Band of the Day: Black Tree Vultures

Sunday. Time to kick back, put your feet up and check out a new band. Which, to be fair, you should be doing every day. Here’s one for you anyway. Fit Black Tree Vultures in around your roast beef and Yorkshire pud…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

We are from Bournemouth, south coast, UK

How did you meet?

Well, I (Jonno) have known Aaron for years, we actually played together in previous bands when we were younger… Ched I met through once again previous touring outfits which he filled in for. Celyn answered an ad we put out as a collective online, came in and blew our minds with his confidence and he seemed to share the passion we all had for music!

How long have you been playing as a band?

We have been a band since October 2017, but this current line-up have only been going around 6-8 months!

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

Well, we’re not entirely sure, we had a few initial names that we were playing with at the start but Black Tree Vultures just seemed to hit the ear right and felt quite substantial to us! We do tend to mention The Jungle Book reference of the vultures that appear in the Disney classic!

What are your influences?

We have a broad spectrum of influence, myself, Ched & Aaron share baseline rock/metal influences such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica & AC/DC… however Celyn is very broad he was inspired by the likes of Bob Dylan, Elvis and Clapton.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

We have yet to find a band that sound similar to us, we tend to wear our influences on our sleeve quite drastically. You can hear what we are inspired by, but when we write we push ourselves to break barriers and look at things that are not being done. We have a very modern and powerful sound that holds its own despite us being just a 4 piece.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

Celyn is a natural wordsmith and how he plucks words out of the air like he does baffles us all! He often writes about experiences he’s had or what he’s feeling at the time, I think that’s why some of our songs stick with a lot of people as they all come from a real place lyrically.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

Energetic, we are one of the most energetic and entertaining bands out there I think. We have played well over 100 shows now. I would say each one has offered a different experience for those watching. We have a rule of providing the best show we can for our fans, we hate to see people just stood there not having a good time… we are all bonded by music and that’s what brings people together so we amplify that vibe at our live shows and we have yet to find anyone who walked away unhappy.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

We often play at a venue in Shropshire called Percy’s, and that is always a wild one. The people there are absolutely manic and insanely vocal. There’s never a quiet moment there… the owners have a pet crow that’s a pretty wild thing to see on the road…. (maybe we’re too docile).

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

Aaron uses an array of Gibson SG guitars with a Messa boogie head and a Zilla cab. Ched uses a Fender Jazz bass (Blacktop series) with a Orange bass terror head and a Mark bass cab. Jonno uses a Natal drums ash series kit, with ahead drumsticks and Meinl custom cymbals. Celyn uses a line 6 XD-V35 wireless microphone.

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?

Our newest single “Bitter” which was recently released is the 1st track from our upcoming self-titled EP that is due out in April.

What are your plans for 2019?

We will be putting out our new music and gigging wherever and with whoever we can. We will be crossing the pond to Europe a few times too… offering all of you plenty of shows to attend. We may even start on even more new music later in the summer.

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

We would love to support Shinedown, they are a massive influence for us, we would easily have our friends in Hells Gazelles open for us, those guys are awesome!

Black Tree Vultures: facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
trackback
February 12, 2019 2:33 PM

[…] You can read the full interview here! […]

trackback
February 16, 2021 12:07 PM

[…] You can read the full interview here! […]