INTERVIEW: Vultures Vengeance

Obscure Italian Heavy Metallers VULTURES VENGEANCE agreed to speak to me about their mystical music. So without further ado, here is the conversation I had with frontman Tony T Steele.

1, Greetings, firstly I would like to thank you for accepting my interview request. Please could you do the basics and introduce your band to us?

Hi Jørgen! Thanks to you for the interview, my pleasure. What can I say, The band was formed by me in 2009, at the start we had no singer until I decided in 2015 to sing on the demo “Rising”. We all liked the result so much. Before “Rising” our influences were more in the vein of NWOBHM, but I can say that after that the band became more influenced by US epic Metal acts.

2. With that done, firstly I would like to enquire about the influences of the band. You have a very mystical, almost dream-like, yet very ferocious and full-on sound. Which bands and other elements helped you concoct this style and craft something so unique?

First of all thanks for the nice words. My influences to compose music are so many, from US epic Metal acts to the most classic rock and Heavy Metal, actually I think that VV are a Heavy Metal band with a really dreamy and nocturnal atmosphere in most parts.
I have always been a great fan of Manilla Road, Cirith Ungol, Omen, Brocas Helm but also little underground gems, the list is too long, but I’ve never take inspiration directly from bands, It’s a strange sensation that I don’t know how to explain better than say that I take inspiration from the beauty and the cruelty of nature and reality. Many times when I play, I think of many places and stories in the deep south of Italy and my life.

3. Clearly inspiration is something you have in abundance as not only do you guys give us some truly unique Heavy Metal, but also quite regularly. With a demo in 2015, EP in 2016 and 2018 then the debut album in 2019. Before we dive into these releases, how do you feel the band has developed across these records, and do you feel all of them represent an important chapter in Vultures Vengeance?

Yeah I can say that I have many songs ready from years, You have to know that many songs that were in “The Knightlore” were born in 2009, and you’ll listen to some songs on the new album that were born in that year too, the problem is always find the time to realise the releases because we had many problems through the years, between works and boring adult real life problems.
All the releases have the imprint of the life period, also if the songs were born many years before, the result changed in atmosphere and obviously in the sound, and this, every time makes me discover a new side of that songs. At the moment my fave work is “The Knightlore” , because we arranged it directly during the recordings. I think that many parts are like a picture of that period. We stayed for more than one month in Matt’s house (the bass player) in the countryside, far from all, to improvise many parts. We had the amps in the living room at the loudest volume ever, it was an important moment for me and for the band.

4. Of course the first was your “Rising” demo tape. How did you record this release and did it serve its purpose in getting the bands name out there to the world?

At the time we had rehearsals in an underground garage where also other Extreme Metal bands played (Demonomancy and Necromancer), at the time that Garage was like the dirtiest place I’ve ever seen probably. We recorded the demo there during the night after work without sleeping until really late night, that was another important moment for me. I remember that moment like the purest passion for Heavy Metal I’ve ever lived. We recorded it on our own try to find the best sound, we were not sound engineers but only passionate metal heads, so I don’t know how precisely we gone out with that tape, but yes, after that release, many of the people that discovered us are fans of the band until now.

5. Next we saw a huge growth in the form of “Where The Time Dwelt In”, a magnificent mini-album that gave a ton of diverse and exciting soundscapes. What changed for the band to allow such a huge growth and what went into creating this short but expansive work?

I like “Where…” so much, but we really didn’t know how to do a recording session, so we improvised, We recorded the guitars on a meadow, I remember that we had to stop the recordings in the evening because it was a bit too freezing. I made the intro in 5 minutes at the end of the sessions. I was inspired by Fabio Frizzi as a big fan of Lucio Fulci’s movies. The other absurd thing of that release is that not one song has the same production. We were totally free and we never followed any law.

6. A couple of years later you returned with “Lyrids: Warning From The Reign Of The Untold” which felt a bit more like straight forward Heavy Metal though with plenty of those epic melodies. As a shorter record, a 2 song 7-inch, what place does this hold in the sonic conquest of the band?

I think that “Lyrids” is really peculiar like release, is the first release where Tony L.A. Sclezi played. We played both songs live from the first gig, we recorded it between Pescara and Rome and always by ourselves. I think that the work is totally different from other VV releases, it have a really philosophical appeal and obscure sound that we never repeated. At the start the songs were meant to be part of an album but I decided to do a 7″ because I like the little gem and both songs fit really perfectly to do it.

7. Now the full-length. “The Knightlore” is a truly wondrous and fantastic debut album. Please give us the full rundown of what inspired this album, how you achieved such a killer sound both in terms of songwriting and also production and what place it holds for you now, a few years later?

All the songs on “The Knightlore” are inspired by real life with metaphorical observation, the songs talks about human feelings and fears, from solitude, father/son relations to drug abuse, all are personal life stories with an imaginative view.
I can go more in the particulars like I already said, we stayed for so much time together to record it, also the lyrics were wrote during the recording sessions, I like these kind of things so much, Me and Matt were talking about our lives, philosophy and many other things every night and this gave him the right inspiration to write the lyrics there. At the end of the recordings we were totally wasted, because we never stopped, we worked every day for more than one month from the morning till late night. One night I ended up in the hospital with 12 stitches on my forehead, I had a deep cut on my head, due to a story I don’t want to remember. That evening I returned home at 5 in the morning and a few hours later, at 9 I was back at work on the recordings with my head bandaged. The result of that album is not due to our passion, but to a real insane obsession.

8. Now we are up to date, can we expect another release from Vultures Vengeance soon? I, and I am sure many, are dying to hear the next chapter!

I’m working on the final details just in these days, I think the next year you can listen to the new VV album!

9. Much like with your discography, your live shows feel very purposeful and you only appear on billings that seem to fit the bands sound and style. Having seen you at the Keep It True 2023 warm-up was an amazing experience. What do you feel the band has to achieve live and what makes a lineup worth playing for you guys?

Really glad you liked the show! Through the years we have had the pleasure to play on amazing festivals and with great people, but to answer to your question easily, I tell you that playing with bands that are pure and passionate Heavy Metal is always enough for me.

10. Working with Gates Of Hell Records has been quite a long standing partnership. With an amazing roster and being a domestic label for you guys, it seems a sensible decision. Do you plan to keep up this working relationship for the next release and how has the label treated you so far?

About Gates of Hell, I know Enrico from Cruz Del Sur music for years and I gave him “Rising” in his hand at a Dark Quarterer gig. He contacted me some days later to tell me that he made a Twin label called Gates Of Hell with Brigida, she is the one who take care of GOH. Most of all at the start it was a really good period, actually at the moment we don’t have a label, I’m not sure why, but this is it. I’ll send the new material as soon as the album will be ready.

11. Being a part of the underground Heavy Metal world, I would like to know which bands of the style you feel play something unique, special and worth checking out. There is a lot of similar stuff, so maybe you can shine a light on some diamonds in the rough that you personally enjoy?

I think that you have to check out “Who we Light the Fire” by Flamekeeper, Chevalier “Destiny Calls” and Iron Griffin “Storm of Magic”, I like Eternal Champion too but I think you probably already know them for sure.

12. Finally, the last words are yours. Please feel free to give any advice, warnings, promises, threats or whatever else you feel is appropriate or missing from the above interview.

Thank you for the interview it was a pleasure, I think that’s all, just keep the passion alive. Hope to see you soon.
Cheers,
T.T.Steele.