Sunday January 24th 2010

Just a quick update to let you know that the third and final Digital Single to be released from our debut album "A Dark Desire" will be "Reflections Of The Past" which is a completely re-recorded version of the song sounding more akin to how we've been playing it live, and it is also a single edit version... oh, and it features the new 7 piece Vampyrouss line-up!

We are currently filming the video to go with it, and hopefully if all goes well both the video and single itself should be online for Valentines Day (Feb 14th 2010).

I suppose I better get back to work!
Here is the front cover for the single for those who haven't seen it yet:

Cheers,

- E.S.L. Kazraine Ruthven Maars -

Saturday December 26th 2009

Greetings from the cold and embittered "Winter-Wonderland" that is Devon, England throughout the dying months of 2009. Firstly from myself and the other guys in the band we hope you've enjoyed the festivities with all the presents and food and so on and so on!

Should you have been pigged out by the ol' telly-box last night and couldn't be bothered to change the channel from BBC 2, you may have noticed a television program about our little home-town and it's surrounding area. This was of course "James May's Toy Stories" where the toffish Top Gear presenter attempted to build a model railway from Barnstaple (home of Padraich & Christoph) to Bideford (the bands birthplace and home to the other members of the band) along the historic cycle path and former real life railway The Tarka Trail.

We've done a bunch of photo shoots against this lovely backdrop, and a few video shoots too, and so it was nice to see it on TV, however, none of the model trains actually made it all the way from Barnstaple to Bideford, and thus we didn't get to see much of our little town at all.

Still, if you are interested in the program it can still be viewed on the BBC iPlayer at the moment.

Aside from this little televisual distraction Rejon and I worked hard throughout Christmas days recording his parts for our next digital single, which will be the last to come from our début album "A Dark Desire". I think it's about time to announce the final single will be "Reflections Of The Past" in a single edit form which has actually been recorded nearly entirely from scratch.

This will be the first Vampyrouss recording to feature all 7 members of the band, and we hope to shoot a video for it in the new year. Then we will return to recording the next CD for real, having a pretty good idea what we want to achieve already from our demos!

So, things are looking good for the upcoming year, thank you for all the continued support and kind words, we really appreciate it and hope you will enjoy our next body of work once it rises from the frothy cauldron of our twisted imaginations in 2010!

I'm off to feast on leftovers and record some vocals!
Cheers,

- E.S.L. Kazraine Ruthven Maars -

Friday December 11th 2009

Stuart Hamilton of the Get Ready To Rock website chose "A Dark Desire" as his Top Metal CD of 2009!

Saturday December 5th 2009

November turned out to be a hectic month, full of band activity! Most of the demos for the next album were completed, and the songs are becoming full of an energetic thrust and power.

The downside of the month had to be Padraich's hand injury, which is now recovering very well due to shock therapy and medication, but we weren't sure whether he would be able to make it to our gig on the 4^th December alongside Volcanicore (more on that gig in a moment...).

We took the precaution of bringing in a stand in guitarist, a close friend of the band who played with us shortly in 2002 and has stuck by us throughout the years with advice, lugging gear and transport, Mr. Wilhelm Xavworth who had the set learnt in an amazing 2 weeks!

Padraich ended up playing the show anyway, showing us once again how METAL he is, you can tell the guy lives for being on that stage! We did however play a couple rehearsals beforehand with both guitarists together... and it sounds epic. It seems so right playing with them both, and I've never been happier with the overall sound of the songs. So, Vampyrouss will now officially be a 7 piece from today onward!

This new "guitar duo" sound has further taken us down the crunchy, doom laden path of UK Death/Doom acts of the 90's, but do not fear, we aren't going to standardize ourselves into the mould of any other Metal acts, the guitars are still rhythm based and won't interfere with the atmospheric style we have always had (and will always have) at the centre of our sound.

Onto the gig itself. Travel arrangements were tough once again, and we didn't get to soundcheck with the full band because of this, however we didn't sound too bad considering. The vocals were a problem, as is often the case in smaller venues, and the other band suffered with this problem too during their set, but thanks to the hard work of the sound guy we were all saved from too many problems!

 Volcanicore are a live force, and should they be playing near you any time soon you should check them out! Very cool guys indeed. I spoke to their vocalist after the show and he revealed that he had only been doing the growling vocals since he joined the band and that he was normally a rock singer... incredible really, considering how brutal he sounded!

Our set was a little short, but we blasted through it, Christoph as eager and full of energy as ever driving us like a comet throughout the wintry December night! We debuted 2 tracks from the next album that we haven't played since 2007 (before we had live guitars and drums), so they were a little shaky compared to our usual selection of songs, but still contained our usual unrelenting force!

 We should be swapping some songs from the set around next year, allowing us to air some of the other unplayed tracks from “A Dark Desire”. That's about all on the gig front, thanks to everyone for coming along to see us play this year! We have met some really great people with a passion for music that brings a swell to our cold dead hearts! We should be playing another gig with Volcanicore at The Inn On The Square in Barnstaple, but we haven't had anything confirmed yet, so we'll wait and see what happens!

So, until next time (around Merry Old Christmas I reckon...) keep rocking and thanks from all of us for the support, it's unstoppably encouraging!

Cheers,

- E.S.L. Kazraine Ruthven Maars -

Sunday November 15 2009

New Live Date added. Vampyrouss will be playing with Volcanicore & Blood Of Malachi at The Waverley in Ilfracombe on December 4th.

November Demo Recording Session

November 5th 2009 (Day One: Keyboard Drums)

Today was the first day of the recording process for the next album. Christoph recorded his parts in an old school Vampyrouss fashion, using a keyboard (a Yamahahaha keyboard at that!!!) for the basic demos.

Hopefully next week we will re-record the drums on his real kit, but we needed some tracking drums for recording over the next couple days. It's amazing watching him play keyboard drums, as he is almost as good as he is on a real drum kit!

We also celebrated Fireworks night with some sparklers that were pretty much impossible to ignite!!

November 6th 2009 (Day Two: Backing Keyboards)
Day two of recording and it was the turn of one Reverend Rejon Munchausen.

Things went pretty smoothly again, no problems to mention. Between recording the kind Reverend baked us a Milky Bar Cake. The songs are starting to take shape now, the backing keyboards in our songs often forming a crucial rhythmic relationship with the drums.

November 7th 2009 (Day Three: Bass Guitar)

After three days with next to no sleep it has started taking it's toll on me and we had a couple problems hooking the mixer up for some reason.. mumble mumble... but once that stress was out of the way we had a pretty easy time recording the bass parts with Robert. 

Everything is starting to fall into place now, although we'll have to wait a while before we can record the guitars with Padraich as he is still recovering his hand at the moment. In the meantime we'll record the vocals and lead keyboard parts and start sequencing the demo in album form the way we want it to sound as a whole.











November 8th 2009 (Day Four: Tracking Vocals)

Day four and I actually got some sleep last night. After a morning of lining up the last couple days files and wading through various takes I started recording some vocals. As usual I had to record by myself, but luckily Lazerous (ex-Vampyrouss guitarist and co-creater of the band) popped over for a social visit and ended up doing the button pushing for me, allowing a less stressful environment.










The vocals have been sounding pretty brutal, a lot of passion and energy in them, although we only recorded 1 take for each song and a couple overdubs at the end, afterall, these are only the basic tracking vocals for us to follow when we record the real thing.

So, four days and we're about halfway through the demos. I can see us finishing it in the next 2 weeks. At that rate I would hope we will be able to start recording the final album versions of the songs by December!

Keep your eyes peeled for more updates, photos and other content!

- E.S.L. Kazraine Ruthven Maars -

Friday October 30th 2009

This year seems to be an unstoppable juggernaut, crashing through the months with unrelenting pace! Progress however keeps us dragging along on it's leathery wings as the shell of our next CD swoops into view.

We're working on about 13 songs for the next album, which includes 2 instrumentals this time. The rest of the tracks are pretty diverse, there is no concept, besides each song telling it's own story with a basic theme surrounding the dominance of femininity in all kinds of dark and dreaded and wonderful ways!

The sound of the CD so far is pretty raw... a lot less symphonic than “A Dark Desire” was, but that is just the nature of recording with the full live line-up. By the time all the orchestral parts are laid down I am sure the atmosphere we thrive on will return, but we hope the recording will retain some of the primal rock band sound. I think if anything this time we are sounding more and more akin to the British 90's Death/Doom acts (which of course have always been a big influence on me!), but who knows, as time goes on and recording continues it could take a completely different route entirely!

All I know is that the album will be entitled “Compendium Vampyrica” (Not to be confused with our self-released demo CD of the same name from 2007), and that it is shaping up to be a much more energetic and powerful recording than the debut!

In other Vampyrouss news, I have begun writing an online companion guide to “A Dark Desire” which should see the light of day by Christmas containing additional information on both the recording of the CD as well as embellishing the concept and ideas of the songs!

So, last but not least, let us not forget tomorrow and have ourselves a sinister Samhain feast!

Happy hauntings,

- E.S.L. Kazraine Ruthven Maars -

Sundy October 4th 2009

This update is a little belated, but only since the last week or so has been quite hectic. September was full of ups and downs really, Padraich has been on holiday for 2 weeks although on a down note he has had a serious problem with his hand losing the feeling in some of his fingers.

Thankfully he is recovering, and will be ok, however we (and especially he) had a big challenge ahead this weekend playing Piltonstock '09. Padraich, Christoph and Azrael played 2 gigs, first with Vampyrouss and then with their other band Lunacry.

I unfortunately didn't get to see the guys play, but I hear it went really well, being Azrael's first gig with Lunacry! I had been taking our gear back with our good friend (and ex-drummer) Jaman when we were stopped by the police! So, like I said, there have been lots of ups and downs this last month!!

Things are going well in regards to our next recording. I'm not too worried about making huge progress, as we want to get the recording perfect this time and not only put 100% into the performances, but also into the producing and artwork and videos, the whole package!

As I say, we had our best gig so far as a full band at Piltonstock this weekend, we were frighteningly on form and energetic! We aren’t planning on anymore gigs this year, but are always up for it should any more offers come up!

We are however planning a mini tour of Germany next year, if all goes to plan, and there are talks of playing a separate mini tour of the South West with Spread The Venom, which would be absolutely amazing too!

Things seem to be continually getting better and gaining momentum, so by the time I write an update for October things will probably have changed again!!

Thanks as always for the support on Facebook, MySpace and at the shows, it’s always appreciated!!

Cheers,

- E.S.L. Kazraine Ruthven Maars -

Saturday October 3rd 2009

Vampyrouss loved Piltonstock and would like to say thanks to everyone involved, the people who organized it, the other great bands and most of all to those guys who were at the front ROCKING OUT!

Sunday September 13th 2009

Vampyrouss are confirmed to play Piltonstock this year on Saturday October 3rd, 2009.

Sunday August 30th 2009

Ah, glorious bank holiday weekends...
This one has been particularly lazy on the Vampyrouss front, but I thought we all deserved a bit of a break anyway. Having said that, I am still sat here writing this blog, and another blog for my Musings Of Maars page at the North Devon Journal website, and I have been slowly adding and adjusting the Vampyrouss website, there are lots of new pictures and content to be found!

So, the rest of the month then... what is new? Well, the aforementioned Musings Of Maars blog and my official website of the same name (coming soon) are both building some steam, and keeping me busy! Azrael has been playing around with some new ideas for songs, Robert popped off to Bloodstock, Padraich celebrated his birthday whilst moving house, and as a whole band we have been furiously rehearsing, adding 2 new songs to our repertoire and readying ourselves for the next recording...

On the gigs front, we couldn't make it to Southampton last month, as our van broke down in the pouring rain... but luckily we didn't get stranded halfway between here and there... so we were able to get back home eventually.

We did however enjoy a great gig on my birthday, the much belated CD release party for "A Dark Desire". I didn't really enjoy the gig too much, as I was really ill... but in my opinion it was the tightest gig the other guys have played so far since we've been a full live band. It was still a really energetic performance! The amazing duo of "Shake The Earth" fame played a completely different set for us to open and close the night under the name "The Ghost". This made the night worth it for me by itself, due to them playing Anathema classics "Flying" and "Fragile Dreams" as well as their own brand of introspective acoustic doom!

So, what have we got planned for September? This time last year we were working on finishing off "A Dark Desire" and this year we have only just started thinking about the next recording... we are very eager to record something with our final definitive line up, and we already have masses of songs from the early days which we've been playing live with the full band... so to us it seems like the perfect chance to re-Vamp(!) this material as Vampyrouss 2009 (or, more likely 2010...).

We have no immediate upcoming gigs, but we are always on the look out for more chances to get on stage, however recording will be our priority for now. Next year I hope to organize something in Europe, so that's something to plan towards, even if half the band haven't sorted out passports yet... (Hey, there is something I can add to my list of things to do this bank holiday weekend!)

Thanks for all the kind messages and support, and we hope you've had a great Summer! Let's see out this year with loads of creativity during the dark days!

You can expect a more regular studio blog once we are ready to record, and hopefully more pictures or video from that as we go along!

Cheers,

- E.S.L. Kazraine Ruthven Maars -

Sunday August 9th 2009

Thanks to all those who came along to the CD release party on Saturday, we had a great time and will be uploading plenty of new photos and videos from the night soon!

Sunday August 2nd 2009

Vampyrouss did not make it to the gig in Southampton on the 31st July 2009 due to the band getting stranded in a van for hours!

Our next gig is 08/08/09 in Barnstaple which will be our belated album release party.

Thursday July 30th 2009

So, this has been a pretty interesting month for the band!

It's been a month since the release of our debut album "A Dark Desire" and we've really enjoyed all the feedback we've gotten, even some of the absolutely ridiculous comments in certain reviews, which seem to center on the band (mostly) coming from Bideford and Doc.Martin, the ITV show... (their inaccurate reference being that the program is set here and the cast have funny accents, however it is shot in and set in Cornwall... which is as ignorant as saying The Beatles must be from Manchester due to their funny Northern accents!!)

Quite how our location relates to our music is beyond us anyway, but it is great to know that the "alternative" music press are as shallow as the contorted-venomous-phallus that is the mainstream gutter press, and that coherent grammatically sound (music) journalism is surely dying, if not already stone cold dead.

That said, the overall vibe we've gotten from everyone is fantastic, thanks as always for the support, and we are glad that people have taken the time to listen to the music, read the lyrics and delve into the story! It makes it all worth while!

This week we're looking forward to returning to Southampton to play with Apnia, Prion Son, Yellowgroove (and more) on Friday night, followed by a very belated CD release party for "A Dark Desire" on Saturday August the 8th, which also happens to be exactly one year since the release of the digital single "Your Web" and birthday of a certain Vampyrouss vocalist...

Very interesting stuff!

For now we're taking it easy absorbing all the influences and experience we can, I expect we'll start recording the next CD by the end of August or the beginning of September and play a lot more gigs before the end of the year!

As always we'll keep you posted, and hopefully we'll be able to provide some video blogs charting our travels and rehearsals and no doubt some amount of idiocy as always!

Thanks for all the support and messages,

- E.S.L. Kazraine Ruthven Maars -

Monday June 29th 2009

Our debut album "A Dark Desire" is out today. You can buy it online by clicking on the stores below!

iTunes

Amazon

Play.com 

HMV 

Casket Music 

Plastichead Distribution

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Click HERE to see the bands page on North Devon's leading local newspapers online music pages "The Scene"!