A-Z Interviews: Vexxes

Vexxes are not choosing the so-called ‘safe route’, the trio are giving their all to avoid getting stuck in the “hell of a daily grind”: “There’s just nothing better than playing live!” Tom, vocalist of the alt-rock trio exclaims; “Between us, we’ve played everything from large venues and concert halls, to squats and youth hostels around mainland Europe. The feeling you get when you see people singing your songs back to you is so amazing; it’s addictive.” Boasting a penchant for big, driving tunes, Vexxes recent release is debut E.P Common Ground: a collection of mini-anthems, solid guitar licks locked in tight with driving rhythms to create a platform for Tom’s soaring vocal melodies. Here the band answer 26 revealing questions in the A-Z interview…

A Song Which Made You Want To Make Music:

First Date by blink 182 - when my 14 year old self got hold of that record and I heard the middle section Travis wrote for that song... it blew my mind and I spent the next few years trying to play it!

Best Album Ever Written:

This is a tough one for sure and definitely will cause some controversy. I got into music quite late and I didn’t inherit any music tastes from my parents so ‘old school’ stuff is out… the first one that comes to mind is Songs for the Deaf by QOTSA. It’s an amazingly written concept album with such a wide variety of styles on it.

Craziest Moment You’ve Experienced In The Band:

Sam got full on stalked at Slam Dunk, which is weird considering we had literally played one gig in Leeds!

Deepest Lyrics One Of Your Songs Features:

Enemies is the one that speaks out most to me. It’s about the self-doubt you feel and we’ve all been in those situations where you don’t feel quite good enough and there’s a voice nagging you in your head. The brightside is that you learn to deal with adversity and over time, don’t let your doubts get the best of you.

Easiest Song You Wrote:

Everything I’ve Ever Known evolved really smoothly from the first time Max laid down the main riff for us! It was known as “BEYF” (Yorkshire for beef) for ages because of that beefy lick.

Favourite Show You’ve Ever Played:

Key Club with Fort Hope. It was our first hometown show, packed with friends of ours, and new fans. The guys in Fort Hope were really down to earth as well, hopefully we’ll play with them again!

Guest You’d Most Like To Feature On A Your Record:

Will Gardner would be pretty insane, getting some of those clean/screams into our tracks would make them sound completely different.

Happiest Moment In You’ve Experienced In The Band:

Our first tour was insane, and a really good bonding experience for us all. Our last show was opening for Fort Hope in Leeds, so the venue was pretty packed! It was a great way to round off our first tour, and made some new friends and fans along the way.

Interesting Fact About One Of Your Members:

Shree was on a TV show about virgins… Property Virgins but virgins none the less.

Jokes You Have In The Band: 

When we were filming the video for ‘Lead Us Home’, Sam kept cramping up from all the cycling he’d been doing. We turned around at one point and caught him stretching off, so that’s kinda stuck! He loves a stretch… “arrr my hammies” (lol)

Kicking Off Your Set Is Best With Which Song:

Loyalists. It’s a new one, but we go straight into a chorus with a killer riff so it’s a great intro for those that haven’t seen us before.

Longest Distance You’ve Travelled To Play A Show:

The Czech border is pretty far… but Swansea to Workinton overnight was killer.

Most Inspiring Musician You’ve Ever Experienced: We played with a band last year, their singer was called GARY POTTER, he was magical. In all seriousness though, perhaps Dave Grohl. His keynote speech at SXSW a couple of years back was right on the money. He just loves music!

New Band You’d Recommend: 

There are so many! Go Primitive, we’re touring with them in June and they’re RAD!

Opening For This Band Would Be Ideal: 

We saw Mallory Knox kill it at Slam Dunk recently, that would be an awesome show.

Place You’d Most Like To Tour:

Japan! One, it would be amazing to visit even for a little bit but the experiences you see other bands have over there is just immense.

Quote That You’d Like To Pass On To Readers: 

“support your local music scene maaan” - seriously!

Reason For The Title Of Your Recent/Forthcoming Release: 

The songs are a ‘common ground’ of everyday issues people face.

See Us Live At:

21st June - London - Nambuca

22nd June - Brighton - Hope & Ruin

23rd June - Swindon - The Victoria

24th June - Leamington Spa - Zephyr Lounge

25th June - Leeds - The Packhorse

15th July - Leeds - The Wardrobe

The Old Days Of Music Were Better Than Those Current, do you agree:

Not really, the amount of music you can access now is incredible - all different genres too. The rise of streaming I think has actually been beneficial in some ways for our scene as medium sized-large bands now heavily rely on touring to make money. That means live shows/festivals are really thriving, and there’s nothing better than a good live show!

Unusual Merchandise:

We’re looking into getting figures of our ‘baghead’ character from our EP cover and first video.

Variations You’d Like To Do On Any Of Your Songs:

It would be ace to hook up with an orchestra/jazz band for an alternative twist on some of tracks. It’s probably a bit too self-indulgent at this stage though, so maybe when we’re playing the Royal Albert Hall like BMTH.

What Bands Have You Seen Live and Regretted:

Red Hot Chilli Peppers were extremely poor when I saw them years ago at Leeds Fest.

X-rays or any other treatments needed for band related injuries:

Other than Sam’s cramp, we’ve been fairly lucky so far! *touches wood*

You could have written any song in history, which would you pick:

It’s got to be Bohemian Rhapsody. A song EVERYBODY knows. P!ATD played it in full at Slam Dunk. Must be pretty great to have thousands of people singing every single word, and even having a stereo vocal mix for the middle section!

Zoo animal that best describes the personality of your band:

We’re constantly busy with the band, and we hardly sleep for writing/rehearsing/touring/promoting/meeting new people so it’ll have to be a animal that requires little sleep. We also put on a BIG live show, so something large. It’s gonna have to be an Elephant, they’re massive, spectacular, and always on the go!