We caught up with Jacko from the Vex to have a chat about the release of their new ‘The Vex’ EP and to see what makes them tick.
Who are The Vex and how did the band come about?
The Vex are 4 people who create sonic noise with guitars and drums. We love heavy riffs and we love rocksteady.
You have released your new EP tell us a bit about that and what can we expect to hear from it?
‘The Vex’ EP is our debut vinyl which we’re very excited about. It’s a single sided 12 inch with 5 tracks. Sonically it goes from punk to rock n roll to heavy reggae to dub. We sing about a young girls gallantry, existence and freedom of speech.
Your style smashes punk rock against sharp-edged Jamaican rhythms and stomp ready beats how do you come up with these catchy tracks and what is your writing style?
Thanks for noticing! Yeah we love these styles of music so when we jam it always sounds like a mash up of the two, we think they compliment each other perfectly too. There’s normally a riff that its based around a song will come out of that.
Do you have a favourite track on the EP and why?
It changes from moment to moment, but right now I’m loving the coolness of ‘Darker Shade Of Black’.
You have a track called ‘Satori’ which is the Zen-Buddhist term for awakening, or enlightenment how did you discover this term and what brought about writing the song?
I am a massive fan of Alan Watts’ talks (YouTube him). He shined a light on eastern philosophies Toaism, Zen-Buddhism etc, its a very enjoyable way of looking at the world. Worrying is pointless.
You guys definitely like to face the issues of injustice with tracks like ‘Education Kills’ which references the bravery of Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Pakistan Taliban while campaigning for women’s rights to education and ‘Darker Shade Of Black’ a defiant nod to freedom of speech, is this appealing to your following or are these issues close to your heart?
We’ll always write about issues that strike a chord with us. With Malala Yousafzai I remember being really impacted by her story I wrote the song almost immediately.
Whats a live show with you guys like?
Loud, skanking, singing, dancing and hopefully make you think about what you wanna do in life and give you the nerve to go do it.
Have you any live shows coming up?
Wednesday 8th May Rich Rix. The Finsbury in July
Any Irish dates planned?
Not as yet, but would love to get down to the south and west coasts of Ireland, Kerry is on the list.
Whats next for The Vex?
More riffs, more messages, more EPs, more vinyl, more spreading the good vibes!
Jacko x
You can get ‘The Vex’ EP here https://thevex.bandcamp.com/
Stream ‘Living In The’ below
