Lethal Vendetta hail from Sydney Australia and they are ready to stamp their authority on the Metal scene. Lethal Vendetta come armed with the ultimate artillery: A precise and highly effective blend of Thrash, Groove and Traditional Metal which pays homage to the great Metal titans that have come before them. Their debut album “No Prisoners No Mercy” dropped on Friday April 20th and we talked to founding member and guitarist Ben Drennan the day before the release to find out a little more about the band and the first release.
Andrew: So how is the feeling within the band? You guys pretty excited about this release?
Ben: Oh very excited, obviously a lot of work has gone into this. Tracking the songs, mixing, mastering, getting CD’s pressed, you name it. Getting ready for live shows coming up so really happy days.
Andrew: We’ll get to the album in a minute but you have a ton of killer shows coming up including supporting Destruction next week which should be a killer show and must be pretty exciting for you guys as well.
Ben: Oh definitely, particularly last show of the tour in Sydney, Saturday night at the Manning Bar. Yeah absolutely, looking forward to this one. And absolute bonus too that we’ll have our new album out and ready for people to listen to so very excited to be opening for the German thrash legends Destruction.
Andrew: Yeah we’re catching them in Perth on the first show so exciting stuff! So tell me a little about the new album, what did you guys do to prepare yourself for the writing and recording of the whole thing?
Ben: In terms of the songs we chose for the album, we’ve sort of road tested them. They’re songs we’ve been playing for the last couple of years, we’ve been doing a lot of shows and there’s been a few little tweaks and revisions and stuff like that from the live gigging. So it’s pretty much a combination of playing on the live scenes where these songs evolved from and that’s the vibe we tried to capture whe we put it on the album.
Andrew: Was that intentional to sit with these songs for a little while before you put it down on “tape”?
Ben: Yeah well I mean there were other songs too, there’s certain songs that obviously got left on the chopping board so to speak and they didn’t make it in. We were going for a live sound trying to go as much as we could to capture that live energy [and] live vibe on the album, so yeah they’re definitely songs that needed to be road tested over the last year or so to get the up to where we were comfortable with in putting them down to record as such.
Andrew: I’ve managed to catch a couple of songs from the album, video’s that you have released and you’re right it has a very lively vibe which is obviously something you were going for. What were some of the other things you wanted to achieve with this album? Was there anything in particular that you really were going for or was it purely just the live aspect of it?
Ben: I think in terms of the album we were quite interested in doing that old school analog type recording so we didn’t do any click track on it, we were playing all the songs all the way through in the studio. Obviously took a few takes to get it right doing it that way! But the result was a bit more of a free flowing rather than trying to get everything perfect all the time, some modern records have that sterile type of sound and we were sort of trying to avoid that so trying to be as tight as we can but still capture a bit of a live type feel.
Andrew: Yeah I guess you guys consider yourselves to be a real lively type band then, the recording was to capture what you guys do best.
Ben: Yeah definitely man, we’re very much a live band. Obviously recording is good too but playing live is sort of where we are at. All the songs get pieced together and work together in a rehearsal studio rather than at home in someone’s bedroom and then sending it out to each other, it’s always something to meet up every week, jam, rehearse, work on songs and that’s sort of where that evolved from.
Andrew: And where does this album sit among your previous stuff? Do you have previous albums or EP’s and stuff?
Ben: Na this is Lethal Vendetta’s first album!
Andrew: So even more exciting then! The first album for any band is always, I don’t know, something you always remember for the rest of your life I suppose.
Ben: Oh definitely, exciting times. Particularly excited about doing more shows away from the homebase in Sydney, recently we went to Adelaide and then we got some shows coming up – Legions Of Steel in Melbourne and Medal Of Honour in Brisbane so got some good interstate shows coming our way which we’re really excited about.
Andrew: Yeah it’s always good to get outside your backyard and see how the scene is out there. I’ve seen local shows in just about every city in Australia and it’s always a hit and miss kind of affair. How have you experienced other places outside of Sydney? Do you feel it’s better than expected or a bit of a let down? What’s your take on that?
Ben: Generally better than expected. One of the things that come to mind is we did Churches Of Steel in Adelaide, a big all day festival there and I think the weather was great, it was just the right time of year. The venue was the right size, twin stages, it was great! It was very well received, there was a lot of interstate bands there as well so sometimes they are quite good for the local punters, you get to see a lot of different bands in the one day. But I mean every gig has it’s ups and downs, sometimes you play shows and you think there’s going to be heaps of people and then the crowds are a bit iffy because it turns out there’s 3 other shows at the same time [laughs]. In the same town, everyone has booked gigs at the same night and you’re like, ‘Oh shit!’
Andrew: Yeah exactly and that’s something that a lot of bands have to deal with, those all important clashes that we try to avoid. How is it in Sydney these days? Do you find there’s a lot of that kind of stuff happening?
Ben: We try to avoid it, I mean the good thing is that most of the people putting on the shows or bands putting on the shows know each other. Sometimes it’s inevitable that there are clashes, particularly if someone has a bit of a mini-tour and it’s like, well this is the only date we can get. So it’s like OK so and so has already booked the venue months in advance and that’s just how it goes but generally people try and work together.
Andrew: Yeah it’s just one of those things you gotta deal with I suppose. Looking through the dates you got coming up, there’s a stack of killer shows on there. Legions Of Steel Festival, Metal United World Wide and some of the regional ones as well. I find some of the regional ones are pretty cool, they seem to be a bit more passionate than some of the bigger cities.
Ben: Look definitely, I think you’re always going to get to a lesser extent, shows in the capital cities there’s lot of international bands coming through, they’re spoiled for choice a lot more. Sometimes people in the regional cities it’s a big trek for them to come up to Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane or Adelaide etc so when there’s good local bands come on and it’s not so far for people to travel, they really get into it and sometimes they’re some of your best shows.
Andrew: Yeah it’s something to look at but you got a lot going on, the new album “No Prisoners No Mercy”, where did the album title come from?
Ben: It’s actually the third track on the album, that’s just a song that we came up with.
Andrew: So the song came first and then the album title?
Ben: Yeah album title came afterwards. I think we just sort of liked the roll of it, it sounds like a bit of a statement sometimes – Lethal Vendetta: No Prisoners No Mercy – and I’m like, ‘Yeah I never thought of it like that’ [laughs].
Andrew: It’s funny you say that because when I came across the band’s name Lethal Vendetta, to me it sounds like a really cool action movie title like Lethal Vendetta starring Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger if you know what I mean?
Ben: That’s true! I never thought of that, excellent!
Andrew: Where did the name come from? Was that something you were throwing around for a while or did you always know you were going to name the band that?
Ben: No just throwing words around literally, something with Vendetta and then something with Lethal and eventually it just clicked and I thought, ‘Ah that’. And then there’s the inevitable race to google to see if anyone else had taken the name because it’s very hard to come up with an original heavy metal name these days because everyone else has used all the sinister or metal sounding words! Luckily no one had it at the time but since then I’ve seen other people take it and used the name overseas so there you go, nevermind.
Andrew: Yeah you’re right, these days especially it’s very hard to come up with an original name because over the years everyone has taken all the good ones. But Lethal Vendetta is a cool name, it definitely sticks in your mind and it’s a name you certainly remember for sure.
Ben: Yeah definitely, cheers man!
Andrew: So how did the band form and how long have you guys been around? Where did the idea for the band come from and did you guys know each other for a while or did you meet online or how did that all work out?
Ben: We’ve probably been kicking around now for the best part of 5 years or so. Bit of a hiatus there for a while, with the lineup there was the drummer, myself and bass player and then a few different people didn’t really gel and then our singer Brent Logan brought a different vocal style and then Liam our lead guitarist joined predominantly through the local live scene meeting people through that. It’s sort of in the last 18 months to 2 years that the lineup really solidified and then we started hitting the shows and everything came together really good, we’re getting good reactions from the crowd and a demand for us to play. So we’ve gone in and gotten the album out, a few little delays in getting it out. Planned on getting it out last year but there’s always a hold up in music I’m sure!
Andrew: And you’re influences, obviously I can hear some of them with that classic metal sound that you guys have gone for. Who were some of the main bands that were influencing and shaping your style and sound?
Ben: I think in terms of the sound I never consciously sat down and went, ‘Oh look we want to try and sound like a Megadeth or a Metallica or Slayer’. Listening to music now sometimes, I think you can appreciate your sub-conscious comes through inadvertently on certain riffs or certain styles of drumming or with vocals you sort of pick some of the vocal styles like Iron Maiden or Iced Earth, Pantera style vocals. The guitars you can obviously hear some Megadeth, Testament, the drumming Sepultura, Slayer. But that’s probably just something that’s evolved like that, it was never a conscious thing to sit down and go, ‘This is what we want to try and sound like’, it has to be our core type of sound.
Andrew: Yeah so you take what you are influenced by and try to make it your own sound and inject your own flavour into it.
Ben: Yeah definitely, for sure.
Andrew: After all these bunch of shows coming up, do you have any long term plans for touring and maybe more new music down the track?
Ben: Yeah the next 2 or 3 months we got quite a bit on in terms of shows. We’re looking to probably expand upon that later in the year and try to hit a few more regional cities and country towns and that type of thing. We actually have a few new riffs and songs already starting to float around so we’re keen to get in to the studio and start laying down a few new songs and start preparing for the next album. But overseas would be our goal for later in the year or next year so plenty of plans for Lethal Vendetta.
Andrew: Well we are looking forward to hearing your name more and more, it’s always good to see local bands getting out there and spreading some good old fashioned metal around the country and hopefully around the world in the near future. Congratulations on the new album, from what I’ve heard so far it’s sounding like some killer stuff so thanks for your time! Hopefully we’ll get to see you over in Perth one day!
Ben: Thanks for your time Andrew, we’re looking forward to it.
Get No Prisoners No Mercy through iTunes and Big Cartel
Catch Lethal Vendetta at the Following venues:
* Saturday, 28th April, Sydney (Manning Bar, “Destruction” support show)
* Saturday, 5th May, Sydney (Bald Faced Stag), Official Sydney Album
launch as part of “Metal United Worldwide”
* Saturday, 12th May, Newcastle (The Vault)
* Saturday, 14th July, Wollongong (Venue TBA)
* Saturday, 2nd June, Melbourne (Max Watts) Melbourne album launch as
part of “Legions Of Steel Festival”
* Saturday, 9th June, Brisbane (The Backroom) “Metal of Honor 200” show, Brisbane Album Launch
* Saturday, 23rd June, Sydney (Bald Faced Stag)
* Saturday, 7th July, Sydney (The Bridge) Metalstorm Festival
* Saturday, 22nd September, Wagga Wagga, (Bass Bar)
