Sitting on an album for as long as The Fearless Vampire Killers have can have some rather interesting effects on the mental state of any young band. The ordeal can see the individual members experience a rollercoaster of emotions that build and build and build, only subsiding once the record finally sees the light of day. It’s a feeling many musicians would know all too well. The good news for The Fearless Vampire Killers is that having only last month unleashed Batmania into the world; they now get to look forward to their upcoming show at the East Brunswick Club which will serve as the album’s official launch. The excitement evident in McGuffie’s voice when asked about the upcoming show is undeniable. “Yeah we’re pretty pumped. The album’s been a long time in the making. So it will be really good to play it live and officially launch it and yeah get out there and play it.”
Having written most of the ten tracks that make up the album some time ago, McGuffie is philosophical about the realities of being a mainly local, independent band and the seemingly endless amount of time it takes to get a record out. “A lot of the songs are quite old,” the bassist explains. “The album was tracked about two years ago and even at the time some of those songs were possibly, we were playing for a year or so. So yeah like those songs, I guess we play them well!”
It seems that the old saying ‘good things come to those who wait’ rings true in the case of The Fearless Vampire Killers. In recent times the young band has been fortunate to secure a number of international support slots including opening for The Hives, Kasabian as well as The Mars Volta. I can’t help but ask what it was like opening up for a band such as The Mars Volta who surely must have one the most devoted, obsessed and cult followings; up there with any band around at the moment. “It was pretty amazing. We were kind of freaking out about playing to a prog crowd and we’re just not a prog band you know,” laughs McGuffie. Despite this minor setback, according to McGuffie the show went down a treat. “It was really good and they were really good dudes. The crowd seemed to dig it which was great. Mars Volta were such nice guys, yeah they were great.”
The story of how the Melbourne band secured such a sought after support slot is of dreamlike quality and a sure sign that the tireless work put in by the band over the last few years has been well worth it. “It came about because our album was mixed by Lars Stalfors who, he actually toured playing keyboards with Mars Volta,” McGuffie explains. “So when we heard they were coming out we shot (him) an email that said, you know we should catch up because you did such a great job on the album and it was all done in LA, you know via Skype and email and stuff like that and we should all just sit down and have a beer you know. And about a week before the show our manager got a call from Omar Rodriquez (guitarist for The Mars Volta) asking us to come and play. So it was totally out of the blue but yeah no, they were really lovely and we hung out with them after the show, talked about, you know how they were going to play with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers the next month and stuff like that.”
It may have been a long, tough road to this point, but with the release of Batmania, good things are starting to come to The Fearless Vampire Killers. And with the burden and weight now having been lifted off their shoulders the band are looking forward to getting back to what they do best; playing live. “We’re hoping to just get out and play in the new year and do some sort of national tour on the back of the album,” adds McGuffie. “We’ve been writing for a while, I guess we will be looking at recording at some point but I think we’re just keen to get out and smash the gigs out at the minute.”
