ALL/Drag The River Frontman & Armchair Martian Bassist Chad Price Discusses A Vulture Wake's New Album One.Kingdom.Animal (The Witzard Interview)
Bloomington, Indiana's genre-eschewing own A Vulture Wake (A.V.W.) recently unleashed their second EP of the year! Animal is a progressive powerhouse of hooks and riffs—five songs continuing the band's ongoing movement to "Do No Harm; Take No Sh*t," while taking aim at the powers that be, inner demons, and a bleak future on this dying planet. A.V.W. now offers solutions to the issues raised in their previous releases—commit violence, give in, leave the planet, sleep? The choice is ours. Animal follows the critically-acclaimed and fan-embraced Kingdom EP—also, produced, engineered, and mixed by Mike Kennerty (The All-American Rejects, Direct Hit!, These Enzymes.) Just this past Friday, both the Animal EP and its predecessor, Kingdom, were collectively packaged together as the 11-track One.Kingdom.Animal album. Available on colored vinyl through Thousand Islands Records and limited to 500 LP's, it comes with a lyric sheet insert and black inner-sleeve and features artwork and layout designed by Jeremy Hurley. It's, also, available on six-panel wallet CD.
Chad Price is widely known as the enthusiastic third frontman of Descendents off-shoot band, ALL, and has appeared across the group's four most recent studio albums, as well as Live Plus One, a live double-album with Descendents. Throughout his 30-year music career, Price has been a member of Arcmchair Martian and Drag The River, both with long-time friend and collaborator Jon Snodgrass. Price has share two solo releases, 2009's Smile Sweet Face and One Week/It Might Bleed Forever as recently as 2018. Price released an EP alongside Rocky Votolato (Waxwing) in 2010 fittingly titled Chad Price & Rocky Votolato and has provided backing vocals for albums from the likes of The Ataris, Rise Against, Descendents, Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music,) Street Dogs, and The Ergs! We recently got an opportunity to speak with Chad Price about the creation of A Vulture Wake's Kingdom & Animal EP's, as well as One.Kingdom.Animal. It has been lightly edited for general clarity.
I. Who are the various members of A Vulture Wake and what is each member's role within the band?
Chad Price: Chad Price - vocals/guitars, Dave Klein – bass, John Hernandez – drums, [and] Jason Scarbrough is filling in on guitars.
II. Aside from or in addition to A Vulture Wake, what are some of the other bands fans may know each or you from previously?
Price: ALL, Wretch Like Me, Drag The River, They Stay Dead, Screeching Weasel, [Black Flag, and] Trial By Noise.
III. What is the meaning or significance behind your band name, A Vulture Wake?
Price: A group of vultures feeding is a wake. Are we not all vultures feeding on the bullsh*t we're fed every day?
IV. Whose idea was to combine the Kingdom & Animal EP's into your forthcoming full-length, One.Kingdom.Animal?
Price: I'm not sure whose idea it was, but we all thought it would be a great way to keep feeding people little by little with the EP's, while waiting for the vinyl to be pressed.
V. How did you guys meet Mike Kennerty, who single-handedly produced, engineered, and mixed both your Animal & Kingdom EP's?
Price: John & Dave have known Mike since they were youngsters growing up in Oklahoma City.
VI. What was it like working with Mike Kennerty (The All-American Rejects, They Stay Dead, Screeching Weasel) on what would ultimately become your latest album, One.Kingdom.Animal?
Price: Mike is a great dude to hang with; he, also, has a great ear and came up with a lot of suggestions to make [the] songs more cohesive.
VII. What did the writing, creation, product, etc. processes behind One.Kingdom.Animal typically entail?
Price: Brandon [Landelius] (guitar) and I shared riffs and music back-and-forth. After I [started] writing lyrics and melodies, I [could] start arranging the songs and assessing what [needed] to happen. I GarageBand [recorded] what I [had] and [sent] it to everyone for feedback. Everyone else [started] writing parts and demo'ing. [Passed] it around until we [thought] we hit "solid gold."
VIII. Who would you readily cite as some of your greatest sources of inspiration and influence while making One.Kingdom.Animal?
Price: I can only speak for myself, but I am continually heading to a more progressive sound. Opeth & Katatonia have been in my ears non-stop for a few years now.
IX. Who did the artwork for your Kingdom & Animal EP's, One.Kingdom.Animal LP, and the corresponding singles?
Price: All of the artwork was done within the band. We wanted to capture a society in collapse.
X. Would you mind telling us a bit about the storyline and concept behind your latest music video for "Lost Cause of The Year?"
Price: The concept was to somehow film a video with everyone in a different place and us not having a guitar player at the time haha that's it.
XI. What exactly can fans expect of the various One.Kingdom.Animal vinyl and physical release packages now available through Thousand Islands Records?
Price: They can expect a bada$$ Rock "N" Roll record with killer artwork. Probably some T-shirt packages.
XII. What's planned next for A Vulture Wake?
Price: TOUR..... WORLD DOMINATION!!!!!!!! *** EDITOR'S NOTE: Aforementioned A Vulture Wake tour recently wrapped up on Saturday, November 5, 2022 at the OKC Blue Note in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.