Vulgaris are Jonathan – guitar/vocals, Jess – guitar, Matt – bass/vocals, George – drums
Can you tell us about the origin of the band name, a history of the band and a little bit about the various members?
Jonathan: I started the band in 2017, after being in bands since I was 12 and not really doing anything musical after Uni when I went straight into working corporate sales and being exhausted all the time. The idea was to start a heavy metal band, which I’d never really done before, having played in Indie/Punk bands, with a friend from school who was also a guitarist. Between 2017-19, we had a slightly revolving door and did a few gigs, but it was after meeting Jess through our old bassist and writing/recording Ex Igni (our first EP) with him that he joined the band as lead guitarist, and then we started playing as the existing lineup with Matt and George in 2019. The name “Vulgaris” came from two things that were really pissing me off at the time – we were living in the immediate aftermath of Trump/Brexit, so the “Era Vulgaris” of the time. I also kept having really bad breakouts as well (lol), which is known as “Acne Vulgaris”, and these two factors having quite a strong sounding word in them was me trying to do a bit of a more positive word association exercise. It also sounds metal as fuck.
Are you all from the same area? How did you get together as a band?
Matt: We’re currently split between West and South London; Jon and I are now very nearby one another in West London after I recently moved, while Jess and George are South of the river. We switched to practicing at Pirate Studios in Earlsfield this year as a location roughly midway between us all. Jon’s described the first couple of years of the group above already. I joined the band in early 2019 when trying to find a musical project to be involved with, as Jon reached out to me to fill the vacant bass slot in the band. When the former drummer left in Spring 2019, I found George on Bandmix and sent him a message due to shared favourite bands, and he ended up joining the group over the summer; the line-up’s remained consistent since.
Who are your favourite artists/bands and how have they influenced your own sound?
Jess: The guys could probably answer this for me but I’m a big fan of ‘Gojira’ and ‘Gorod’ with their tech leaning French evil (which you can definitely hear in the newer songs), my current obsession is ‘Zeal & Ardor’ but favourite would probably have to go to Nine Inch Nails… today at least.
George: My first drumming interests were all about SPEED, so of course I liked the meathead sounds of Dave Lombardo and Derek Roddy. When I became less of a child I was hugely influenced by the more creative prog drummers like Blake in BTBAM, Dan Foord of Sikth and whoever was in Opeth at the time. When I was at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM), I had the opportunity to see greats like Thomas Lang and Dave Weckl. When I don’t feel like quitting these days due to the inferiority to these guys and recently Matt Garstka, I still love all these influences but mostly listen to sludge, stoner and blackened metal.
Jonathan: My favourite guitar influences, outside the standard metal answers of your Hetfields/Iommis, are J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr, Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains, M from Mgla and Jimmy Bower from EyeHateGod – that whole NOLA doom/sludge scene. Vocally, I really like when you hear a singer, even in extreme metal, and you know it’s “them” straight away, so I try to take influence from Attila Csihar from Mayhem/Sunn O))), Jon Nodtvedit from Dissection, Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys, and Phil Anselmo from Down – just in terms of having a clear identity to my vocals that’s unique to me. These are all singers you go “ah yeah that’s them” as soon as the vocals kick in.
Matt: My longstanding ‘favourite band’ go-to has been Sylosis, although my initial favourite bands when I first got into metal were a lot of the usual answers (Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses, Alice In Chains). Other big favourites of mine these days include Mastodon, Cult Of Luna, Rolo Tomassi, and Amorphis. In terms of writing influences, my initial writing I did before joining Vulgaris was more post-metal and sludge metal-oriented, so involved trying to replicate moments from the likes of Neurosis, Cult Of Luna and Ortega. Joining a more black metal-oriented group like Vulgaris, I started trying to find inspiration in albums from the likes of Enslaved, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Schammasch, Conjurer and Kurokuma.
Did you always have the ambition to be a musician and in a band or did you originally have other plans?
Jonathan: Growing up I did have ambitions of doing it, yeah. After I graduated, I fell into doing the job I do now. I really enjoy it, and I find creating/putting out music that I’m happy with and playing live very fulfilling. There’s always that ambition in the back of your head, but for me, touring nationally and putting out albums is the goal, speaking as someone who’s just turned 30.
Matt: Not really until the last few years; I started learning bass in 2016, but even then it was more for personal enjoyment. I began writing songs in 2017-2018 using Guitar Pro, and as I became more confident that they were songs worth listening to, I wanted to be involved with other musicians and produce records that fans would enjoy, particularly as I’ve been a metal reviewer for a website myself since 2018 and have found so much to enjoy in albums that other groups have produced.
Jess: Absolutely, when I picked up a guitar at 14 I was immediately obsessed and even before that my heroes were Slash, Hendrix and Tremonti. It is the one true passion in my life to write and perform songs, and there is nothing like hearing a crowd responding to that.
George: I was big into NOFX, Blink and other punk bands when I was 14 and my mate with a guitar convinced me to get a drum kit so we could make a band. I got some lessons and took to drums quite well, so I attended the ACM at 16 where I fully intended to become a session drummer. After a Diploma there I fell into other studies and realised I’d need to give up my life to pursue music stardom, so made music a serious hobby instead.
What songs or albums are on your current playlist?
Matt: I write a lot of reviews, so most of my day-to-day listening is either checking out new releases to find something interesting to cover, or re-listening to records enough times to write reviews. In terms of music I go to when I’m not listening for writing purposes, the records/artists I’ve played most frequently in the past couple of years have probably been Dvne’s Etemen Ænka, Trivium’s In The Court Of The Dragon, Shadow Of Intent’s Elegy, Kardashev’s Liminal Rite, and most recent stuff by Elder; I also typically listen to either Coheed & Cambria or Periphery in my running playlists, although I’ve had an ankle issue for the past year or so that’s curtailed my running.
Jess: Well the new ‘QOTSA’ and ‘King Gizzard’ albums are a lot of fun and they’re getting spins, but the current playlist is heavily weighted towards ‘Death Grips’ and ‘Soulfly’s’ ‘Ritual’.
Jonathan: Currently a lot of Arctic Monkeys and a lot of Sludge/Doom metal – Down, Swans, Isis, Neurosis, Crowbar, Melvins. The new Queens of the Stone Age is great as well.
George: Big records for me so far this year are REZN, Wallowing, King Gizzard and Kostnateni’s ‘Upal’. I generally listen to sludgey and dissonant stuff but I also like to unwind with ambient and post rock/metal.
Do you sing in the shower?
Jess: Badly, yes.
Matt: No, my showers are dull affairs.
Jonathan: I don’t shower, ever. General Hygiene has been proven to be not metal.
George: I play in a wedding band, too – sometimes those bubble gum songs get stuck in my head.
Do you have any plans for the band for this year and into next year?
Matt: We are in the process of recording our second album; our setlists since we were able to start gigging in 2021 have mostly featured songs from the album and they’ve gone down well live, so we’re very eager to share them with the rest of the world. We’d also like to do some more gigging outside of London in the coming year; we had a brief tour supporting Beyond Grace in 2022 and a couple of other shows around the UK, but we’re keen to do more of it.
Do you currently have any new songs/albums ready to be released?
Matt: Not yet, but we hope to have our sophomore record Seat Of The Fire out before the end of 2023, so keep your eyes peeled!
If you could play at any venue in the world where would you choose?
George: Red Rocks Colorado! Festival-wise I’d love to play Damnation or ArcTanGent one day.
Jess: I used to say The Black Heart or the Dev in Camden but we’ve ticked them both off the list now- the Underworld would be cool or getting onto an Incineration/ Damnation/ Arctangent bill would be amazing.
Matt: I would be very stoked to play on any of the larger London stages we’ve not done yet, but my dream is to play a festival; Damnation or Bloodstock would be epic.
Jonathan: We’ve been lucky to play some great venues that were on my bucket list, most recently The Black Heart, Dev and Boston Music Rooms. If I were to shoot for the stars (and hopefully not miss), somewhere like Underworld would be sick. I’d love to play Damnation or Arctangent as well.
Do you have a favourite album? If so, what is it?
Jonathan: Mine would probably be either Pinkerton by Weezer, Humbug by Arctic Monkeys, or Storm of the Light’s Bane by Dissection.
George: Colors by Between the Buried and Me and anything by Sikth and Cloudkicker.
Jess: I can’t actually choose just one but I would argue ‘The Downward Spiral’, ‘From Mars to Sirius’ and ‘Bottomless Pit’ are all 10/10.
Matt: Edge Of The Earth and Monolith by Sylosis are intensely personal albums for me, but I reckon Rolo Tomassi’s Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It and Lucid Planet II are probably the best albums released since I started getting into metal. In winter, it’s hard to beat The Mantle by Agalloch.
Do you have any guilty pleasure songs/albums?
Jess: I don’t feel guilty about songs/albums anymore but one I maybe should feel guilt over would be ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’… it’s a banger though.
Jonathan: Loads. Weezer, a lot of early 00s British Indie (Libertines, The Kooks, Kings of Leon – (I know they’re American but they’re definitely adjacent to that scene)), and a lot of shit 90s dance tracks. ABBA. I’m a massive Eurovision fan as well, but I refuse to feel guilty about that. It’s better than Christmas for me.
George: In the wedding band, I love playing Shania Twain and Carly Rae Jepsen.
Matt: Not really!
If you were putting together the greatest show on earth, who would be playing?
Matt: My favourite gig I ever went to was Coheed & Cambria doing Good Apollo IV in full; I loved it so much I bought a ticket to see the same show the day after and it was even better, so I’d probably just put on that show again! Mastodon have toured with C&C before when doing a Crack The Skye anniversary tour, so I’d probably make them co-headliner. Other than that, a post-metal super-bill of Cult Of Luna, Isis and Amenra would be pretty incredible.
Jess: Us?
Can you remember the first album you bought with your own money? What was it and do you still have it?
George: It was either Slayer – Killing Fields or Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park.
Jonathan: I think it was Nirvana’s Bleach.
Jess: The Posthumous Nirvana Greatest Hits album, must have listened to that one on loop for a year- I’m sure it is gathering dust in a pile of CD’s somewhere.
Matt: It was Linkin Park – Live In Texas; it had all the songs I knew from the music channels, and I was too young and dumb to realize that ‘Live In Texas’ meant it was a live album. Still listened to it to death, and it probably still lingers in my childhood bedroom.
As your fans will be reading this, is there any message you would like to send out to them?
Matt: Thanks for being our fans! We just want to play shows and release music that people like, so people coming to our gigs or listening to our records means the world to us.
Finally, let us know all your social media sites so your fans, old and new, can find and follow/like you!
Bandcamp: https://vulgaris2017.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VBANDUK/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vulgaris_band/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vulgarisband
We, at The Metal Asylum, would like to thank you for your time. Is there is anything further that you would like to add?
No, apart from thanks for having us!
This interview is the property of The Metal Asylum
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