PLANET CHOCKO – art/music/movies/beyond

VOLTURE

February 19th, 2011 by chocko

VOLTURE is a Heavy Metal Band straight outta VA featuring Municipal Waste’s Ryan Waste (bass), Brent Hubbard (vocals), Twisted Tower Dire’s Dave Boyd (guitar), Nick Poulos (guitar), and Barry Cover (drums). They’re influenced by the New Wave Of British Metal (NWOBHM) era and their shows are guaranteed to make you bang your head and lose your mind. Their debut mini-album titled “Shocking It’s Prey” is out now! A big shout out to Ryan for taking the time out to do the interview. If you haven’t been to a Volture show, I trust that sooner or later, you will find yourself in their clutches!

How did everybody in the band meet each other and form Volture?
The five members of VOLTURE for the most part have known one another for quite a while. I’ve been friends with our drummer Barry Cover the longest. He filled in for Municipal Waste on drums for our first European tour and helped us out of several other jams. Brent Hubbard (vocals) and I met over nine years ago and I immediately wanted to do a heavy metal band with him upon hearing his incredible singing voice. Brent, Barry and I formed a band called Immortal Avenger back then that played some serious heavy metal but it never really took off. I played bass then, which was my primary instrument and I wanted to go back to the four strings once again. Nick Poulos (guitarist) had moved to Richmond around the same time Immortal Avenger was playing gigs and we became friends, but we never jammed together until a few years ago. I made him some mixes of old NWOBHM and other obscure heavy metal acts and we talked of doing a band in a similar direction. It had always been a lifelong goal of mine to put a real deal heavy metal band together and Nick was the missing link. I called upon Barry and Brent once again to fill out the lineup. We recently added Dave Boyd from Twisted Tower Dire on second guitar and the pieces have all fallen into place.

Describe the music the band plays.
We play upbeat rock-based heavy metal with piercing leads, high vocals and hard-driving rhythms. This is heavy metal music in it’s purest form with no drum triggers or overproduced studio trickery. We stand by our passion for real heavy metal and don’t compromise to current trends.

What metal or punk bands are you inspired by?
Mercyful Fate, Heavy Load, Gotham City, Persian Risk, early Priest, Sabbath, Scorps, UFO, Thin Lizzy, Satan (UK), Black Axe, Black Flag, Witch Cross, Talon, Boston, Trouble, Candlemass, Cacumen, Brats, Bleak House, Crucifixion, Tank, and a countless amount of NWOBHM & early US/Euro Heavy Metal.

How has the reaction been for the mini-LP Shocking Its Prey?
The reviews have been quite flattering actually. We’ve been receiving a lot of mail from overseas telling us that we’re playing the kind of heavy metal that old-school heavy metallers can appreciate. We’ve been getting a good amount of feedback from young people who seem to dig it too. So I guess it’s a pretty wide spectrum, which is great.

Do you have a favorite song on the record?
That’s a tough question. If I didn’t like them all then I wouldn’t be doing this. My favorite song of ours is one that’s not on the album called “Rulebreaker”. We wrote it right after we recorded the album. We might release it as a single and it will definitely come out on our first full length album. We are just getting started, so the best is yet to come!

I’m digging the logo and art on the album cover. Tell us a little bit about how that came about.
I’m very involved in the process of the cover art and logos, so I appreciate you pointing that out. We wanted a mascot for the band and the only fitting one would be the electric winged bird of steel itself, the VOLTURE! It was a major back and forth ordeal in the sketching process. We went through two artists and finally Sean McGrath, who drew the logo ended up tackling the actual drawing. We actually came up with the final concept when we ran into each other in Guadalajara, Mexico oddly enough. I always wanted the image of a metallic bird swooping down and attacking instead of waiting for it’s meal to die like an actual vulture would. The Volture was electrically charged and it acted on getting what it wanted. We decided to leave it a mystery to what it was preying on, so you’ll have to wait for the full length to delve deeper into it’s mythology. The painting was done by my good friend, the talented Andrei Bouzikov. He and I had worked together on the last two Municipal Waste album covers and I knew he’d be perfect for the job. He brought the drawing to life in paint and I have it hanging in my bedroom.

How have the live shows been so far? Any highlights?
We’ve played four live shows as of now and they’ve all been killer. The highlights for me have been just seeing the reaction on peoples faces. A lot of headbanging went down. Three of the shows were with our good buddies in CAULDRON and the highlights were all in the ham. We get a really mixed crowd too, so it’s cool to see a lot of people getting into heavy metal that you wouldn’t normally expect. I still think the US is warming up to proper heavy metal. There are always the die-hards out there, but I wish the States had the same passion for heavy metal that Europe or South America has. I’m sure you can guess where we will be headed next…

What bands are you listening to now?
Everything I mentioned in the “inspired by” question of course…but lately: Dealer, Mendes Prey, Gotham City, Limelight, More, A-II-Z, Survivor, Excalibur (UK), Griffin, H-Bomb, Lezlie Paice, Alice Cooper, Wildfire, Oz, Black Rose, Traitor’s Gate, Trespass, Gary Moore (R.I.P.) and a lot of AOR & Soundtrack stuff

Any favorite movies?
River’s Edge, Black Roses, Blood Diner, Shock ‘Em Dead, Rock ‘N Roll Nightmare, Rocktober Blood, Phantasm I-II, They Live, Repo Man, Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Maniac, The Thing, The Leprechaun II-VI, Spinal Tap, Fear of a Black Hat, Raising Arizona, Troll 2

Do any members of the band have any unusual hobbies or interests outside of music?
I can cook, DJ and I’m an obsessive organizer. Brent makes my organizing seem normal and he’s an avid weight lifter. Barry DJ’s as well and knows more about Zappa than anyone. Nick has dreads and he can use them in magical ways. Dave brews beer and helps save the environment.

Any updates on Municipal Waste or your other projects?
The Waste is currently writing a new album, enjoying some time off and playing a few festivals in the near future, namely HELLFEST in France (with Judas Priest, Scorpions, Ozzy, Trust, Angel Witch, Sodom, Coroner, etc!!!!)

What are the future plans of Volture?
We are focused on writing a full length, pushing the debut mini-Lp and trying to turn anyone on who’ll listen to our brand of Heavy Metal. We plan to tour Europe next spring and do a few runs in the US in the meantime. We are only just beginning our quest and it’s already a thrilling ride.

Any closing comments?
Thanks so much for your time! You can pick up the album here:
http://store.heavyartillery.us/

or listen and download here:
http://heavyartillery.bandcamp.com/album/shocking-its-prey

For any other news about Volture visit:
www.facebook.com/voltureofficial
and
www.volture.us