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Interview with the Vampires

Somebody smarter than me once said, "Never judge a book by its cover." Heed such advice upon encountering the name The Fakey Vampires. No, they are not leatherclad death mongers who smear blood on their instruments. Rather, they are two high-energy lads smearing gritty rock 'n' roll across listeners' ears.

Tekst: Pat Wensink

Publicatiedatum: 27 juli 2002

Hailing from Dayton, Ohio (USA), the Fakey Vampires have walloped audiences around the Midwest for less than a year with its garage rock skronk. Not to be confused with fellow Dayton twosome Swearing At Motorists, this dirty duo is an entirely different flavor of Kool-Aid. The band emits an energetic swagger with clever lyrics and a gritty, bouncing rhythm of their own.

Singer/guitarist Dan Corcoran and drummer Xtian Spencer met in college and joined the rock band Mercury Pusher. After the group disbanded, the two founded the ranks of the Fakey Vampires army. Like all great bands, the FVs were "mainly drunken talk between the members," said Spencer. "It was our non-existent side project. Less than a week after MP's last show, Dan and I were in my garage writing new stuff."

And the rest is history, or perhaps the currently evolving future. Since the band's inception, the group has made tremendous strides in songwriting. Since the release of the band's EP The Fakey Vampires Administer The Loving Touch (Olive Records), the group has deepened its sound. Musically, the group shares little with the lethargic fuzz sounds of fellow garage band The Strokes, or with the bluesy stomp of the White Stripes and Immortal Lee County Killers. The band sounds more like a kindred spirit of spastic garagers like the Hives and Mooney Suzuki. Perhaps history is just being made.

Corcoran's guitar work is hemmed by raw, live-wire riffs of jumping, high and low notes. All the while maintaining a sense of rhythmic balance and a keen ear for hooks. Spencer's drumming is loud and simple while still being inventive, with drum fills like firecrackers detonating. You can't go wrong. When asked to describe the band's sound Spencer called it, "The baying of hounds, [and] bottles smashing."

The Vamp's most endearing quality are the lyrics. Corcoran's words are colorful and imaginative. Lines like "Doctor, Doctor, where's my medication? / You know I just can't get enough / I need a fixer, a quicker-picker-upper / Just until the sun comes up," from the song Good Behavior Begins At Home, show the band's knack for lyrics. The group sews together its elements with barbed wire, tightly winding themselves into a superconductor of greasy rock 'n' roll electricity.

With the off-kilter name, the Fakey Vampires have abundant opportunities to milk their moniker. However, the group declares they are more than a few steps away from becoming a goth band: "I don't want to push the undead shtik too far, as it invites the audience to participate in inappropriate ways," says Corcoran. "One minute I'm wearing plastic fangs, and the next thing you know, some drunk is chasing me down with a wooden stake fashioned from a broken pool cue or something. The name actually refers to people trying to make the scene by name-dropping and whatnot."

For the time being, the group is temporarily stymied, due to Spencer moving across the country to California. The Fakey Vampires assure their fans that the group plans on creating more rock by trading demo tapes. They are even attempting to put out a live album. Clearly, as an untold number of horror movies have taught us, you can't keep a good vampire down.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/achtergrond/the-fakey-vampires/interview-with-the-vampires/1723/
Meer The Fakey Vampires op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/the-fakey-vampires