Vanden: victims of rock?

Wed 28th Feb, 2007 in Features

Get used to hearing the name Vanden thrown about in conversations about who’s hot right now on the music scene. After last weekend’s explosive gig at Melbourne’s Hi-Fi Bar unofficially kicking off their EP launch tour, singer James Brown settles down in a suit and tie with an orange juice at a café on Brunswick Street to talk shop.

That whole description poses many questions, rock star? Orange juice? Suit and tie? JAMES BROWN?

The suit is explained away quickly, almost apologetically, as he is on a lunch break from his day job. The orange juice is more about trying not to drink soft drink rather than not drink beer. At least by not recognising his publicist, he regained some kind of rock star skew.

So, James Brown, the name sounds familiar…
“I don’t think he’s dead, he’s just retired to let myself have a shot with the name! I’ve started practicing the splits,” he jokes, peeking cheekily through his ironed fringe. “But I’m not quite there! I did this big jump that could almost be James Brown. I’ve started incorporating the mic stand a bit more into my performance too.”

Vanden was born out of the aftermath of three bands splitting. “My band was about to release an EP we recorded with D.W. Norton (Mindsnare, Superheist) and I went overseas for a few weeks. A couple of the members had a hissy fit and ended up quitting, I don’t think they liked the idea of me being overseas for six weeks.”

After arriving back from overseas, James wanted to replace the members in his old band and continue on, but he received a call from a friend who told him about the guys from Vanden looking for a replacement singer. “Our old bands used to play together, so we knew each other from the scene. We kinda took what we thought were the best elements of those three bands and it’s worked really well.”

The EP, Victims, is a focused blend of melodic, alternative and hard rock, six songs chosen from 11 recorded last year with Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Helmet, Melodyssey). “The initial thing was were going to start with an album, and then I think when we finished recording, some of the songs were a bit left of field, and not really what we were about. We just decided to put the stronger stuff out first.”

Brisbane is the destination James looks forward to playing, saying the reaction and response six months ago was awesome. “We seem get a lot of fans from up that way. The last few shows we played up there we got really good feedback, made a lot of really cool friends, and the interest has just been great. That has to be the exciting part for me.” He also says that it seems to a lot easier to put on all ages shows in Brisbane, which may account for the big response. “We did an analysis of our myspace and it came back with something like 70 percent of our audience are 16-18 year olds. We want to do more all ages shows but in Melbourne the cost is too great to cover the costs of licensing, St John’s Ambulance and security.”

So what next?
“We’ve written the record and had a lot of good feedback from it and we’ve also got a guy in the US who’s working, sourcing a deal for us.”

Well, so long as he doesn’t sign you to Capitol, ay James? And what do you say we give you some soft drink at the next gig, see if we can get you to do those splits?

Vanden’s The Victims EP tour:
Thursday March 1:Shark Bar
Friday March 2: Club Phoenix, Brisbane
Saturday March 3: The Sands, Sunshine Coast
Thursday March 8: Oxford Tavern Wollongong
Friday March 9: Excelsior, Sydney (with Kill the Capitol and Dead Letter Circus)
Saturday March 10: Northern Star, Newcastle (with Sleight of Hand and Dead Letter Circus)
Friday March 16: The Evelyn, Melbourne CANCELLED
Friday March 23: High Voltage Festival, Newcastle (with After the Fall, Sleight of Hand, Unpaid Debt and more) (all ages)
Thursday March 29: Club TBA @ Geddes Lounge, Melbourn (with Repeat Offender and Dorah Mah)
Thursday April 19: Lake Kawana Community Centre, Sunnshine Coast (with Repeat Offender, False Start and more) (all ages)
Friday April 20: Club Phoenix, Brisbane (with Repeat Offender)
Saturday April 21: Princess Theatre, Brisbane (with Repeat Offender, False Start and more) (all ages)

Saturday April 28: East Brunswick Club, Melbourne (with Why Valerie and guests)
Saturday May 5: Peninsula Lounge, Moorooduc (with Arcade Hero and Dyalisis)