New Band Of The Week: Mother Vulture

Welcome to our first New Band of the Week of 2023, and we’re kicking the year off in style with this thrilling new British band!

Exciting British newcomers Mother Vulture combine filthy riffing, stunning vocals and beefy breakdowns in an intoxicating bluesy, punky rock sound they describe as “chaotic, energetic and intense.” Indeed, the band claims their music is so chaotic it will “leave you with horrific injuries.”

The quartet of Georgi Valentine (vocals), Brodie Maguire (guitar), Chris Simpson (bass) and Matt West (drums) describe themselves as “a bunch of lunatics who put their lives on the line to give deserving audiences the show of a lifetime.” They formed around five years ago and, after a few years of not playing shows or writing music together, they decided to have a proper go at it. That saw Matt come in on drums, which offered a significant change in their sound to become “more in your face and heavy.”

And on the sound they’ve honed since, Brodie told us: “Chaotic cartoon violence. Recently these feel like the best words to describe the band, because from an audience perspective that’s kind of what it looks like, a bunch of nutters running around on stage bumping into things and smashing themselves to pieces. Despite this, the music itself seems to stay on track, for example, even when we’re falling off stage and hanging upside down, we still play the songs, and generally quite well!

“It’s a mixture of fast-paced heavy riffs and big ol breakdowns. It takes from a lot of different influences, but I think Georgi’s vocals are kind of ties it all together and makes it sounds like Mother Vulture. The main thing about this band is that we thrive on playing live shows and that’s what we’ve tried to put into the album. It’s heavy but it’s also a lot of fun, and at times a bit silly. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, so at times, we like to kind of give a cheeky wink to the listener, as if to say, “if you think this is ridiculous, then you’re right”.

Our latest taste of this is the band’s superb debut album Mother Knows Best. On the album, Brodie told us: “It’s a big relief to finally have the album out there, it’s been a long road to get to where we are, with a lot of trial and error. We thought about releasing it a few times over the last couple of years, but it never seemed like it was quite good enough, and finally we got it to a point where we felt like it had captured our live sound better than we ever had before, and if we do so ourselves, it sounds pretty killer.

“(Expect) Lots and lots of riffs. But not just riffs, it’s kind of a platter of lots of different tastes which we all have. At the heart of it, it’s just a really heavy rock album but there’s bits of classic rock, metal, blues, punk and thrash all in there somewhere, the main thing we’ve tried to do with this album is capture our live sound and make it as energetic as possible, which I think we have finally achieved!”

Brodie tells us that, despite all the tracks having “a special place in our hearts one way or another,” he’s particularly fond of Monster Crunch, and we tend to agree with him. It opens up with a wild noise then a huge wall of drums and chunky guitars before dropping into a lively verse of engaging vocals. That feeds into a fun chorus “Ring a ring o’ roses, Pockets full of coal, All that glitters isn’t always gold.” Another lively verse follows with the vocals and instrumentals intensifying then an extended second chorus. The pace suddenly drops and a fun chunky riff takes over to bring the track to a close.

As Brodie tells us: “It’s just really fast and heavy, but also kind of silly with that breakdown in the middle, you’ve got me, Georgi and Chris doing these sort of screaming civilian impressions as if we’re running away from some kind of gigantic monster which always just tickles me when I listen to it.” See for yourself here:

Brodie also picks out final track Homecruncher, which starts with a typically jaunty riff that drops into a verse and engaging chorus “I needed you, I was alone, We came together and we made a home.” A chunky riff kicks in after the second chorus, briefly drops out and a fun little descending riff intensifies under delicious high-pitched vocals that feed into a final blast of the chorus.

On the track, Brodie told us: “It’s not the kind of song that I usually write, as I’m slightly more dark and pessimistic in my songwriting (In a kinda funny way mostly). But being able to put a straight-up love song out there as a way of letting someone know what they mean to you, it’s a sweet one for me, and it brings a smile to my face.” Check the track out in the video here:

The album kicks off with wild opener Fame Or Shame which showcases Georgi’s impressive vocals. A lively verse and chorus are followed by a huge scream and heavy guitars, then the pace drops with a high-pitched wail before building the intensity to a huge outro. While third track Honey opens up with a cool stabbing riff then Georgi’s delicious vocals take over in an edgy verse. Check it out here:

Mother Knows Best is a hugely enjoyable listen that manages to further impress us again and again track after raucous track. It’s absolutely packed with filthy rock goodness, including Big Bad, the vicious Mr Jones, dirty riffs and Georgi’s vocals impressing on the moody Not Yet and intense screams of Vile Breed. While Brodie tells us to keep an eye out for Shifting Sands, on which he says “I FINALLY found a place to put Georgi’s amazing throat singing.”

The Mother Vulture sound is influenced by a varied mix of musical interests among the band’s members. Chris and Georgi are into metal and bands like Enter Shikari, Loathe and Black Peaks, Matt’s more into the likes of Kasabian and Oasis, while Brodie grew up bands like AC/DC and Wolfmother. However, they find common ground in what Brodie describes as “the kinda trendier side of modern rock” with bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Royal Blood and The White Stripes, which becomes more punk/hardcore infused in a live setting.

And on what inspires them to write music, Brodie explains: “One theme that’s stuck around when we’ve written music is a little bit of angst towards the music industry, and how difficult it can be to make any progress, almost no matter how hard you try. It doesn’t really bother us that much… but it’s a fun thing to write about.

Songs like Mr Jones, Fame or Shame and Not Yet all take from this. I’ve also written about the struggles of having to live inside your own head, and not really understanding the real world like you think you should. Shifting Sands is a good example of that, but I still tried to make the song fun, it’s depression with a groove! And there’s a love song on the album, because who doesn’t love someone right?”

The band just finished up a UK tour supporting the release of Mother Knows Best and are looking forward to a festival season and jumping on some bigger tour supports. As Brodie tells us: “I think what we really need right now is to get in some people’s faces who haven’t heard the name Mother Vulture before. Because the time really has come for us to be a big famous band.”

And he adds: “Come and see us live. If you like the album, then you’ll love our live show, and even if you don’t, you’ll probably still like the live show. We find that people who come across us for the first time at a gig are always just impressed with what lunatics we are on stage, and how much fun the songs are.

“The music we play is quite accessible because we take from a lot of different influences, so no matter what you listen to, I think there’s basically something in there for everyone, and even if you don’t like the music you can just watch us smash ourselves to pieces, maybe you like WWE wrestling? If so then this is the band for you.”

You can follow Mother Vulture on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.