The Fearless Vampire Killers: Interview

Posted on March 7, 2012 by 6foot9

Busy with their Australian tour, I managed to squeeze off some quick questions to the boys. Here’s what they had to say!

6F9: How did The Fearless Vampire Killers Startout?

TFVK: We were in a highly successful cover band in the early 2000’s, a few incidents occurred with copyright, lawyers got involved, it got messy, so we had to stop that and do our own songs.

What’s the story behind the name?

Go to Blockbuster and request “The Fearless Vampire Killers’ at the counter, then wait and see what happens………

Batmania was released in October last year, and was produced by Lars Stalfors of Mars Volta. How did that relationship come about? What was it like working with him?

Lars was great, we sent him and a bunch of other people a recording of Tell Me What You’re Trying To Say and Lars just nailed the mix straight up. Sean met up with him when we were touring with Kasabian and he was out here for the Big Day Out with Mars Volta. Lars doesn’t drink so they sat down on someone’s porch for a few hours and had a chat.

How long did it take to record the album?

The recording part took only a couple of days, but the mixing part took forever. We would go around to Al’s place listen to the mixes Lars done and then do a skype call with him, letting him know all the changes we were after. It was worth the wait as we are happy with the result.

What’s more important to you guys – Album sales, or gigs?

Gigs! We are at our best playing live.

TFVK have supported some substantial bands over the past years, any highlights?

The Hives was fun. Howlin Pelle from The Hives gave Sean the advice of “Kick as much ass as humanly possible”

Is being an independent artist/band a conscious decision?

It’s nice that we can choose to do whatever we want and not have to bow down to labels. However It’s always a struggle to fund everything we want to do, but we somehow seem to manage to get there in the end.

Im sure you’re aware of the goth/vampire band from the UK sharing your name. When are you going to fearlessly kill them?

We are just going to send our drummer Justin out to fight on our behalf. He may look young, but has super human strength.

What can we expect at the live show about to tour? any surprises?

Sean has just finished studying Japanese, and will be testing out each song in his newly learnt language.. Al has mastered to juggle 3 chainsaws while playing guitar. Justin will be playing the his parts on the spoons, and Jacob has traded in his bass guitar for some DJ Decks and will be laying down some sweet beats.

Burgers or Burritos?

Burritos, we are burnt out with the amount of burgers we eat at truck stops.

 

2012 has kicked off at a cracking pace for the band. With For You & Me recently on the American TV series 90210, TFVK are beginning to make a name for themselves internationally.

Here are the remaining shows of the March tour:

Saturday 10th March – Plus One
www.edinburghcastlehotel.com
233 Currie Street, Adelaide
With The Bakers Digest
Free entry

Friday 16th March – Alhambra Lounge
www.alhambralounge.com
12 McLachlan Street, Fortitude Valley
Tickets $12 at the door
Doors open 8pm

Saturday 17th March – The Toff In Town
www.thetoffintown.com
252 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Tickets $12 at the door
Doors open 8pm