Hey Vampires: Blood Brothers

In a whirlwind of broken gear and torrential noise, Glasgow-based trio Hey Vampires have been cramming as many gigs into the year or so they’ve spent together and currently getting ready to release their second E.P. so far, entitled, Problems, Solve Yourselves. As the pace begins to pick up, with more and more bands taking the noisier route to the heart of the Glasgow scene, HV are already proving to be a potent force in their own right.

Consisting of old friends MC (Bass/Vocals) and (Chris) Orr (Guitar/Vocals), the bands’ line-up was completed by the addition of drummer, Ross - the youngest of the three barely touching his 20’s as the others creep past 26 – after replying to a chance ad in a record shop, as MC explains: ‘I was just like ‘Right, I want to get a band together, and have a proper go at it before I’m 30’ because y’know, we’re getting on a bit! So, I battered out a few adverts and Ross was the only drummer to reply, but conveniently he’s shit hot, so that worked out alright.’ He continues, ‘the idea then, was pretty much to just get as many songs together so we can start gigging as soon as possible.’

The band have largely put this into action on home turf, playing - to quote local slang - ‘hunners o’ gigs’, clocking in at least two or three a week and more often than not, playing the same places in quick succession - occasionally even back to back and with many of the same bands. As a result, recent attendees of many low-key or intimate venues in the city may even already be familiar with the band, if not by name, as their combination of tight beats as danceable as they are punk; frenetic, chunky fret-work, and a bass sound dirtier than (insert explicit reference here) - not to mention a burly front-man riddled with seething passion and boundless energy- is nigh-on impossible to miss.

Citing Death From Above 1979 as a collective influence, their overall sound owes as much to the defunct Canadian duos’ debauched buzz-saw dance-punk as it does to the brutal intensity of DC hardcore and the barking guttural melodies of say, Hot Water Music or even The Minutemen. Though personal influences remain, their time together has seemingly built bridges in terms of musical opinion, according to drummer, Ross: 'Because we've been together for around a year now, we've each brought bands to table and now they're a shared love. Like, the biggest one for me would have to be These Arms Are Snakes.' A eruption of agreement soon ensues as the band discuss how good their last Glasgow show was. Attention soon returns however as MC adds: I'm really into stuff like Blood Brothers, and Fugazi. I love my obnoxious American hardcore stuff too, like Minor Threat. Y'know, just really loud and really fast!'

It's almost too easy to lump bands in together that are vaguely similar, and label it a 'scene', but in Glasgow right now there appears to be a real community feel amongst an expanding and welcoming group of musicians that favor music at the heavier end of the spectrum. MC offers his reasoning behind this: 'I think there's a lot of people like us and bands like United Fruit, Bronto(Skylift) etc... that just like loud music! But are open to everyone y'know, not exclusive like some metal gigs or other scenes where bands can be quite standoffish.' The front man continues, and in turn, perfectly sums up the collective mentality - 'Everyone's just really happy to see people there.'