#vulturesunited

[oneshotsideshow]

[madmanwithaband]

Straight up stopped them to take this pic. Rogue had such a body goddamn. Halloween brings folks together. #halloween #xmen92 #lowbudgetthor #leswoon #iweareverysingkechainevenwheniminthehouse #sonofcage #vulturesunited

[abducttaperecords]

GIRLS and gentlemen... Mr. Salazar: A glimpse at Vultures United's recent venture's, hurdles and successes with their new release

For those who don’t know, VULTURES UNITED are a four piece Southern California punk band with 6 releases under their belt; 4 EPs, 1 LP, and an out of print demo. They spend the vast majority of their studio time with producer/engineer Paul Miner, and release their records under their own record label, which they call The Pirate Record Company. Other backing labels include Basement Records, Kiss Of Death Records, Red Scare Industries, and recently Baldy Longhair Records. They have shared the stage with the likes of Cancer Bats, Blacklisted, The Bronx, Gallows, This Is Hell, 400 Blows, Paint It Black, Ceremony, Sabertooth Zombie, Guttermouth, Lewd Acts, Hour of the Wolf, Teenage Bottlerocket, Touche Amore, Defeater, Creatures, DropdeadFM and a bagillion other great bands. Recently, they became another success story of the fan-funded do-or-die company known as Kickstarter, to release the 13 song all girl cover compilation, simply titled GIRLS. I had a chance to sit down and talk to Jordan Salazar, the lead vocalist of VULTURES UNITED, and ask him a few questions about his recent successes with this release and the band’s future plans for world domination.

AT:

So, you've recently released the GIRLS record. You actually succeeded with Kickstarter. To me, this seems like one hell of a feat. Tell me about that, and how did this take place?

Jordan:

The Kickstarter thing started as an idea of mine, where I just wanted to do a 7 inch with the whole cover song theme, where the songs were originally performed by female vocalists.

So, I knew a 7" of just cover songs would be something Red Scare Industries would probably not be interested in doing.

Especially since we're not a touring band.

For me, it was an opportunity for the band to try some different things sonically.

At the time, 2 of the guys from the Savages line-up had quit and we just picked up their replacements so we thought it'd be just a good thing to get started with these new guys, with just learning and retooling these cover songs.

It was almost like starting a new band.

You learn cover songs, you play them together and get good at them, then you eventually start writing your own.

Which is where we're at right now.

We actually didn't even bother asking Kiss Of Death or Basement Records. I'm pretty sure Basement Records thought it was a bad idea and now that it's out, still do.

The band actually didn't like the idea at all.

They didn't think anyone would contribute through then Kickstarter thing so it quickly became a band project, and into an individual project.

The 2 new guys joined the band after the Kickstarter thing went through by the way, so they knew about it and liked the idea.

AT:

So the rest of the band caught on after some minor success with contributions, and the labels told you to fuck off altogether?

Jordan:

No, we never even asked.

The only thing we asked for from the labels, which was Red Scare and Basement was that if they'd help us promote the whole Kickstarter thing.

They both agreed. Chuck at Basement wasn't that stoked on the idea but he said he'd help out. Toby over at Red Scare even suggested some songs we should look into covering and said he'd help out with a bit of word spreading for the Kickstarter thing.

Mind you, neither said one thing or helped in any way once our Kickstarter campaign was underway.

We were on our own. And by that, I mean I was on my own because the rest of the band really didn't seem to care all that much whether it went through or not.

AT:

And from what I can gather, people are really stoked on what you guys pulled together in that studio. I know I was happy with my purchase. Is the rest of the band feeling more confident about the release now that you guys are getting positive press?

Jordan:

Well, when the Kickstarter thing started, the band was the Savages line-up.

Once it had ended, as we were planning what songs to record, the 2 dudes had quit.

So once the 2 new guys joined, it went from a 7" of 5 songs to a 7" and a CD with 9 songs.

They were on board 100% which was important because learning the skin, then breaking them down and changing them to our liking was a lot harder than it sounds.

So it was important that the 2 new guys were in 100%

AT:

Absolutely. So the project goes from a 7", to a 7" and a CD, to a 7", a CD, and tape, for a grand total of 13 songs. How did Baldy get involved?

Jordan:

While the Kickstarter thing was underway, I got an email from Todd over at Baldy Longhair. He mentioned he was a fan, and that he had this cassette/download label and if we were interested in releasing Girls as a cassette tape download.

I originally said no because honestly, the whole tape thing, I just wasn't into it.

I mean, to me it just felt like this gimmick.

I entertained the idea and told him we'd be into it if I had 100% control of the artwork, and what songs were going on it, etc.

And also that we didn't want to pay anything for that format.

I mean, I'm pretty sure I told him I didn't think they'd sell and I'd feel awful if he was stuck with all of these tapes.

He told me not to worry about it.

Another thing that convinced me was he was going to offer a digital download with the tape.

And we weren't planning on selling Girls in iTunes or Amazon or anything, so I thought it was another good reason for someone to buy the tape version. Especially since the 7" wasn't going to have a download.

I should say since, my opinions on the tape thing has changed a bit.

Partly with seeing the success of Burger Records.

And also, I mean, some pretty cool bands have done or are doing EPs just on cassette tape/download. Like, exclusively.

No 7" or cd version.

So it's turned into this legit format.

I bought a fucking Lewd Acts EP the other day, which is a cassette.

And Creative Adult just did one with exclusive songs.

So yeah. Cassettes are okay in my book.

AT:

The resurgence of the analog formats have been on the rise for quite a bit now. I see no shame in it. Plus, you guys changed the track listing on every format you released with an exclusive song on each one, driving us consumers with a hard bargain.

Jordan:

Haha. Yeah, well I buy a lot of music. Probably too much. So I see it as a cool thing which I bet for most people it's annoying.

But I don't know. When I see other bands do things like that I totally back it. I'm never like "they're trying to get more money out of me".

I see it as an opportunity to see more artwork. And I understand that sometimes in a recording session, all of the songs just don't work.

We're super into serving the album, or EP or whatever the release is going to be. It may not seem like it but everything is just super planned with us.

AT:

Nicely stated good sir. And speaking of planning, do you have any future plans with this thing? Tour?

Jordan:

I don't know. I wanted to do a record release show where we play all of the songs recorded, live.

Just do this one off thing.

But you know, so many people contributed to the recording.

So it'd be a huge headache to get everyone together and attempt to pull it off.

I was thinking it might be kind of fun to do a super loose show, where it's all sloppy and shit and we try to get through it.

I don't know. We'll see what happens.

AT:

I want to see you sing The Ting Tings. I'm not going to lie.

Jordan:

Ha. That's one I can definitely pull off for sure.

If I can remember all of the damn lines.

Lots of lyrics in that bastard.

I don't know. Maybe we'll do it as a free thing at The Crosby so people can't complain about fucked it turns out?

As far as touring, nothing too extensive. Maybe a SF weekend here and there. Same with San Diego and we got a few offers out in Arizona.

I'd really like to do a week in the East Coast. Maybe in the Summer?

Right now we're prepping a set for a Flatliners/Wilhelm Scream show and writing new songs. So far, we got one but it's a step in the right direction of what the new record should sound like.

AT:

Sounds like something I should bail on work for to see. I wanna conclude this, as I'm sure you have life to attend to, but any final words you would like to say? Regarding anything... doesn't even have to be relevant to the subject matter at hand.

Jordan:

Um, I got nothing.

Howabout: Don't start a band and buy music?

And if you're already in a band, try to do something different then what everyone else is doing. Seems like common sense but hell, it makes things so much more interesting. It doesn't even have to be all that different. Just a little.

  Go buy their shit at: http://www.vulturesunited.com Show some love with a little like at: http://www.facebook.com/vulturesunited