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| VANDALLUS - On the High Side LP | |
HRR 478, ltd 500, 200 x black + 300 x transparent red vinyl, 4mm spine cardboard cover, lyric sheet | |
| Jason Vanek - vocals, guitar Shaun Vanek - guitar, drums, bass Steve Dukuslow - drums | |
| -Rat -Break the Storm -One the High Side -Who's Chasing Me -Running Lost -Back to the Grind -Get Out -On Top of the World -A Fool You're Right | |
SOLD OUT! | |
With Shaun Vanek (guitar, drums, bass) and Steve Dukuslow (drums) Vandallus from Cleveland in Ohio do indeed feature two thirds of the mighty Midnight in their line-up. The three-piece is completed by Jason Vanek (vocals, guitar). Although the band is Jason’s baby, Midnight boss Jamie Walters also wrote a few songs for Vandallus, who have just released their debut album »On The High Side« via High Roller Records.
“Vandallus is a totally different project from Midnight,” states Jason Vanek, “basically the idea came about of making an album in the vein of late 1970s/early 1980s hard rock. I've always wanted to do a project like this, so it came together very quickly. Jamie and myself had some songs and I wanted to put a full album together.”
This full album is now called »On The High Side«. If you take a song like “Break The Storm”, which comes across like a mixture of very early Dokken (first album) and mid-period Scorpions, you do wonder if those two acts were indeed an influence on the sound of Vandallus? “Absolutely, that's what we were going for, they've always been influences of mine,” agrees Jason. In the eighties, Vandallus’ music would probably have been described as “heavy rock”, with a little dose of AOR (think Canadian band Trimph) and maybe even a bit of hair metal thrown in for good measure (Warrior US). “I love Triumph,” beams Jason, “not as much of a hair metal thing was planned though, I'm personally not a huge hair metal fan, we just wanted to write great hard rock songs.”
And this is exactly what Vandallus achieved. Just take a listen to the title track “On The High Side” and you know that the guys mean business. Jason: “Yeah, the title track is kind of a key song on the album, it’s about partying and growing up as a rebellious teenager.”
The sound of »On The High Side« is very direct and sort of old school and according to Jason that’s exactly how it was originally planned: “The main vibe with this band is all about capturing an era that won't be forgotten, just straight forward old school hard rock. I had the album mastered by Arnie Acosta (Santa Monica Mastering) whom worked on many of the classic productions of that time. I'm all about classic dynamic productions with a real live drummer, no pitch shifting, and no crushed or fake elements.”
Fitting in nicely, the cover art of »On The High Side« is also very no-nonsense, simple and archaic in a way, not unlike High Spirits are handling their artwork. Again, Jason agrees: “Yeah, exactly, it's the first record so we wanted to go with a simple album cover, like Fastway.”
Vandallus (just like Midnight) come from Cleveland in Ohio, a hotbed for American Metal in the eighties. “Hell yeah man, bands like Breaker, Destructor, Shok Paris, Purgatory and Black Death all come from our area,” Jason proudly exlaims. “They have all been influences and friends over the years. Bill Peters has always done a great job of keeping local bands on the map.”
However, like a lot of current US bands, Vandallus are directing their attention more towards the European metal market: “The major cities in the US usually have a good scene, but everything inbetween is very hit or miss. I'd say overall Europe has a much stronger following for this type of music now. The concert scene here is much different than the European scene. Over in Europe, people hang around and party with the bands, whereas here in the States it seems like people are on very tight schedules, go home early, and are hard to get out of their houses (speaking for the masses).”
Vandallus are very much motivated to play live as often as they can: “Absolutely, we like to stick to more festival type shows because we like to put on a full out energetic performance without cutting any corners. Even though I didn't directly grow up in that era, it's the era that I'm truly inspired by, and through the music we're trying to get the upcoming generations to be as inspired by the music as I am. Our goal is to get the younger generation to see the energy and vibe, and experience what the classic shows were all about.”
Matthias Mader