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1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
Jess: Straight back to work! We've been sitting on a whole load of new ideas while finishing the album and we're starting to really flesh those out as a band now that we've released Seat Of The Fire. Otherwise we've been performing as much as we can, with the album launch show and our performance at Signature Brew being standouts.
2.In May you album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
Jess: I think we're continuing to improve as musical collaborators with each song or rehearsal and the album speaks to that. I think our last album was a good statement of intent but we had maybe not found a consensus of sounds that feel ‘Vulgaris’ yet, whereas we now know how to pull from each other to blend our influences and styles much more successfully. SOTF has a lot of my favourite groovy riffing but meets these incredibly grand sludgy evil moments that are almost post metal and atmospheric and I think the combination of those parts really work for us in a way that we didn't fully capitalise on before.
Matt: For me, the newer album feels more cohesive in terms of styles and vibes compared with the debut, even when it does move between fast black metal and slower passages. It’s also more intense and extreme to me, and has a lot of moments that are heavier than anything we fit into the debut album.
3.The lyrics on the new album are inspired by Greek Mythology, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?
Jess: Well I personally just find so much inspiration in myths and legends, these classic fables that are endlessly rich for storytelling and of course our lovely vocalist/ guitarist Jon is Greek Cypriot so in the writing process it made a lot of sense to draw from those places. I think it can often feel like the world is burning so the framing of current unrest through the lens of these old gods is something I enjoy.
4.What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored over the years with your music?
Matt: On the debut album, we didn’t have a specific concept for the album, so there’s songs covering topics such as climate change, serial killers and also again some mythology. We then released a standalone single in 2021 called Goat Bong, which was a somewhat silly track lyrically about cults.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Vulgaris'?
Jon: The name “Vulgaris” comes from two things that were irritating me when I formed the band 2017. The “Era Vulgaris” which was when right wing populism was at an all time high it felt like, and also “Acne Vulgaris”, which has a way more embarrassing reason. So I decided to take the two words in common and turn them into something positive. Plus it’s a great name for a metal band, if nothing else.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
Jess: I had a really clear image of what I wanted for this after writing Black Gold Baptism. I wanted this almost baptised figure walking from an oil coated sea filled with anger, someone ready to burn it all down. And when Matt found our incredible artist Leoncio Harmr we struck gold, he really got the concept and yeah I'm absolutely thrilled with how it turned out.
7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Jess: We're a bit spoilt with this question as we've played some of my favourite places in the country and shared the stage with some excellent people. An easy shout out is playing The Forum with Conjurer in Tunbridge Wells, but also the final of the metal to the masses competition where we played at the dome in London which was so much fun being surrounded by the underground London metal community.
Our performance is something we work very hard on and it's something very deliberate- we aim to build an atmosphere with the samples and lighting before landing our explosive songs and then from there it's just all about making people lose it to the music.
George: As well as the Forum and getting to the M2TM final mentioned by Jess, a recent highlight for me was overwhelming the little crowd at the Black Griffin in Canterbury. Wild Halloween night on and off the stage and things kept heating up with the opening bands - it all boiled over when we started with a big opener and I felt like we tore the place down. I loved it.
We all play with our own individual visceral intensity that seems to connect with people live when blended together - I’d say that our live performances do our songs justice. I really enjoy the camaraderie we have before, during and after we play.
Matt: On top of the ones mentioned above, I really enjoyed the album launch show we did in May when we played Seat Of The Fire in full, and also a show we did in Brighton in 2022 supporting a band called Kinzoku, the crowd made that a great show and I really enjoyed the headliner’s set too. Our stage show has definitely evolved in the past couple of years as we’ve begun to integrate samples and play around with different lighting. For me, the important thing is opening with a high-octane song that gets us and the crowd immediately in the zone, and just keeping the momentum going from there on.
8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
Jess: Hard at work trying to plan a tour yes but we had the best launch night show with some of our favourite bands last month, we're also playing Kent and Bristol next at the end of the month.
George: I hope we can find a run of shows with some bands in the post/sludge/blackened/doom scene. We’ve made friends with some great bands who we’ll try to tour with when they have new releases.
Jon: I love playing live, so we’ve got some very interesting shows coming up in August which are with punk bands. I’ll play anywhere. August is shaping up to be a busy month for us.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of extreme metal?
Jess: It's pretty insane how many countries have been playing our music l think it's something like 33 different countries now, and yeah that blows me away, radioplay in a country I've never been to myself is very humbling. Feedback has been fantastic. I am very proud of how many people get our blending of styles and are invested in a brutal concept album like SOTF.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Jess: Spoilers but we're currently delving a bit more into the sludge/post sounds with some really fun new contortions of those genres. I'm also very aware of how the crowd has been exploding to some of our tunes off of SOTF so I'm writing some nasty ideas in the dissonant techy realm, all will be revealed soon.
Matt: I think we would like to explore as many sounds as we can while broadly keeping the overall energy and vibe consistent with what has come before, whether that be doubling down on blackened aggression, playing around with longer, more progressive writing, or unleashing some foul sludgy filth.
Jon: More disgusting riffs. I love the grooves on Seat of the Fire so I want those to continue. Also just doing what we normally do, which is just fucking around with different metal genres and tying it all together. I don’t want to be stuck doing purely one sound on one album, if that makes sense.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles the band members are currently listening to nowadays?
Jess: Well George just turned me onto the new Black Tongue album which is pretty outrageous, and I'm loving the new Nails singles, but as I write this Gojira is currently playing also.
George: Apart from giving Jess great slam recs, my favourite scene is grim blackened stuff - a lot of which seem to be French. Bands like Celeste, Mourir, Plebeian Grandstand, Throane, Cross Bringer, Oathbreaker, Dragged into Sunlight etc.
Matt: I’m increasingly into anything that falls into the overlap between sludge, stoner, prog and post-metal, whether it be Elder, Dvne, Mastodon, Horndal, Meridian Sun, or anything else in that general area.
Jon: I love bands that are creatively heavy, so bands like Wayfarer, Blood Incantation, Meth, Deafheaven and Mizmor to name a few. I’m not a fan of bands who are “heavy” just for the sake of it.
I’m a huge fan of 90s black metal as well as early 00s British Indie. When I’m not listening to metal, I’m listening to that.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Jess: Make sure you try to catch us live, that is our favourite thing in the world and I think the songs really speak in that environment. And stay tuned for another video soon - go on and follow us on our socials, we're Vulgaris everywhere.
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