Nascent quartet The Vandastruts might have been formed amongst the backdrop of a world gone mad, but that hasn’t stopped them delivering one of the coolest-sounding EPs you’ll hear this year.
Forming in early 2020, the quartet hail from north of Wollongong, with members coming together out of a shared love of vintage rock and roll records, ranging from genres as varied as blues and grunge. The result is a rather unique sound which almost contradictorily has the loose and messy vibe of the latter, mixed with the slick professionalism of the former.
Despite the obvious restrictions of a year such as 2020, it didn’t take long for The Vandastruts to showcase their tenacity, not only unleashing two singles – ‘Words Of Wisdom’ and ‘Spencer Street’ – but also performing with the likes of Mi-Sex and Ray Beadle. Earlier this month, they gave fans another taster of their forthcoming EP, with ‘Guilt Shot’ combining haunting bluesy rock with the sadly relevant lyrics related to gun violence in the US.
“‘Guilt Shot’ started off with a chord progression in an open D tuning which a chilling vibe, especially when we broke out the resonator to add a haunting sound,” explained singer and guitarist Kayne Micallef of the track.
“The lyrics really came from the vibe of the song, it started off with the first line then came together within a day. We decided to base it off a real event in the US. We decided to add an audio track from the news report for something a little different.”
Check out The Vandastruts’ ‘Guilt Shot’:
Now, the group have unveiled their full EP ahead of its release tomorrow. Dubbed Revival, the five-track EP captures The Vandastruts at their very best, and highlights their desire to bring vintage rock and roll to the forefront once again. With ripping guitar and drum solos, thick basslines, and massive vocals filling their live shows, the quartet are dedicated to ensuring that rock and roll will never die.
“We went for the name Revival Because we want to bring rock and roll back,” the explained of the EP. “You don’t hear a hell lot of it around our towns and we can’t let that stay like that for much longer.”
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In addition to the recently-released singles, which highlight their litany of influences, the new EP also features three brand new songs, including the AC/DC-esque ‘Good Girls’, the punchy ‘Your Kiss’, which seems custom-made for the live stage, and ‘Into The Unknown’, which came together within a day and shows the group’s collective musical talents.
“We were in a rehearsal studio the day before a gig and we decided to write a song together, this was our first song we wrote start to finish together in the same space,” the band say of ‘Into The Unknown’.
“The core of the song was written very quickly but we knew we wanted to go somewhere else with it. Inspired by bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath we dove into a different realm.
“We utilised delay pedal effects sounding like lasers, heavy bass notes, long sustained guitar chords and jungle like drums,” they conclude. “The lyrics started off together all throwing ideas then Kayne writing the second verse about a real-life experience. We played it that next night live.”
While it remains to be seen when we’ll all get a chance to catch the majesty of this EP played live, you can be sure that The Vandastruts won’t be too far away, with their new EP out in the world tomorrow, and the stages already calling their name.
The Vandastruts’ Revival EP is officially out tomorrow, September 24th.
Check out The Vandastruts’ Revival EP:
