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.
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
Mid Life Krysis on Bandcamp
Victor Pope Solo Recordings on Bandcamp
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