INTERVIEW: Steven Vickers - The Victor Pope Band (Scotland)

Based in Leith, The Victor Pope Band are: Edinburgh’s premiere anti-folk, post-punk, agit-pop 5-piece. Described by various sources as “the best worst band I have ever seen” and “the craziest band in Edinburgh”. We were honoured when the VPB let us put out the single, Control Alt Delete, as the February 2020 release on Sparks From The Mothership.

And, so, here's our interview with frontman, Steven Vickers...

Hello, Steven. Who is involved in the Victor Pope Band, and what are your roles?

Steven Vickers – Acoustic guitar and lead vocals

Roy Jackson – Electric guitar, mandolin, melodic and backing vocals

Jess Aslan – Synth

Graeme Mackay – Bass

Jon Harley - Drums

Do you write all the songs or is it more of a collaboration? What does the process of writing a song usually involve?

I usually write the songs but the arrangements are a collaborative process. I’ll usually have all the ideas for the various parts in my head which I’ll record for my solo albums. I suggest these ideas to the band but they usually come up with better ideas as they’re better musicians than me. The ideas for the songs can come from anywhere but it’s usually a concept, something I want to write about. A hook line tends to come to me then I just kind of build the songs outwards from there. Add a couple of verses, a chorus, maybe a middle 8th, bish bash bosh job done.

You seem to have generated a loyal following, especially down Leith way, but also in other areas such as Dunbar. How have you gone about building this up, and is there a strong sense that the band is part of a community of like-minded folks –outsiders, for example?

I think the main way we’ve built a following is by being complete whores. We’ll play anywhere for anyone at any price. Maybe not the Nazis but I did consider it. It would be interesting seeing how the far right would react to hearing a song about how Jesus Christ was a homosexual. We also try to be nice to people. Although that doesn’t always work because I have a touch of the misanthrope about me. But generally the people who follow us are lovely so we must be doing something right. I never wanted to be popular but now that that seems to be happening it’s not such a bad thing. It turns out there’s a lot of other people out there who didn’t want to be popular either.

Musically, The Victor Pope Band seems to be quite eclectic. Do you have a lot of different musical influences amongst the band members? 

We are quite a mixed bunch. I tend to be into the quirkier side of post punk, Roy likes prog, Jess is into electronica, Jon loves ska and Graeme only likes Bob Dylan and the Clash. Although he did recently get a little bit into Arcade Fire. 

Which influences from outside of music – films, art, books, politics, subcultures etc – have influenced you personally and the band in general?

Well both me and Roy are very into films. I’m particularly into Lars Von Trier and Roy likes stuff like Scorsese and Tarantino and all that jazz. I’m also very into Buckowski and various other writers but I’m a very slow reader. I do know Jon is a very avid potter and Jess likes to make macramé sculptures of birds. Graeme likes the Simpsons.

Do you want to tell our readership a bit about your background? We know you personally through your brother, Paul Vickers (Dawn Of The Replicants, Mr Twonkey, Paul Vickers and the Leg). You both grew up in the North East of England and have followed different paths leading to living and creating in Edinburgh. What was your own particular journey to Leith?

I’ve basically lived in most of the small towns of the north of England and frequented many of their asylums. I’ve always been into music since my brother introduced me to the Velvet Underground when I was 15. I’ve tried various styles but silly acoustic punk was the style that seemed to stick. I was living in Leeds before I came to Leith. I was trying to form a band there but the only people I could recruit was an octogenarian with no sense of rhythm and a born again Christian Morrissey obsessive. Eventually my best friend / arch nemesis said he had a band together in Edinburgh and I was the missing piece. I haven’t looked back since.

What can you tell us about Mid Life Krysis?

The clue's in the name. When I hit 40, rather than buying a sports car and chasing after inappropriately young ladies I decided to attempt to sell out by doing what it seemed everyone else was doing – become a rapper! It hasn’t worked but it’s a lot of fun. I’ve always enjoyed rap music and it’s introduced me to a whole new way of composing songs. 

I get the impression that, as a band, you seem to be quite socially active in trying to help improve the situation for people who are disadvantaged. Is this something that is important to you all? 

Well we’ve done a lot of charity gigs. But we don’t like to talk about it. And I’m always trying to raise issues in my songs that are often attempts to raise issues of mental health and so forth. I like to think that if you’re honest enough about your own madness other loonies won’t feel quite so bad about their own. I also work as a support worker for adults with learning difficulties which I find very rewarding and infinitely more valuable than this silly business of rock and roll. Although if Richard Branson wants to give me a massive cheque I won’t object.

We are trying to do a little of this ourselves by giving all proceeds of download sales from Sparks From The Mothership to a Food Bank charity, so thank you very much for allowing us to use Control Alt Delete as our February 2020 release on SFTM.

I’m very grateful to you for doing so and hope our silly little song can make a worthy cause a little bit of cash.

We really enjoyed watching the recent documentary about The Victor Pope Band. What can you tell us about how this came about and what making it involved? We liked the interactions with your Mum and brother, Paul.

It was an idea my arch nemesis / best friend had so it wasn’t entirely narcissistic. Although he did leave me to do most of the technical work. I’ve made a number of music videos and we’ve made documentaries together before so this was the next logical step. I enjoy the editing process so it was fun to do. We were kind of trying to make a Devil and Daniel Johnston deal. Which is my favourite rock documentary. I don’t think we entirely reached those lofty heights but it passes an hour or so.

Here at SFTM we are particularly interested in the ways that the more extreme, experimental, avant garde sides of the arts have sometimes collided with popular culture, resulting in something new and exciting, for example – when the Velvets met Warhol, or when Artrock happened, or when Punk co-opted the attitude and aesthetics of DADA and Situationism. Can you see a place for this kind of cross-fertilization in the 21st Century between the experimental and the mainstream?

Well it seems like anything goes these days. We are all magpies and there isn’t a single original idea under the sun. Leonard Cohen on X-Factor, Lady Ga Ga rattling on about Warhol. Since the internet all music is available to all people. But in general I think the mainstream needs the underground to keep pushing it forward. Basically mainstream music is more designed to please as many people as possible where as underground musicians just tend to make it to please themselves. In this respect I think it makes it much braver and inevitably more original. So when Taylor Swift is rooting around for ideas that would give her music a fresher sound that stands out from the beigeness a bit the first place she is likely to look is the underground. To almost quote a legendary national music magazine – Because the other bands need the ideas.

Thank you, Steven, and thank you to The Victor Pope Band.

The Victor Pope Band on Bandcamp
 
Mid Life Krysis on Bandcamp
Victor Pope Solo Recordings on Bandcamp