Vukovi: Under the Influence

Ahead of the release of their self-titled debut album, we catch up with Glasgow four-piece Vukovi to find out what they've been listening to over the years

Feature by Tallah Brash | 01 Mar 2017

Vukovi release their debut album on 10 Mar via LAB Records – the first single to be taken from the album was La Di Da, accompanied by a music video which saw lead singer Janine Shilstone enveloped by a 6ft boa constrictor named Honey. The video was partly inspired by the relationship between Batman villains Joker and Harley Quinn, with whom Shilstone was obsessed as a comic book-loving teen. 

Vukovi is a snapshot of the band to date, drawing from a range of different influences, so with that in mind we caught up with the band to find out what albums have influenced them over the years.

Bring Me The Horizon – That's the Spirit

[Sony, 2015]

Janine Shilstone (vocals): "This album is perfection in my eyes. It's innovative, raw emotion at its best, laid out in front of us to hear – personally I find it all very sexy (in a non-weird way). The combination of metal/rock and synthesisers with unstable, angry and emotional vocals sprinkled on top really hits the spot for me. We took a lot of inspiration from this album, in particular from the heavy synth presence that features throughout the album beautifully."

Queens of the Stone Age – ...Like Clockwork

[Matador, 2013]

JS: "Josh Homme in my eyes is the Quentin Tarantino of the music industry. He has his own trend and musical style that oozes this 'not even trying' charisma. Homme's quirky production on this album is something I wanted to grab onto and inject into ours, in particular paying attention to his use of vocal harmonies, backing vocals and even some guitar sounds (the Animal intro, for example)."

PJ Harvey – Rid Of Me

[Island, 1993]

JS: "The thing I love about PJ Harvey is that when she writes she doesn't see herself as a female half the time, and instead of writing with gender in mind she writes about people's relationships to each other, including her own. I relate so much to this attitude of writing and she's gave me the confidence to be like that even more so when it comes to music.

"This album switches between revenge fantasies and desperate neediness. Her ability to switch between so many different characters was again something that pushed me to adapt in to our own album."

The 1975 – The 1975

[Dirty Hit/Polydor, 2013]

Colin Irving (drums): "This is one of those go-to albums that's perfect to put on when in new company and unsure of everyone's music taste. For me, this album marks an era and demonstrates incredible song writing abilities. It will have an influential effect on many albums for years to come."

Ben Howard – Every Kingdom 

[Island, 2011]

CI: "Without a doubt, one of our favourite things is to play LOUD music, but when asked to perform an acoustic session or show you can't just turn down, we have to take a completely different approach. Although it's somewhat unintentional, this album has ended up being a pretty similar style to our acoustic approach."

Deaf Havana – All These Countless Nights

[So Recordings, 2017]

CI: "I came across this album listening to a curated playlist, which is probably one of the coolest ways to discover new music because you’re essentially listening blind. When the song Fever came on, it resulted in a very swift purchase of All These Countless Nights. Although this doesn't have any influence on our debut album as it is a pretty recent release, this record will definitely have some sort of influence in our future."

Paramore – Paramore

[Fueled by Ramen/Warner Bros, 2013]

Hamish Reilly (guitar): "This album was a game changer for me in many ways. It easily became my most-listened-to and overall favourite album back when it was released. I just couldn't believe how mature yet still unbearably catchy the songwriting was. I just think they nailed the theme and overall feel and tone of the record. So many hooks, so many cool new sounds I’d never heard before, and it was huge! 17 tracks! So much to delve into and fall in love with!"

Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine

[Epic, 1992]

HR: "This album literally defined my childhood. I feel like it’s one of the main reasons I even play guitar. I would come home from school and play through this every day in the dark (closest I could get to a stage when I was 14) until my fingers gave in. I knew every song, riff and solo inside out. I even had the guitar tab book just to make sure I was playing the songs bang on.

"I basically own all of the guitars I have because of this album and Tom Morello. It fused the largest part of what defined my guitar skill today and for that I am forever thankful that this album exists! It’s literally timeless!"

Death From Above 1979 The Physical World

[Last Gang/Warner Bros, 2014]

Jason Trotter (bass): "The brutality of the riffs and punk attitude, combined with brilliant production and pop-esque songwriting in places, is incredible here."

The Naked & Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You

[Somewhat Damaged, 2010]

JT: "The melding of pop, electro and rock on this record to create these epic soundscapes is so appealing and addictive to me. I think the layering of the vocal harmonies is just incredible too. This became my most-listened-to album when driving a few years back and has always just stuck with me. Got such an attachment to it now!"

You can pre-order Vukovi's debut album at their website ahead of its 10 Mar release; listen to our Vukovi: Under the Influence playlist in the Spotify player below.

http://www.vukovi.co.uk/