a lot harder than it used to be.

We do sometimes wish we could hop in the DeLorean and do things differently, but we’re doing the best we can with the hand we’ve got.

[Allan]
We’ll see, though.

[Barbara]
Yeah, we’ll see. We’d love to have some kind of live component before it’s all over. But for now, we’re just glad to get the music out there and develop the music videos to go with it.

We really love visual art.

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others