Signing to a major label, touring non-stop throughout last year and getting ready to begin its second stint on the Vans Warped Tour, a palpable sense of hype surrounds Vendetta Red.
Don’t believe the hype.
With its intense live performances and catchy sing-along guitar-rock anthems, Seattle-based Vendetta Red goes above and beyond the hype surrounding it.
Fronted by curly haired Zach Davidson, the band is notorious for its emotional, in-your-face live sets and Davidson’s distinctive screaming vocals.
The band gained a large fan base and a reputation for delivering a performance well worth the price of admission. Vendetta Red’s sound is loud and powerful enough to pack stadiums, but the band is equally as potent in smaller, more intimate settings, making the band one that must be experienced in person to be appreciated.
Sony purchased the rights to the band last year from local label Loveless Records. From there, the band entered the studio with producer Jerry Finn — who has worked with Green Day — Weezer and Blink-182, to record tracks for its upcoming major-label debut, Between the Never and the Now.
Although the album will be a new release when it hits stores June 24, its content consists mainly of re-recorded material from the band’s earlier releases, White Knuckled Substance, Cut Your Noose and its Shatterday EP. Davidson and his bandmates appreciated the opportunity to revisit and polish their older material.
“You can recognize all of your mistakes and catch them,” said Davidson during a phone interview while traveling from San Francisco to Los Angeles. “You can try and sing better and get the music right — plus, we got to pick our favorite songs.”
The band filmed the video for it single, “Shatterday,” a song that has been receiving radio play since last summer, at its most recent Seattle show April 2. The performance included the crowd singing along to the song’s opening lyrics, bodies leaping off the stage into the crowd and Davidson dipping the mic-stand, along with his body, into the crowd.
With its rigorous touring schedule, the band has performed everywhere from the Reading Music Festival to a fraternity party at the UW within the past two years.
“It was a small little party thrown in a basement,” Davidson said. “Frats have the reputations where they can book major bands, and it was just us playing with The Divorce (another Seattle band). At the time, we were having difficulty booking shows, so it was a real good experience for us.”
Davidson said the experience of recording with Finn and switching to a major label will not change the band’s relationship with its fans. He expressed concern toward the interests of label executives clashing with fans’ interests.
“These kids go to shows every night; it’s their lifestyle, just like playing shows every night is our lifestyle,” he said. “I don’t want to be at the mercy of people who don’t live that lifestyle.”
Davidson said that older folks can’t tell teenagers and college students what music they should listen to.
“It’s not to say that people 40 and older can’t like our music,” he said. “It’s just that people that age can’t tell the kids what to like. The kids will take care of that themselves.”
