Vilamoura’s "LOST": A Song About Fighting Inner Darkness

Written by: Annie Schlottman

I am a firm believer that bands are storytellers.  They all have a message they’re trying to share with their listeners.  Fans are drawn in by the songs that resonate with them.  In the case of Texas metalcore/post-hardcore band Vilamoura, their music is so relatable, I think many people would find something that helps them in their own lives as they go through challenges and face dark times.

As much as I think a band’s message or story is important, of course the actual musical elements and melodies are, too.  A mix of clean and hard vocals, complex guitar riffs, thunderous drums, powerful breakdowns – I love it all. Vilamoura is the whole package. The band just released a new song called “LOST” January 16th, and it’s heavy yet emotional.  There’s also a great music video to go along with the song.  It’s the title track of the band’s five-track EP which drops January 30th. There will  be five songs on the EP – three that have been released already and two brand new ones.

Based in Austin, Texas, Vilamoura has five band members.  Payton Holekamp is on drums, Joshua Valdez on bass, Don Shipman on guitar, and Josh Huber and JonJon Sotomayor on vocals, with the former doing primarily screams and the latter doing primarily clean singing.  JonJon answered my interview questions for this piece, and I was very moved by the stories he told me about the band and their music. 

Vilamoura started with Joshua Valdez and his close high school friend deciding as teenagers to make music together.  They recruited the original lineup for the band including Josh Huber.  Valdez and Huber are the only original members still in the band.  Payton Holekamp is the most recent member to join Vilamoura.

The band actually went on a hiatus back in 2016, and got back together with both Joshua Valdez and his friend, as well as the rest of the members they have now.  There was one guitarist before Don and there were two drummers before Payton.  They had two or three singers before JonJon.  He’s the only one the band has released music with since the band rebranded while working on their debut EP, Buried Alive, which came out in 2022.  Basically, since they released their song “Double Down” in 2023, it’s been the same core group they have today. 

How did the band get its name?  JonJon told me “Vilamoura” is the name of a street some of the band members used to live around, but they weren’t actually the ones that came up with the idea to use it.  The band had a different name originally. When they were in the studio writing what would end up being the Buried Alive EP, their producer, Robby Joyner, recommended they rebrand because the music they were making was completely different and a dramatic improvement from what they had made previously. 

JonJon shared that one of the band's homies who happened to be with them in the studio at the time brought up Vilamoura as a name he was considering using for one of his own bands, but they snatched it for theirs, instead. “With his permission, of course,“ JonJon said playfully. “Shout-out to our boy Hunter; he’s still waiting for his royalty check in the mail for giving us the name.“

The songwriting process for Vilamoura is interesting and has evolved over time.  Instrumentals always come before vocals when the band is writing their songs. There’s no exact reason for that.  It’s not like science, but it’s the way they’ve always done things and it works for them.  The instrumentals are almost entirely handled by Joshua Valdez and Don Shipman, as well as their producer, Robby Joyner, who offers his ideas for any changes that night be needed.  Sometimes JonJon will get involved and add ideas to the mix before they hit the studio.  Ultimately, everyone contributes thoughts at some point in the process, but Don and Valdez do the bulk of the work.

Lyrically, JonJon handles most of the writing, but he works very closely with Josh Huber when doing so.  Robby also often pitches in with the lyrics, refining JonJon’s work.  Typically, JonJon will either come up with an entire song’s lyrics and melodies himself, as is the case with “Double Down” or “Morning Star”, or Huber will have the concept and the words he wants to say and JonJon will sort of “lyricize” them, as was the case with “Blind”.

That being said, JonJon told me Huber has definitely written prominently for the band in the past and carried the bulk of their previous work, such as “Name Like An Infection” and “Pull Me From The Grave”. The lyric dynamic shifted when the band got back together in 2021, but Huber has been gradually rejoining the lyrical process, and the upcoming song “Spirited Away” actually involves considerably more direct lyrical work from him than in the band’s other recent songs.  JonJon said there will definitely be a lot more writing from Huber in the future as well.

The band calls their producer, Robby Joyner, their “secret sauce”.  He’s basically a sixth band member, at least in the studio.  He does all of the production and engineering entirely himself, and he’s always involved in the songwriting as well.  His role in writing has been somewhat reduced with recent work.  Robby basically designed the lyrics, vocal melodies, and instrumentals of a lot of the 2022 Buried Alive EP himself.  In the newer music he plays a more correctional and guidance-oriented role that bounces off what the band gives him rather than him giving them everything from the start.

JonJon shared, “It’s honestly been a point of pride for all of us that we’ve been able to step up our writing so much to actually contribute as heavily as we do now, but I think we all agree we would never be anywhere near who we are without Robby being involved.”

I remember my first time hearing Vilamoura was a post on Instagram featuring their song "Craven".  I was awestruck.  The dual vocals and heavy music got me for sure, but the emotional nature of their songs really pulled me in.  I knew right away that there’s something very special about this band, and I started exploring their catalog.  It’s all tremendous. I highly recommend checking out all of Vilamoura's music, going back to the 2022 Buried Alive EP.

Alex Kouvatsos of Blackwolf Imaging directed and edited the “LOST” music video, which is just perfect.  It was the band’s first time working with Alex, a very well-known professional in the industry who has done videos for bands such as Catch Your Breath, Nevertel, Archers, Dead Eyes, and Wind Walkers, among many others.  The band was so happy to be able to work with him and they hope to do so again.  The band had an idea of what they wanted to do going into the video shoot with Alex.  It was a team effort, and they built out the set themselves.

The video has a very dark, gloomy, and haunting ambience that goes along with the theme of the song. It’s also very intense and passionate, which, as I’ve learned more about this band while writing this story, reflects them very well. Everything they do is with purpose and a shared vision of the final outcome.  They are very intentional in the art they create.

Regarding song topics, JonJon said that he and Huber like to write about personal life experiences. They believe too many bands want to put their voice in places it doesn’t belong, trying to be political mouthpieces or social critics, but the only merit they bring to the table is charisma without proper education.

Rather than preach on topics beyond their scope, Vilamoura chooses to stay grounded and focus on the interactions an individual person will have with other people around them and write about how those things feel and coping with those feelings.  If there is any kind of “preaching” happening, it’s about emotional wellness for individual people and how to take accountability for your own thoughts and actions -- nothing more. 

JonJon shared with me that, in his mind, the upcoming LOST EP is where Vilamoura’s journey truly starts.  There is a message in the EP the band is trying to send as a music entity about self-identity and about coping with trauma, but they’re really only scratching the surface. The band has very ambitious plans they’ve already laid out amongst each other for where to take the music next, and that writing process is already well underway.

Until that music is ready to be released, the band will be focused on promoting the LOST EP and  working on developing a more intimate bond with their fans.  With the music taking such a complex new messaging direction, it’s deeply important to the band that the fans feel reflected in the writing they do and that they know the purpose of each song.  The band will be putting in some very creative efforts to get those concepts into the public eye.

There are several shows announced coming up for Vilamoura: Saturday, January 31st with headliner Notions at The Lone Star Theater in Pharr, Texas Two headlining shows: Sunday, February 8th with Census, Waiting 4 April, and Triiiplesixxx at Hole In The Wall in Austin, Texas and Monday, February 9th with Census and Waiting 4 April at Three Links Deep Ellum in Dallas, Texas Thursday, March 19th opening for Volumes at Come and Take It Live in Austin

There are ticket links on the band's website, https://vilamouraband.com. You can follow Vilamoura on all of their socials -- Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Linktree.

I want to close this story by directly quoting JonJon from my interview with him.  The way he described Vilamoura’s music and the message this band is trying to spread was so beautiful, I would not be able to do it justice any other way.

“The LOST EP is just the beginning of a larger purpose. Effectively, this EP tells the story of an age-old experience many people have of dreaming this ideal future self as a child, then growing up and failing to meet the mark. LOST is the story of that process of failing to meet the mark, from being a child in ‘Orphan’ and changing because of traumas foisted upon you in the home to adapting to abuse and neglect in the world as an adult in ‘Craven’ and ‘Dissolve’ and even hurting ourselves by coping the wrong ways in ‘Spirited Away’ ”.

JonJon continued, “ ‘LOST’ is a eulogy for that ideal self we all envisioned, and once we’ve given ourselves that time to mourn, the next step becomes figuring out how we move on and become the best versions of ourselves we still can. It’s a process of self-discovery that involves digging deep into a lot of heavy darkness people don’t like to look at within themselves, but we want people to remember, as they follow us through this journey, that even when there’s not always a good, there is always a best, and our ultimate goal is to inspire other people to always do their best in all things, for themselves and everyone else around them.”