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Here at DGM Towers, we have rather a soft spot for Mother Vulture. Our Welsh Wizard and site co-owner Rob Wilkins caught them in Cornwall back in July 2021 at one of the first gigs back from the lockdown and waxed lyrical about the four young maniacs who tore the stage at The Yard a new one that day. And from that moment on, the die was cast. The stage at Bannermans in Edinburgh couldn’t contain them, and neither could the lush surroundings up that mountain in Wales for Steelhouse Festival. One of those bands that you just want to tell everyone about, Mother Vulture are finally set to unleash their debut album ‘Mother Knows Best’ and we caught up with guitarist Brodie Maguire to talk about the incredible year the band has had, and what the plans are for 2023. Check-in with Brodie below, and make sure you check out the debut album for it is a tad special.
We spoke in September of 2021 and so much has happened to Mother Vulture since then, it must be surreal for you to look back over the last year or so and think about how much the band has achieved…
Yes, we have been pretty busy, yes. Obviously, we have the debut album just about to land, it’s been in the works for a long time, so that’s finally ready, some great festivals over the summer, so yeah, it’s been exciting!
You had to pull out of a slot at Bloodstock Festival in 2021 because of covid, and in August you were finally able to play there; the footage on YouTube looks insane…how was it for you?
It was amazing! We were incredibly excited, and it’s undoubtedly our biggest show to date, I don’t know how many people were in the tent that day – maybe 3 or 4,000? It was very special for us to rock out on a big stage like that…even in the 40-degree heat! [laughs]
Despite the heat, you were still suited and booted?
I lasted one song…and then I was half-naked! Chris [Simpson, bass] managed to keep his suit on for the entire gig. We had a great time. And Bloodstock looked after us so well, it was fantastic.
If you list some of the festivals that Mother Vulture appeared at over the summer it makes for interesting reading; Bloodstock obviously, but also a slot at the critically-acclaimed ArcTanGent Festival which is more experimental and a mixture of prog, and math-rock, and then performing at Call of the Wild Festival and Steelhouse Festival, both of which have a classic rock feel – that just goes to show how widespread the appeal of Mother Vulture is…what do you think it is about Mother Vulture that makes you such a good fit for a variety of festivals?
I think that if you put the music aside, we are for anyone; even newcomers to music at a festival. I like to think that we are fun and exciting, people are always saying “you guys are crazy live!”, that kind of thing, and I think that is quite a natural born thing as we didn’t sit down and think of playing like this, it’s just what it ended up being. Musically, I would say that it is genre-hopping, we do have the classic rock stuff in there but we can get heavy, and the newer stuff that we are putting out is kinda groovy with pop-choruses – although it is not pop – because we like to keep things hook-y. What I like is that we speak to people after a show and they will say that they are not into rock music or metal, but they really enjoyed our set. It’s that thing of being fun to watch, but having that little bit of something for people to latch on to us.
Mother Vulture are one of those bands that would be just as much at home at a festival such as Reading and Leeds festivals, and Isle of Wight Festival, as they would at Download Festival…
We’ve played all sorts of festivals this year, even cider festivals! We played at Leopallooza Festival in Cornwall, and also The Great Estate Festival which in a way is a family festival, and all the parents were quite excited to see something a little bit more spikey than what they were expecting at four o’clock in the afternoon! We had a great time at that one, and in a way, we go down the best when we are plopped in between say an indie band and an acoustic one…it turns a few heads! [laughs]
With support slots, you have Reef on one side, and Pulled Apart By Horses on the other; what do you take from the experience of opening for acts like these?
We just appreciate anyone who sticks around and checks out the opening act while they are waiting on the headliner to appear. We supported Pulled Apart By Horses in Bridgwater and that’s an area we’ve been chipping away at for a little while, and I’m happy to say that there were a lot of people there to see us. It’s great to meet bands like you mentioned because they are cool to talk to and it’s good to get an insight into their experiences. Reef was a great gig, there was us, A, and Reef, and all the guys were amazing; we had a great chat with Jason Perry from A, and met the guy from Fender, and Gretsch who sorted us out with an endorsement from Fender, and Gretsch Guitars, so that was really cool. With support slots, you never really know what you are going to get, but from our experience, it’s great to see that bands on bigger tiers are still down to earth.
When you play a support slot for a band like Pulled Apart By Horses do you see a sharp spike in engagement on your socials, and streams of your music on streaming sites?
Absolutely, yes. It depends on the show; I think that with Pulled Apart By Horses there was a lot of the crowd already on our side, but the biggest thing is the festival season because you are playing to a lot of people and then things start to spike after the shows. A lot more engagement. We followed up our festival season with a little tour, and a new single…and I’ve got to say that the turnout for those shows was pretty inspiring. We had a few sold-out shows, so we are excited to go back out on the road in December.
One thing that we are trying to do is keep the price of our gig tickets as low as we can, try and keep them under £10 as much as we can, keep the merch at reasonable prices, and we are basically selling some things at cost price. We want people to come out and watch the show, make some memories, and grab some merch…we are in the same position as everyone else; we have no money! We would rather that there are people out there wearing our shirts and are able to come to another show.
So, after the last run of gigs – how were the joints? Achy?
Pretty achy, yeah! I spent the first few days afterward recuperating, lots of hot salt baths!
No ice-cold dips like sports stars do after a game?
Funnily enough after our London gig recently, there was a massive bucket of ice backstage that we had been keeping our beers in it…and I climbed in it after the gig! [laughs]
Fully clothed?
Yes!
The debut album is out November 25th, perfect timing because that is gifting season and everybody is out picking up Michael Buble, Cliff Richard, or Robbie Williams…and here comes Mother Vulture to cleanse the palate!
Well, I know what everyone in my family is getting for Christmas! [laughs]
Not Robbie Williams then?
No, definitely not!
You must be desperate to get the album out there and in people’s hands.
Yes, we spent a long time getting the album to where we felt it was ready to come out. We’ve been recording songs for this album in one formula or another since we first got together as a band, there are a couple of tracks on there that people will know, just a couple that we felt deserved a re-recording or a remix, Mother Vulture “classics” if you will! We decided that we were going to put in a lot of time, and preparation, and really nail it down. Sometimes we were up until 4 am trying to get the sound just right, but at the same time, we didn’t want to go too far and tame it down because what we’ve wanted to do for a long time is capture our live performance, and I think that we’ve just about managed to do that.
To try and capture lightning in a bottle is an often overused phrase, but in the case of Mother Vulture, it is a very apt one…
Yes, I like to think that we’ve managed that the best that we can given the financial and time restraints…we are very proud of this record and cannot wait for people to hear it. The album is quite relentless.
There is an absolute peach of a quote from renowned music journalist Alexander Milas regarding Mother Vulture, one of those quotes where if you are involved in writing about music then you kick yourself because you never came up with it: ‘When a group of absolute barbarians maybe one fifth your age remind you of everything you love about rock and roll…’ – that is the perfect description of Mother Vulture…
That is fantastic! He has been a great supporter of the band for some time now, it’s a great quote…and we use that one quite a lot! [laughs]
“Absolute barbarians…” that sums up Mother Vulture to a tee, I mean, in most bands the bass player is the quiet, studious one, and then you have the total lunatic Chris Simpson…you should have “Absolute Barbarians” on your next tour shirt…
Yes! That’s a great idea! [laughs]
The barbarians are on the road again soon, for the album launch tour, and yet again you are putting in the miles; Exeter, Truro, Bristol, and then a few days off before up to Edinburgh, a stop off in Hull on the way back down South, before the last two dates in Nottingham and Gloucester…that’s a punishing schedule!
Yes, I think the journey from Bristol up to Edinburgh is something like eight hours. It’s just the way that it worked out, in an ideal world it would be a bit more staggered but we have to play the cards that we are dealt. So it will be a long old drive that one, but we will try and have fun in the van. Once we get on the motorway it is so loud in the van that you cannot hear yourself think, it is so old and rickety, and the doors shake, and there are pieces falling off.
We are trying to pick our battles a bit more now when it comes to gigs. We’ve run ourselves a little bit thin over the last 14 months or so, we have the album tour in December and then in 2023 we are going to try and get ourselves on some different stuff, bigger tours, but the only problem with that is that no bugger wants us a support band!
Who do you think is the perfect band for Mother Vulture to open for?
We want to go out with a band that doesn’t see us as a threat, not that what we do is threatening, but it is high-energy, so anyone who wants that type of energy on before them would be great. At the top of our list are The Darkness, and Airbourne, because not only are they loud rock ‘n’ roll bands who are great at what they do, but they are also high-energy. To be honest, I think that if they knew about us then they would love to have us on!
Interview – Dave
Photography Credit: https://www.facebook.com/shonacuttphotography
All live images – Rob Wilkins/Celtography
Pre-order ‘Mother Knows Best’ here: https://linktr.ee/MotherVulture
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