Soaring vocals....powerful guitars.....bass & drum that shake your spine.......these are just some of the traits exibited in the music of VENDETTA. Their latest offering, "Heretic Nation" absolutely blew me away (check REVIEWs RECORD 2010)!!! This is the first interview I've done since 2006...hey, life gets busy. It's an honor to have this great band featured here, and vocalist/guitarist Edward Box gives some insite to his band. VENDETTA truely are a kind of rare gem of metal....you realize how lucky you are to have discovered such an amazing thing. Read on, and see what you've been missing.
Interview by Anthony
Anthony (Unstoppable Force): Hi Ed. I'd like to start off by thanking you for the interview. Unstoppable Force hasn't had a new interview since 2006; as you know, life gets busy!
For anyone who has never heard of Vendetta, how would you describe your band?
Edward Box: I would describe the Vendetta sound as traditional metal with a contemporary edge. We place a big emphasis on having strong melodies and song structures
but we also like our guitar solos. So in a nut shell we are a guitar orientated melodic trad metal band!
Tyranny of Minority came about when I started to write some vocal material in a trad metal style. I fancied recording it so I asked some mates to help out and pretty
much after the first practice we decided we wanted it to be a band. I used to sing in another band but I had never sung metal before so I thought I would give it a shot
and it turned out OK so it's all grown from there really. Lee Lamb joined us after the recording of the first album as we didn't have a permanent drummer so we now have
a really soild line up that has recorded and giged for nearly three years.
How did Vendetta hook up with Lion Music?
I released two instrumental albums, Plectrumhead and Moonfudge via the label so when we recorded Tyranny of Minority I approached them with the master to see if
they were interested in woking with us. Lasse, the president of Lion, really liked the album and said he would put it out so that's how it all started.
Has the band received any issues with the name Vendetta? I remember a Thrash Metal band from the 80s with the same name. Have people ever confused the two? What sets you apart?
There can be a bit of confusion and alot of German based web sites seem to resent our use of the name but the fact of the matter is that the German trash band hasn't done
much in the way of anything new in recent times and our sounds and logo/branding are very different. There are a lot of Vendetta's around (cover bands and club acts) but I
would like to think that ourselves and the German band are the main ones. No one owns the exclusive rights to this name worldwide but we are Vendetta UK!
Prior to the release of "Heretic Nation", the band released a video for the song "My Revelation". Do you feel this is the strongest song on the album? What was it like making your first music video? What other videos has the band produced?
We felt My Revelation was one of the strongest songs and was very direct and would make a great video.
It also has a really good guitar solo so we felt it would represent the band very well. The shoot for My Revelation was alot of fun and we shot it in half a day.
Our director Clive Jackson, works wonders on a limited budgetand we felt he achieved a great aesthetic for the whole piece.We also made a video for the song I Executioner and the
song New Horizon from Heretic Nation. A video for the song Killing Time is coming soon.
Pete Thompson our guitarist does all the art work as he is also one of the UK's top concept artists. We see our angel figure as our mascot and he will appear in some form on all our album covers.
We gig around our local area regularly and we have had a few roadtrips but its hard to tour due to other commitiments and a lack of representation in these areas.
As previously stated we have had the same line up now for the last three years so hopefully we are a very well oiled machine in the live enviroment.
It's clear the band has put a lot of time and money into marketing. What are some of the corners of the world you've been hearing from since "Heretic"'s release?
We get emails from all over the world, particularly South America and the USA but also mainland Europe.
It's great to reach out to people and it's a huge thrill when someone loves your music and they live on the other side of the world.
I see you're sharing the stage soon with NWOBHM legends Blitzkrieg. Will you be doing several shows with them? What other bands have you shared the stage with?
We hope to do some more shows with Blitzkrieg. The only other bands we have supported are House of Lords and we played on the same bill as Terrorvison at a local festival.
Unfortunatley Lion Music doesn't have the kind of budget to offer tour support so that question remains unanswered. We are always open to offers if someone wants us to play!
In truth, we are primarily a recording act. We all have day jobs and other commitment so Vendetta is something we make time for but it is not our lifes priority. In truth, we probably all wish it was but the main
point is that we are getting our music 'out there' in some fashion.
The song "A Glass Half Empty" is full of emotion and power. What are your thoughts on this song? Are there any songs that stand out for you on your latest album?
The lyrics to A Glass Half Empty are interesting in that the chorus was written first but then I couldn't come up with a verse so I dug out some old lyrics and
the verses from an old song fitted the themes beaufifully. In a sense the lyric is form two persepcetives. The verse and bridges
are from the point of view of the person who is in crisis and the chorus is another person talking about the friend they have lost. Is the glass half full or half empty?
How you perceive this question says alot about your character and how you see life.
As for other songs I particulary pleased with Delusion, Age of Annihilation and The Space Between but I hope we have delivered a consistent album that maintains a level throughout.
What would you call Vendetta's "Signature Song"? What songs do you incorperate into your setlist?
Our signature song is I Executioner. All our fans love it and it's the one that everyone goes mad for live. When we put on a show We tend to play Generation Kill, Bones to Dust and Lost Cause
off Tyranny of Minority and the first seven tracks off Heretic Nation.
Are there any new songs or album ideas in the works? How does Vendetta adapt its sound from one album to the next?
We have five songs written for the next album and they are different from the last batch but do continue the sound we have created. It's early days yet but we
are aiming to be in the studio next February and we are determined to make a great album, full of good songs and hot solo's. It's unlikely we will have time to write a load of
songs and pick the best. We only wrote 11 for Heretic Nation and picked 10 so we will worry every idea to death till we nail it!
Thank you for taking the time to answer these interview questions. I am truely thankful to have been introduced to your band's fantastic music! Is there anything else you would like to add?
The review from Unstoppable Force is the best we have ever had so thankyou to you and your readers. Keep checking our website/myspace/youtube channel
as we always have new stuff going on. Vendetta are going to do their vey best to create a third album that rises to the challenges set by Heretic Nation and we hope
that your website enjoys it as much as we will making it. Many thanks. -Ed.
DISCOGRAPHY
TYRANNY OF MINORITY (2007)
HERETIC NATION (2009)
LINKS
MYSPACE PAGE
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
My first exposure to Vendetta was hearing your second album, "Heretic Nation".
Before we touch on that album, tell me about your first record, "Tyranny of Minority" and what Vendetta was like since its formation. Did you always play guitar and sing?
Tell me a bit about the fantastic artwork for the "Heretic Nation" album. Do you see Vendetta using a mascott of some type, similar to the likes of Maiden, Overkill, Megadeth, etc?
I've read in your press kit that Vendetta was gigging for the past two years, armed with a now solid line-up. Tell me about all this touring you did. What member changes took place? How has the band's sound changed with new players?
Will Lion Music be helping you with a tour of some sort? What are some places you'd like to play?