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The
first time I heard My Vitriol was at work back in 2001. Moz put it on
the playlist and it slid straight into my most played list and to this
day it has never left. Ever ask me my favourite band and this band is
the answer (despite my current obsession with MCR). I made it a mission
to see them as many times as possible. I can not tell you how much shit
this album has pulled me through.
 Who are they?
The current line up of
My Vitriol are Som Wardner (vocals, guitar, piano), Rava
Kesavaram (drums), Seth Taylor (guitar), Lauren (bass).
My Vitriol - My Sulphuric Acid?
Vitriol is another word for Sulphuric Acid or
bitterness/spite, but that is not the meaning behind the
band name. The name is taken from the book Brighton
Rock by Graham Greene.
Synopsis:
A gang war is raging through the dark underworld of
Brighton. Untouched by human feeling, Pinkie is isolated,
a figure of pure evil. Believing he can escape
retribution, he is unprepared for the courageous, life-embracing
Ida Arnold, who is determined to avenge Hale's death.
Pinkie
carried a vile of vitriol in his pocket in case he was
attacked. His Vitriol was his security and a symbol of
his of his spite and paranoia, and also his craving for
power and control of his world.
A brief history of MV
Ravi and Som met at UCL in early 1998. They lived opposite each
other in halls and were both were studying similar degrees; Som studying
Genetics and Ravi studying Biochemistry. They were both involved in the
local music scene, but it wasn't for a year and a half until they played
together. Som had written a few songs and a friend of theirs decided to
help them record a demo as a project for his studio engineering course.
Ravi played the drums, Som played the rest of the instruments and they
put together an EP called "Delusions of Grandeur" in the space of just
two days, using every free studio session they could.
About 250 CD-R copies of "Delusions Of Grandeur" were pressed but only
about 30 actually worked, due to technical reasons. However, one was
handed to Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq at a gig. Within days, Lamacq had
broadcast a track on the Session Unsigned slot, which led to greater
publicity for the band in the form of the track' Grounded' being used on
the 'Organ Radio 5' compilation.
Ravi and Som needed to complete the line up of the band, to give them a
fuller sound. They met guitarist Seth Taylor at a Mint 400 gig and
discovered Carolyn Bannister playing bass at another gig. The band soon
released their début, double A-side single 'Always: Your Way/Pieces', on
Org Records on the 6th of December 1999.
In the last week of 1999, the band signed a deal with Infectious
Records, home to other acts such as Ash and Garbage. Their first single
under this new label was 'Losing Touch', released in April 2000, and the
second was 'Cemented Shoes' which made number 65 in July of the same
year.
Their third single, 'Pieces', charted at 56, but the fourth, 'Always
Your Way', was the first to reach the Top 40, peaking at number 31. Soon
after this, the band’s debut album, Finelines was released and it made
number 24 in early March 2001.
They landed support slots with many major acts, including Feeder and the
Manic Street Preachers. My Vitriol appeared numerous times on TV shows
such as Top of the Pops, as well as festival performances such as
Glastonbury, V Festival, T in the Park and main stage Reading/Leeds to
40,000 people and a night time higher billing the following year.
The band headlined their first festival stages in Holland on the
mainstage in Rotterdam, and the indoor arena in Norway's Quart. They
also performed across Europe at Roskilde in Denmark, Festimad in Spain,
and to 20,000 people at Rock am Ring in Germany. At Summer Sonic in
Japan, where Sony Music released their debut, they played to 18,000
people. Their first and only headline show in Tokyo sold out in hours
and the venue had to be upgraded twice.
Despite having only played outside of Europe in Japan, 'Grounded' was a
hit in South Africa and the band starting to gain interest from Asia and
South America. This was partly due to the surprise circulation of
"Delusions of Grandeur" EP. This buzz lead to the band signing the US
release rights of the record to Sony/Epics for a reported $400,000. Part
of the deal was to remix/tweak the album with Guns N' Roses/Metallica
producer Steve Thompson.
On hearing the US mixes, Infectious records made the decision to
re-release this version in the UK as a double album format, including
B-sides and rarities, forming the complete works of My Vitriol to date.
At the end of 2002, after 3 years of solid touring, lead singer Som
Wardner announced My Vitriol's touring hiatus at Kerrang Festival,
saying "We won't be around for a while. We're going to take a break and
write a new record. Thanks for supporting us from the beginning."
Despite their "hiatus", My Vitriol's popularity has persisted since the
release of their debut record due to their loyal cult following. An
unannounced "secret" show in Islington in January 2005 sold out all 1000
tickets months before the show, most probably due to word-of-mouth and
via the internet.
A second one-off show took place at the 1500-capacity KOKO, Camden,
London, on November 24th, 2006, supported by The Cinematics and Pure
Reason Revolution. My Vitriol took this opportunity to introduce their
new bass player, Lauren, who replaces Carolyn who left sometime after
the 2005 Islington gig. A number of new songs were played, although it
was uncertain whether the band have the intention of releasing them.
March 2007 saw the release of the single 'This Time' under the name A
Secret Society on Org Records, limited to 1000 copies, the single also
features a cover of the Lemonheads 'It's a Shame About Ray'.
Also confirmed in March were the details of the next gig and single
release. The gig itself was originally slated for May 25th at the London
Astoria, however this has since been postponed until September 29th
2007. The single "War of The Worlds" is now available.
Me & My Vitriol
I jumped at the
chance to see them live as they were supposed to be
supporting Feeder at the Astoria on the 22nd April 2001.
However for reasons unknown to me (& a lot of other
people I spoke to at the concert) we got Mark B &
Blade instead.
There is good news. I did finally get to see them live on
the 23rd October 2001 at the Roadmender in Northampton,
on the first night of their headline tour. I was also one
of the first 25 through the door & lucky enough to
get one of the Vapour Trails vinyl's.
My Vitriol were fucking excellent, playing Vapour Trails.
As well as one of my favourites Losing Touch and the
excellent cover of Madonna's Oh Father.
The debut
album finelines is probably one of
the best albums I have heard in a long time. It is
certainly the finest debut album that I have ever heard.
I can only describe it as a beautiful mix of Indie, Metal and Rock. Since then there has
been a single release of moodswings and another tour during which
I went to see them at the Astoria on the 19th July 2002. Now all we are
waiting for is new material.
It's been a
while since I heard anything about My Vitriol, I have been on the
mailing list and the old website died a while ago. I still wear the
Enjoy My Vitriol T-shirt I got at the Astoria. I have now found them on
My Space. It's so great to see them back on
the scene. Really you need to check them out. Go, GO NOW!
Oh and they are playing live at Download this year. I nearly fainted
when I saw that. I'm going to Download, not just for them but my
favourite band ever is playing live at the first festival I've ever been
too, how cool is that?
And now of course I've been! As usual My Vitriol put on a class act. The
old stuff has the crowd jumping and the new stuff was just as good.
Trivia
* The band were one of the first unsigned bands to be playlisted on BBC
Radio One and Xfm in the UK, with their single 'Always: Your Way'
* Despite being credited with ushering in a new wave of effect-laden
guitar bands in the UK, who all draw parallels to the early '90s
Shoegaze scene, the band claim to only have one record from that era:
'Loveless' by My Bloody Valentine
* The band recorded a cover of Elliott Smith's "Bottle Up & Explode!"
upon the singer/songwriter's death in October 2003.
* The song 'Always Your Way' was voted in 2002 as one of the best
alternative songs written by Xfm listeners.
* The video for their 2nd top 40 hit single 'Grounded', starred
notorious cult figure Vincent Gallo.
* Three members of the band studied at University College London.
Members from Coldplay, Keane, were in the years above and members from
Suede and Elastica had also graduated from UCL in the '90s. See full
list of UCL Alumni
* They were signed after only 7 shows, 7 months of being together and
with only 7 songs. Their logo, the chemical symbol for vitriol resembles
a backwards 7.
* When their track 'Cemented Shoes' was used on Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, none of the band had heard of the show.
* Almost every song on their debut 'Finelines' was recorded utilizing
various unusual guitar tunings.
* The song "Always your way" was used in the motocross dvd "Heaven and
Hell on Earth" starring Chris Brock and Gary Taylor
* Taprobane, track 12 on Finelines, is the name ancient Greek
geographers gave to Wardner's home country, Sri Lanka.
Discography
& Samples
MySpace Website
Sources -
MyVitriol.com, Amazon.co.uk, Dotmusic.com, Hmv.co.uk
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