| | | |  | Smashing their way into the lead of the new wave Electro House rampage, Vandalism are on a search ‘n’ destroy mission to annihilate your senses. The hedonistic duo pillage the post-punk archives to put their unhinged club spin on the ‘80s underground...
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| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: You must be excited to be getting things off the ground with Vandalism?
Vandalism - Cassie: Yes! Very excited… it’s going so well, especially the dance tracks so far so we hope to have success on singles charts. The label’s been hammering it so we’re very happy!
Access All Areas.net.au: How did the three of you get together?
Vandalism - Cassie: Well Andy and I have known each other for a long time. Cam and Andy have been working together and we came across a track – ‘Never Say Never’ – and Andy and Cam thought my vocals suit that song and we went in to the studio to put down one of the songs and we were like “this sounds awesome”. It took about ten minutes to put it down and we made a collective decision to keep going as a group.
Access All Areas.net.au: How did the name, Vandalism, come about?
Vandalism - Cassie: Andy came up with that one… I don’t meet the association – he came up with a few names a year and a half or two years ago – and that sounded the best.
Access All Areas.net.au: You’re lyrics are very honest and in your face with lines such as “I might like you better if we slept together.” Was this a conscious decision to be more direct lyrically?
Vandalism - Cassie: Yeah definitely for the choruses and verses like Never Say Never is edgy and nonsensical in a way, the lyrics I mean I cant take credit for them but with the next songs, I’m a songwriter so the direction I want to be edgy.
Access All Areas.net.au: How do you feel the Australian public will take to this?
Vandalism - Cassie: I think they will really like it. There is not anything like that out there at the moment in the dance electro feel. I have been listening to so many lyrics in songs, and they’re all very sensical and you can understand them straight away… everyone comes up to me so far and says they really love the lyrics because they’re more different and the lyrics could’ve been written so in your face like the chorus, you have to think a bit more during the verses.
Access All Areas.net.au: Where does your songwriting influence stem from?
Vandalism - Cassie: It’s all different – I love David Bowie, I’ve always been a big fan of No Doubt and Gwen Stefani … songwriting wise, some personal experiences, some more I see… I have always got a notebook and when I see something or read something I think it’s got a good basis for a song and I’ll write around that. I’ve just got so many notebooks of lyrics and sometimes its different with each song. Andy and Cam can always bring a feeling out of me and I might write a verse around that and it might be good with that chorus… it’s different with each song.
Access All Areas.net.au: Vandalism are about to take to the road for a tour, can you tell us what fans can expect of your shows?
Vandalism - Cassie: These are more club shows we’re doing at the moment… it’s basically two hours of Andy and Cam DJ’ing and about half way in to the set I come on and sing three songs and some shows have dances, some a bit more edgy dancers, break dancers… it’s different for each show but I definitely always sing three songs. I’ve been a performer since I was 4 years of age so I like to get the crowd excited and involved – it’s always lots of energy.
Access All Areas.net.au: What’s the plan after this tour?
Vandalism - Cassie: Yeah constantly in our spare time we’re in the studio writing songs all the time and we’re focusing on our second single and then the album. Definitely my favourite part is performing live! |
| Biography | Smashing their way into the lead of the new wave Electro House rampage, Vandalism are on a search ‘n’ destroy mission to annihilate your senses. The hedonistic duo pillage the post-punk archives to put their unhinged club spin on the ‘80s underground anthem ‘Never Say Never’. Retaining the original’s raw energy, Vandalism pack their version with ram raided beats and tuff, angry bass to snarl the summer’s most in-yer-face pick up line: “I might like you better if we slept together.”
Giving Never Say Never its vocal attitude is no nonsense songbird Cassie. No stranger to public attention, Cassie’s stayed off the streets dancing her way around the world – from LA to London - and hosting the small screen’s Slam Basketball show where her duties involved keeping surly sportsmen and rowdy rockdogs in line on the playing fields and festival circuit. Cassie was first heard busting her vocal chops with Girl-Band ‘Girl Mansion’, giving respect to her chick rock icons Blondie and The Go-Go’s. Distracted by a new set of brash musical heroes (Kaiser Chiefs, End Of Fashion & Franz Ferdinand) she was soon lured to a lascivious Vandalism lifestyle. Never leaving home without being armed with her trusty Note Pad, Cassie’s packin’ music writing power proved a worthy combatant against the Vandalism boys, already co-penning the band’s latest b-side and facing off with Van and Denny for future material.
Prize fighter Andy Van swaggers into Vandalism with nearly two decades of deck damage under his belt, having DJed his homeland of Australia’s biggest parties (Summadayze and Gatecrasher to name just a few) as well as spinning out to hundreds of thousands more at the Love Parade, Creamfields, Manumission and other parties and clubs around the globe. On radio he’s trounced transmissions via Britain’s Radio 1 (alongside Danny Rampling), Australia’s Austereo Network (Loaded) and Melbourne’s agenda-setting Kiss FM (Friday night’s Vandalism.TV). When not wreaking turntable havoc, Van’s swung a bat through the record industry with his internationally-renown Vicious label, home to artists such as Dirty South, Nubreed & mrTimothy. A constant flow of mix CDs (including three MOS Summer Annuals) and crossover hits as Blackout, Astral Project and Bubbleman have yet to keep him out of trouble. And his stint as one-half of household invaders Madison Avenue saw him menace the charts with million seller Don’t Call Me Baby & Who The Hell Are You?.
Vandalism’s third co-conspirator is Aussie DJ/producer Kam Denny. With over twelve years of deck and studio abuse behind him, Denny’s outing came when he got Vicious in 1996, as Van’s label let his Krank crew go wild with their deep cut ‘Circulate’. Roughing it on his own, Denny was getting Vicious again in 2001 when as 16th Element he unleashed the double a-side knockout Warp/Well Strung. Pounded out by DJs all over the world and done over by UK house bandits X-Press 2, Warp left a devastating impression gaining international kudos from heavyweights Roger Sanchez, Danny Rampling, Timo Maas, Eric Morrillo and Pete Tong and was licenced to labels around the world, including UK’s Loaded and the US’s Subliminal. A darkroom percussive bomb, it received support from kings of the drum Danny Tenaglia and Seb Fontaine. Another global assault followed as Denny adopted his Neurotic Jock guise and king hit the tribal scene with Therapy. Tribal Beats, his Neurotic Jock follow through, made further impact via Subliminal offshoot Sondos. A swag of remixes attached to his name, Denny has remained a constant provider to fans of the tuff club cut. More recently, both he and Andy have been tearing up Club dancefloors across their homeland with their Vandalism DJ Sets.
Never Say Never takes no prisoners with its aggressive electro house stance and you just may like it better if you don’t sleep on it. Call the cops now, Vandalism is destroying your neighbourhood! |
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