In our latest Band Spotlight, we chat to Leeds alternative rockers, Vaquelin about their grungy, anthemic sound, influences, and more.
S] Hey guys, how are you?
We’re doing well, thank you for having us. It’s been a fairly busy few weeks of playing shows around York/Leeds and working on our upcoming record, but that’s never a bad thing!
S] Who are your biggest musical influences, and why?
Whilst we all love listening to rock music, the genre is vast enough that there is rather minimal overlap in what each of us listens to! Jack (drums) loves a good bit of The Killers and Arctic Monkeys, Cal (lead guitar) is a big Metallica and Alter Bridge fan, Luca (bass) listens to a lot of prog stuff in the same vein as Periphery and Karnivool, and I personally draw inspiration from the Chili Peppers and Highly Suspect.
I appreciate that I’ve name-dropped quite a few bands there, but I should also mention that the common ground we’ve found to occupy our road trips has been Cleopatrick.
S] Talk me through the inspirations behind a track like ‘Social Cyanide’?
For this upcoming record, we’ve been chasing that ‘modern rock’ sound. What that means for us is taking the DNA of the songwriting that formed part of our debut record (‘Where Dreams Hurt’) and bolstering it with even more intensity and aggression. I recall listening to In Utero a fair bit whilst writing Social Cyanide, so that’s where the signature Nirvana ‘quiet/loud’ dynamic comes into play. Lyrically, this song represents the things we do to ‘fit in’, regardless of how harmful they might be to ourselves.
S] What about ‘Marionette’?
With Marionette, we really wanted to capture that colossal ‘wall of sound’ style of production. It’s a song with quite a lot going on under the hood in terms of the layers of instruments which comprise it, and we’re quite proud of that. The choruses were inspired by a cover I saw posted on youtube of ‘A Forest’ by The Cure, where some guitarist ran some muff-style fuzz into a flanger and some washy reverb. I thought that sound was really cool and it led us to developing the track as it stands. With regards to the lyrics, you’ll catch plenty of references to themes of self-doubt and the nebulous things in our heads that hold us back in life.
S] You have quite an interesting backstory when it comes to the development of your debut album, can you talk me through that?
Absolutely! Long story short, I met Cal and Luca at the University of York in 2019 and initially intended to have them help me with a handful of songs that I wanted extra instrumentation on. That quickly developed into a more formal band project and Jack joined us through a mutual friend. Strangely enough, because of the pandemic and various other circumstances, the four of us didn’t meet in one room until our debut album was practically done, a whole year after we started the project! On that note, I should probably also mention that the very first time I met Jack was when he came down to record drums one fine weekend.
Those circumstances have impacted the way we write and produce music to this day – one of us will present the ‘skeleton structure’ for a song (usually just setting out chord progressions, song arrangements, and core riffs), and the project file will be handed down from me to Cal, to Luca, and finally, to Jack. It’s not without its faults, but it’s pretty damn efficient and it works for us.
S] How do you define success as artists?
Getting featured by Soundsphere of course.
Additionally, I think each of us has a varying perspective on this but the general consensus is that we want to produce music that we would be happy to listen to (if it weren’t for the thousands of times we force ourselves to listen to our tracks in the production phase) and which fills a gap in the playlists we listen to. I also think that the more time we spend being a band, the more we want to ensure that the ‘Vaquelin sound’ is carried over to new material, no matter what genre/vibe we tackle. It’s a bit of a vague concept, but as long as we can listen back to our tracks and go “hey, this isn’t garbage” and “yeah, this is fairly recognisable as being a Vaquelin tune”, we’re bound to be sitting happy.
S] What motivates you outside of music – think specific people, and places?
This is a pretty tough one but we have a song called ‘Mad Alice Lane’ which is influenced by a notable alley in York of the same name as well as the tale of Alice in Wonderland. To that end, we’ve got a few other references to notable pieces of literature across our music, for example with ‘A Wave of Poisoned Joy’, the title of which is a direct quote taken from The Stranger by Albert Camus. I enjoy absurdist fiction, so a lot of our lyrics draw inspiration from works like Brave New World, 1984, The Trial, and Metamorphosis.
S] What is the message you have for your supporters in Yorkshire, and beyond?
Our message is that if you have any inclination towards music, GO FOR IT.
Sure, it can become a big commitment and timesink, but I’ve met some of my best friends through this. There’s also the added satisfaction of working creatively on projects that you can be proud of and reflect on for years to come – the memories that come alongside that are invaluable.
S] Is there anything you’d like to plug or promote before we finish?
We’ve just released a few live performance videos on YouTube from our set at the Lending Rooms, so definitely go check those out!
We’re also excited to announce that we’ve got a new single called ‘Centrefold’ coming out soon.
You can find all our music on the typical streaming platforms and we’ve got some pretty creative low-budget (i.e., no-budget) music videos floating around, all filmed and edited by our good friend Will Sash. Lastly, we’ve always got some shows here and there, so make sure to follow us on Instagram (@vaquelin_music) to catch the announcements!
Image credit: Will Sash
