The music that would instead become the group's debut, El Mundo Latino, came together quickly over three four-hour sessions in the (now closed) Mexican restaurant that gave the album its name. In addition to a new sound, the songs also changed the group's live performances: Shadburne moved from singer/guitarist to dynamic frontman.
Shark Dad singer Jason Robinson remembers first seeing Via Dove during a battle of the bands. He was struck by how Shadburne filled his new role.
"I remember just being impressed by the energy and wild stage presence of Andy Shadburne," he says. "The whole band was on fire that night, but of course, the frontman is the one really lighting the blaze, and Andy always brought it."
Now that Shadburne was starting the fire up front, all the guitar work fell to Vaught. Though Tomko says Vaught can play the role of three guitarists, Via Dove enlisted him as a second player for the group's 2011 An Under Cover Weekend. This time, the group took on AC/DC.
As the former guitar player for Gentleman Auction House, Tomko wasn't sure how to find a new band. But after the AC/DC appearance, a band found him instead when Shadburne asked him to join Via Dove.
"I didn't know how to get into a band at that time, but what I didn't know was what I needed. I needed to be in a band that was supportive."
And that's what he found in his new band, particularly in Vaught. Though this paper named Vaught the city's top guitar player in 2014's Best of St. Louis issue, Tomko says he would sometimes defer the harder parts to the band's newest addition.
Before Tomko, Robinson recalls, "Via Dove was more along the lines of an indie band with these quiet somber moments who would gradually build to noisy." But with Tomko as guitarist, "right out the gate, they crank things up. I'm pretty certain Mike helped make the songs sound massive."
The band released Fugue State last year, which included five songs from the El Mundo Latino sessions with updated parts by Tomko and the Educated Guess' Charlie Brumley.
But the responsibilities of adulthood were on the horizon.
Since the band's inception, three of the members have had children. Drummer Burnett has started a Web development company. Bassist North has opened the thriving Blueprint Coffee. For a period, the business' demanding schedule required him to step back for a bit, so the band enlisted former Riddle of Steel bassist Jimmy Vavak to fill in until North could rejoin the fold.
Tomko, who says he's the "business guy," began to notice a waning response to texts and messages about upcoming shows and bookings. Late last winter the band members began discussing wrapping up Via Dove. That discussion inspired changes and a revitalized spirit.
"Even if you're not playing, you're still carrying the band around with you. It needs to be nurtured. It's like a Tamagotchi always beeping at you," Tomko says.
Once you stop thinking about it, he adds, "you realize it's fun again. If there's anything we wanted to preserve, it was to keep it fun."
For Shadburne, the band's musical legacy parallels the connections he has made in his adopted hometown.
"When I first moved here, I was enthralled with this place, and some of the people who lived here kind of took it for granted," he says. "The history here -- Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, the artwork -- it just hits you. You walk around, you drive on the streets, and it just hits you. Sometimes it takes a person from another place to sell a city to the outside world and its people."
Shadburne continues, "I would hope people look back at us and say, 'These guys loved what they did, worked really hard and ultimately became St. Louisans.'"
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