Transcript of an interview I recorded with CHRIS PORCIANKO of VANISHING POINT - 20200814. Full article here. MAL-
How are ya, mate? CHRIS- G'day mate, how are you Mal? MAL- Yeah. How have you been? CHRIS- Yeah good, thanks, man. Good no complaints at all. The clip got released today and stuff and yeah the results and the response has been really positive. It's been actually overwhelmingly positive both here and overseas and all that and yeah, look really happy with the response so far Mal to be honest with you, it's been great. MAL- Yeah, look, I was allowed to download the album to listen to it. It's fucking killer man. CHRIS- Thanks bro, I really do appreciate that. It seems to be the general consensus that a lot of people really digging it which we're rapt about, we really are, it's an album that's taken a long time, you know what I mean? Because there was quite a few hiccups along the way obviously but yeah, really happy to be here and I mean a lot of people saying to us 'Why on Earth are you releasing it, during the whole covid pandemic?' and we're just like well why not, it's pretty much a perfect opportunity for us, in a sense that it gives people probably a chance to really listen to it, because they've got some time on their hands but at the same time too I was just important for us to get it out there after all this time as well. So we're really just humbled by the response, but we're so glad to have that weight off their shoulders after so long, and to have the album out, really are, so I'm glad to hear your response man. Thank you very much. MAL- No worries. I think it is the perfect time to come out with albums because I've never heard so much new music in a concentrated time frame, I don't reckon as in the last three or four months. I've heard that much new stuff and it is the perfect time. CHRIS- I think it's also a combination of factors because a lot of musicians and a lot of artists have just got no choice but to work on their craft you know what I mean because that's their form of escape more or less amongst all of the stuff that's going on in the world, more or less. Um, it's good because a lot of the musicians are doing what they do naturally, I suppose that sounds like our mechanism to cope with the stress more or less. But we were just happy to get the album out after all that time because there were a few setbacks and originally we were slated to have the album out in 2018, but it wasn't to be, so we're just really stoked to finally have it out there after all this time right now, , really happy with that, yeah. MAL- So let's expand on that. You'd ideally like to have had it out in 2018. What happened? CHRIS- Sure, combination of factors basically, the main one being actually that Silvio lost his voice. He had some health problems. He was in hospital twice and when he lost his voice, it wasn't just like a person losing their voice and then it comes back again. It was literally to the point where his therapist and his doctors said to him the specialist said to him, 'We're not sure if you're going to get your voice back', basically and it was scary in a sense, so Silvio had to basically get onto a vocal therapist and all that type of stuff and a vocal coach as well, and learn from scratch again, like obviously he still had something in him, you know what I mean, which we're thankful for but it just got him back on the horse more or less, you know what I mean, so we're thankful for that. But the other thing was too is unfortunately, during the recording process, over the time that we were in the studio, Silvio lost both his parents, his father passed away and then his mother passed away a year later. So with all the things that happen in real life, of course, and family and stuff like that, it can take focus but time away and it's just it's more of a situation like 'guys not now I just can't do this' and , it was frustrating for us, but it was also a thing that we understood, we accept it because it just had to be like that and we're glad man after all this time that we're back on the horse more or less. Silvio's been singing really well. We've got the new lineup of course and because the pandemic, we've only had 7 rehearsals, but 7 rehearsals where we had the new guys, it's been sounding fantastic and I'm happy to say, happy to report that Sylvia has been singing brilliantly in the rehearsal studio. He's been really going for it, it's just sending great so very humbled and and and more or less, yeah, just very thankful. MAL- He sounds killer on the album. When were the recordings done for his vocals? CHRIS- Man in stages, you know what I mean, so with Silvio's vocals the last song that he did actually before he ended up being sick was 'Free'. And that was a song that that he really gave it his all. It's probably one of my favorite performances of his on the album. And then he was very tired in the studio. And of course he's a very hard worker as well, but he was very tired and obviously everything it's like gotten to him, I mean over time and after we had that recording session it wasn't until about four or five days later I got a message from him going 'Bro. Just letting you know, I'm in hospital', I'm like, 'What? What's happened?' It was just bizarre. It really was, it was crazy. And then when he got better funnily enough the last song that he did for the album was 'Salvus'. So you can hear in his voice it's a little bit tired in some parts, but you could hear his voice, he had that raspy approach back, you know what I mean, that's what the character which is Silvio's voice. And so his vocals, Mal, was around about.. I reckon on and off about a year and a half of him doing vocals here and there, you know what I mean, that he got it done at one stage too because with family commitments and stuff like that, then of course with his parents passing way, it's a massive financial burden as well. So he was working double time, , to obviously raise money and take care of the things he had to, , so we had to be understanding of that and accepting of that and it was hard for us as well because we just like 'Wow, okay, what's going on?', but , he's not the type of guy who's going to really tell you what's going on. But he's like, 'Just letting you know, I'm on, but not at the moment', , and of course it's one of them things where it's a patience game, but we got through it thankfully. MAL- Just one thing I didn't catch there when you said the last song he did was which one? CHRIS- Salvus MAL- Salvus, right? Yeah. That's one of my favorites from the album. CHRIS- Oh, thank you, man. So 'Salvus' was actually the last song and this is a story about I was actually talking to a guy from the UK this morning about it too, and with 'Salvus'. It was one of those songs that it's a little bit different for VANISHING POINT and we recognized that from the outset after we finished writing the actual music to it we're just like hey, there's something pretty cool about this that it's not like, 'bang rip your face off VANISHING POINT, straight into it, riffs galore' and all that. It was a little bit more subdued but it was quite atmospheric and Silvio said to me he goes look I know we've written quite a few variations, lyrically and melodically speaking for this song for the vocals, he goes, but it's just got to be right, , and we've got this policy more or less that nothing is complete until it's recorded you know what I mean, and as a songwriter myself, sometimes that's really hard to bite that bitter pill but I'm thankful that he really pursued that and it was good because, it was the first album that we've actually had an executive producer which is Dean Wells from TERAMAZE and he really put some really cool ideas, gave us some hints in terms of what he was hearing with the song vocally and that's why Dean's also got a bit of a songwriting credit on that as well because he really did bring out I think something a little bit different from Silvio vocally, but also something a little bit different for me writing lyrics on the spot in the studio because it's got a bit more space, where I had the habit many years ago of cramming a lot of lyrics into a song because I was trying to tell a story or whatever, but I think that the end result with 'Salvus' what we found was it was more a 'less is more' approach. MAL- Yeah. I was just about to interrupt you and say sometimes less is more. Yeah. CHRIS- Yeah, and we felt good about that and and we just we're just really rapt it turned out the way it did because I suppose in today's world as well, t's like it's a bit more of a positive song then, all the doom and gloom that's out there. MAL- Tell us about who else is in the band these days. CHRIS- Okay. So of course, we've had Silvio, myself. We've got James, James Maier, James 'Bushy' Maier who's been in the band since 2012. He's the other guitarist as well. Great player, great guy. I mean, he's probably one of the best guitar players I've ever played with, he's just phenomenal with his technique and his sense of melody and all that. Great to write stuff with as well, and then we've got two new guys. One of them is Gaston, the bass player, Gaston Chin, phenomenal bass player and equally nice guy, just a quietly spoken humble dude, and just a lovely fellow, and really happy to have him on board. And then we've got the young guy Damien, who's 21 years of age and, fantastic drummer. He's got this youthful vigour that he brings into the band as well. But at the same time too he's actually got a really good head on his shoulders, he's young and he's got that fire on the kit as well. But at the same time too he's actually quite.. he's well spoken of course, but he's also quite knowledgeable in terms of music, so Damien's done like a sound engineering course in the past and not only is he a fantastic drummer, but he's an awesome acoustic guitar player as well, you know what I mean, and and he writes his own music as well. So definitely in the future looking forward to having Gaston and Damien contribute quite a bit as well to the VP stuff in the future. MAL- One of those annoying people that can do it all, hey? CHRIS- You know what, I thought initially when it was like, oh is this annoying but I actually thought nah this is great. I mean because I think that probably some of the stuff that he can play on the guitar is probably better than what I do. Yeah. MAL- I won't tell him that. CHRIS- No, I mean, I think he already knows it, and I'm fine with that because I'm more just a songwriter. I'm a guitar player of course, but I consider myself first and foremost a songwriter, you know what I mean, so, I'm happy to play melodies and stuff like that. But if there's a solo that really rips, yeah, I do a few of them, but I really love hearing James really go for it because he's just a fantastic player, so there's no ego issues whatsoever. It's basically at the end of the day as long as the song is good, the song is good, . MAL- So, this album, when it's actually coming out? When can people buy it and what's the preferred method these days? It's a different world we live in these days. CHRIS- Yeah sure is, man, sure is so, Overseas of course it's through AFM records, which is distributed all throughout Europe and South America, North America and all that. We're working on a release for Japan currently which we're negotiating at the moment, but also in Australia, we signed up to Octane records, which is headed by Bailey Graham, which we're really happy to be on, because he's also our manager and stuff like that too, but we thought we'd keep it in-house. Bailey's a young guy and he's got some great ideas and, dare I say it, for older folk like ourselves he understands, We've had a lot of experience of course with promotion and stuff like that, but he understands how to get the ball rolling really well with promotion and stuff like that, and so really happy to have him on board and basically the album is available through Octane Records. There's a link that people can check out they can either go the VANISHING POINT Facebook, or the Octane Records Facebook and buy from the label direct there. We've got a bundle at the moment with the CD, poster and a t-shirt and stuff like that or they can order the CD as well. The gameplay in regards to how you're saying about CDs being available in outlets. It's a hard one because look, truth be known with 'Distant Is The Sun' many years ago, we weren't shopping around, we were doing it more independently ourselves anyway, but when we approached one of the big retailers who had a history of selling our CDs in the past and selling really well, especially with 'Embrace The Silence' and 'The Fourth Season' albums, which pretty much were really good sellers in Australia, with 'Distant Is The Sun', we learnt a little bit of a lesson where we approached this big retailer and they were expecting us to supply the CD at a certain cost and if the CD didn't sell we were expected to take that CD back, but they were going to charge us for that like shelf space and we just yeah, it was crazy. It really was and were just like fucking no way. No, thank you. No, we don't need it. And so basically for 'Distant Is The Sun' we did it DIY. So we supplied it to a few shops, like Metal Merchant over in Perth and stuff like that and sold it through our website and Facebook and through Bandcamp, but predominantly speaking we sold a lot of the CDs at shows as well, live shows and so that helped us a lot you know what I mean because that money was going direct to the band, , and so therefore with the whole deal with Octane as well, , a good chunk of that comes towards the band as well. So we're so happy to be on that deal with Bailey and Octane Records here in Australia, so it's worked out all right. I think it's a really hard thing to get the CDs out there, you know what I mean because logistically speaking in terms of the cost of freight is just crazy and then everybody wants the CDs supplied at a certain cost which is fair enough, but then you when you weigh it up, okay got to pay for the postage whatever, sending a bulk amount of CDs and they might sell within a year or six months or whatever then you waiting for the money, of course because some of the retailers want to pay you in certain quarters or half yearly or whatever. It's just not feasible in that sense, you know what I mean, it really isn't. MAL- You're better these days putting them on the merch desk. CHRIS- That's right, and we've always been like that as well, Mal, even when we were with Riot! many years ago as well, we still had 'The Fourth Season' and 'Embrace The Silence' and all that and 'Tangled in Dream', 'In Thought' CDs. We still had them on the merch desk alongside the shirts and we found that that helped us save up money to put in the bank account to get more merch done or I mean invariably with the 'Embrace The Silence. album and "The Fourth Season' album, they sold really well that actually funded our 2008 European tour to pay for the tour bus costs and all that type of stuff when we supported SONATA ARCTICA' so, it can be done. It's a hard slog. It's definitely harder now, there's no doubt about it. But with that being said, it can be done and I'm thankful to have that affiliation with Octane now here in Australia because they're doing good things for us. MAL- Breaking out and actually playing a live show again. It's a tough one isn't it? CHRIS- It is that is you know.. MAL- I'm going stir crazy here at home, and I'm not a muso, so I can just imagine what it's doing to you guys, especially over there, no offense, you're a bit more trapped than we are. Tell us how you're getting around that, not so much the live show bit at the moment but rehearsals, how you doing it? Is it a Zoom rehearsal? CHRIS- Well actually truth be known is we chat a lot with the guys on WhatsApp, you know what I mean, so we communicate like that online quite a bit. We've got our VP type of group chat there and we're always bouncing ideas and stuff like that there. We're also bouncing like new demo pre-production material that we've got the next few releases as well. And of course the odd goof-balling as well, but at the moment it's more or less a situation that our hands are tied. I'm looking in two ways basically. I could look upon in the negative sense and go man, I'm hanging to play live and this is depressing. But at the same time too with the album release coming up, it's actually kept us relatively busy doing press and all that and because under Stage 4 lockdown, especially with Silvio and myself because we're both self-employed sole traders, our work is not considered, how could you say essential work. So we're not allowed to work at this current time because of the government guidelines so we have no choice but to stay home. And with that being said, it's basically 5 a.m. You can get out the door if you're working, but you got to be back by 6:00 p.m. or whatever. Most of the thing is that the government's wanting people to stay home as much as possible. So you're only allowed out if you need to go to the supermarket or for medical reasons, or to get medicine or whatever or caregiving like I've got an elderly mum who lives 17 kilometres away and I never knew it was 17 kilometres away until I checked on the GPS because we've only got a five kilometre radius were allowed to operate in, but because it's caregiving I was taking food to mum and I don't want her to go the shop at the moment I was allowed to do it. In terms of missing live playing there's definitely that of course we miss live playing but at the same time we've been actually keeping ourselves focused and busy with press, but also working on new material we've got a lot of new material that not only has been from now, because of the lockdown but it's been over the years too when we've been waiting patiently to get the album finished, so we're always trying to think ahead more or less. MAL- Press, press, press, practice, practice, practice. CHRIS- Yeah, absolutely. And to be honest with you, Mal, under the circumstances right now, I'm okay with that, I really am, I want my family and myself and all the friends and supporters of the band and people that I know, I want everybody to be safe at this current situation, you know what I mean, it's a tough one, it really is, because when was announced, a couple weeks ago that we're going to Stage 4 lockdown. I mean the first two or three days I was depressed in a sense. I was just like man, how am I going to do this? But then I was thinking to myself, perspective has to kick in because, you can crack the shits all you want. But it's not going to change it. You just got to roll with the punches and accept it for what it is and just deal with it, more or less. MAL- Chris from VANISHING POINT. Thanks so much for having a chat to me. Best of luck with your new album 'Dead Elysium', which I absolutely love. Best of luck with that and thanks again for chatting. CHRIS- Thanks once again Mal, and thanks once again to all the supporters out there. We really do appreciate it, man. It's a pleasure. Thank you. Comments are closed.
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AuthorMetalhead who hates bad parking. |