Tired of boy bands? Cheesy girl-pop making you hurl? Do you crave some pure rock with energy, emotion and lyrical intelligence? Look no further than Vendetta Red, a band that’s a mix of Thursday’s musical aggressiveness, one part At The Drive-In’s lyrical energy and consciousness, with a touch of Green Day punk rock. Sounds like a hodgepodge, right? The truth of it is that this band runs the gauntlet on its debut, White Knuckled Substance. The album begins with two tunes, “Caught You Like A Cold” and “Suicide Party,” that really give you a taste of what Vendetta Red’s future has to offer. These two arrangements are true attention-grabbers, with frontman Zach Davidson drawing you into his world with powerful yet insightful vocals, which are accompanied by nasty guitar hooks that you can’t get out of your head. Songs like “Ribcage Menagerie” and “All Cried Out” are powerful teen pop-rock anthems that still maintain a hard rock edge. Plug in the deeply personal “Stay Home” and socially insightful “Shatterday,” and you have an album so saturated in emotion and sweat that it simply begs to be heard.
- CMJ New Music Review
NEWS & REVIEWS
Isn’t music excellent at the moment? Here’s another reason to be slack-jawed and sore from jumping around a lot: five men from Seattle (remember Seattle?) who’ve taken At The Drive-In’s incendiary template and made it rock harder. They’re called Vendetta Red, and they are the missing link between emo’s dragged-through-therapy-backwards catharsis and the stadium intensity of The Who.
The fact that singer Zach Davidson is the spitting image of a young Roger Daltrey can’t hurt, of course. With his blond ringlets and Cuban heels, he doesn’t look like your typical punk frontman. But that’s the joy of Vendetta Red: they don’t really care what they’re supposed to look or sound like. They just ricochet around the stage like hormonal marionettes while playing some of the most intensely tuneful and anthemic punk-type rock the US underground has yet produced.
Even if they did just sign to Epic for a lot of money.
There’s “Shatter Day”, Vendetta Red’s hymn-in-waiting. It sounds like a hundred Hundred Reasons. There’s “Hangman”, churning and writhing one minute, subtle and emotional the next. By this point, Zach’s dived into the smiling crowd and is making for the bar. “Por Vida”, the last song they play tonight, sounds like The Pixies played by Fugazi in heaven. Zach’s on his tour manager’s shoulders, then he’s clambering on the drumkit, then he’s hanging from the lighting rig by his knees, kicking and hollering.
It’s a fine time to be alive.
- Kitty Empire, NME.COM
There’s no denying the power of a catchy hook, and Seattle’s Vendetta Red are well aware that a memorable chorus can save a song from the dregs of dull repetition. On their debut full-length, the band (who, the rumor mill has it, recently signed to Epic for $3 million) has managed to craft some unforgettably upbeat moments that elevate their emo-punk sound towards uninhibited sing-alongs. Vocalist Zach Davidson has a startling range that allows him to recreate the melodic glory of early Sunny Day Real Estate and just as easily lapse into the charged up screams that give White Knuckled Substance its gritty appeal. Hardcore throwdowns like “Shatterday” are packed with mantra-like group vocals, and the disc’s low-key moments are pulled off with equal grace as they incorporate moody piano and whispered sentiments (before kicking things up a notch with the inevitable rocked-out payoff). The disc occasionally stumbles into the unfortunately trite realm of emo-boy introspection, but the bouncy counterpoint of aggressive rockers like “All Cried Out” balance the proceedings and leave a disc that, despite some mild imperfections, has legitimately rewarding moments. At their best, Vendetta Red bring to mind a cramped basement show punctuated by chilling screams, driving rhythms and an irresistible musical honesty.
File Under: Pop-afflicted post-emo
R.I.Y.L. (recommended if you like): Hot Water Music’s pop side, Thursday, singing along whilst finger-pointing.
- Pete D’Angelo, CMJ Monthly, Feb. 02 issue.
With an energetic lead vocalist in the sexy, swaggering Zach Davidson, and the solid rhythm section, along with the high energy guitar work, Vendetta Red are ready and willing to take their sound all over America and beyond. In the words of the bands frontman, “I think we definitely put every last drop of sweat and energy that we’ve got into everything we do. I suppose there is also a great deal of angst coming from us, however passé it may be, we just can’t collectively let go of people fucking us over in the past. We are youthful- we still like to get fucked up and break shit as often as possible. Smoking drugs and slamming tussin in the name of art has kind of been our mantra for a few years now. Musically, we just do whatever comes naturally. If that prizes us with the term “emo-punk” then that’s fine, but it’s all rock and roll to us.”
- Tony Engelhart for Crud Magazine
In last week’s EndMail, we gave you a cool dozen bands that we think you’re gonna be hearin’ a lot about this year - in fact, you’re already hearin’ some of ‘em on 1077 The End. We got such great feedback that we thought we’d give you another shot at hearing these new tunes and seeing what these bands are all about. Check out these new songs, CD’s, quickie reviews from the End jocks, websites and more from bands that’ll be buzzin’ or blowin’ up or da bomb or a breakthrough or whatever “hip” marketing term they’re using these days (we just think they’re some cool new tunes): Moth, Custom, Something Corporate, Injected, X-ecutioners, Dashboard Confessional, Basement Jaxx, Seattle’s Vendetta Red and Alien Crime Syndicate and more bands that are “‘02 Cool 4 The Room”. New music starts at The End.
- January edition of KNDD 107.7 End Mail
“Like a douche for the soul, VR’s easily the cream of Seattle’s new crop, with the live show to prove it.”
- DJ No Name, KNDD 107.7 The End
“Tightly wound Seattle emo-punk that’s blistering enough to knock that star tattoo right off your arm.”
- CMJ December Issue
***1/2 Vendetta Red’s debut album lives up to the promise made on the band’s “official” demo, Blackout Analysis, released last year. The new album is packed full of emo-rock, but it’s frontman Zach Davidson’s vocals that make White Knuckled Substance beautiful. At his quietest he evokes a chain-smoking Jeremy Enigk; and throughout the album you’ll catch shades of other people’s songs. But these influences all fuse together and end up belonging to Vendetta Red. On “Shatter Day,” Davidson sings, “Our days are numbered 3, 2, 1/When you bit the bullet I held the smoking gun/Somewhere in these violent volumes/I’ll find myself drifting in a sky full of scars.” This type of writing is common on the album. Overall, White Knuckled Substance fluctuates between intensely emotional songs and downright enraged, blistering testimonials.
- Bryan bingold, The Stranger
