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| DAVID LUDKIN/ Scroll |
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| Vendetta Red playing for fans at Club Sound in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Aug. 6. |
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Seattle rock-band Vendetta Red played at Club Sound in Salt Lake City, Utah on Aug. 6 in support of its new album Sisters of the Red Death.
Vendetta Red’s stop in Salt Lake was a part of their twenty-second tour since their major label debut Between the Never and the Now was released in the summer of 2003. During this tour the Seattle natives will see the east coast for the 13th time in two years.
Vendetta Red passed the live show test with flying colors. As great as its studio releases are, the flawless reproduction of its recorded music and massive amounts of stage energy make its live show even better than its recorded music.
Vocalist Zach Davidson takes half an hour to warm up his voice before each show.
“I do scales, jump around and do pushups,” said Davidson.
About two-thirds of the songs performed at the Salt Lake show came from Sisters of the Red Death, and the remaining songs were from previous releases. Although some of the songs were not yet released, the crowd still responded with the same enthusiasm as they did to the songs they knew and already loved.
Ryann Donnelly, vocalist from opening act Schoolyard Heroes, joined Vendetta Red onstage and helped the band perform “In Lieu of Dead Brides” a song from the new album.
“[In Lieu of Dead Brides] is the best song I’ve been privileged to play on,” Davidson said.
While most people have called them a screamo band, it is hard to pigeonhole Vendetta Red’s style.
Many of the songs are emotional and Davidson can out-scream the best of them, but the music also features sweeping guitar riffs reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkins.
With roots in Seattle, the birthplace of alternative-rock, they have more influence than any type of post-punk music. Vendetta Red doesn’t want to be a trend or just another sound-alike. They are focusing on being the best by trying to improve their best.
Davidson took voice lessons before recording Sisters so the Red Death and the difference is noticeable: there is far less screaming than on BTNATN.
“I just want to get really good at singing. I have a lot of ambition,” said Davidson.
For Vendetta Red, the rise toward fame is a slow march. The band received some publicity from MTV who had the video for “Shatterday” in rotation in 2003. However, Davidson is skeptical of MTV’s role in building a band’s popularity.
“If we get a big break it’ll be from the Internet. MTV and radio kids don’t go to shows. The hardest part about being in the industry is the people who talk [trash] about you, other bands and kids. People who have never heard a band will listen to some loud mouth’s negativity and spread it,” Davidson said.
The new album is Vendetta Red’s best effort yet in that the music is of a higher quality.
The boys behind Davidson have mastered their instruments and harnessed the sound they were reaching for on BTNATN.
Sisters of the Red Death is also a darker album containing songs that deal with serious issues, for this reason it bears an advisory
“The first song flips the tables and shows men what it is like to be the victim. It is something that men will never know because women would never do what men do,” Davidson said. “People should check out our music if they want to hear something different, something triumphant. If they are tired of songs about broken-hearted white boys.”
