OCTOBER 2021 - What If I Were The Boy? - Single Review - Aural Aggravation
“So many bands over the last 30 years have striven to do the same or similar, but The Vaulted Skies have absolutely nailed it, and ‘What If I Were The Boy?’ is an absolute killer.”
SEPTEMBER 2021 - A&R Factory - Live Review - The Angel, Nottingham
“The Vaulted Skies is easily one of the most criminally underrated alternative acts in the UK right now. Anyone with a proclivity towards pensiveness and pioneering alt-rock should be paying attention.”
Read Amelia Vandergast’s full review of The Vaulted Skies epic 24th September performance.
JULY 2021 - Got A Printer Presents… The Vaulted Skies: Interview
Laserbeam accidents, alien music and frigid vinegar are among the many topics Ben and James discuss with the team behind this wonderful fanzine, run from Alberta, Canada.
“The crowd went wild for their set... A huge, rocking set! They sure know how to put on a show!”
“They’ll hit you broadside with their mix of power and complexity, and leave you breathless in their wake!”
New Review from Kalamazoo for ‘No Fate?’!
““This band deserves all the recognition they can get, and the fact that they aren’t bigger than they are is astounding.””
Radio Verulam Interview
James sat down with Denise Parsons to discuss last year and the year ahead for The Vaulted Skies, and the reception 'No Fate?' is getting...
'No Fate?' resonates with Aural Aggravation
Christopher Nosnibor says the band's latest EP "hits and resonates on a personal, emotional level" - "it completely does it for me".
Soundlab interview
First gigs, days off, essential items, songwriting envy right-wing stage invaders and Twitterstorms. All packed into a bitesize interview with James. Read it here
10/10 Review for
'No Fate?'
Read Ian Davies' 360 article on the band, featuring interviews with each member, details of the band's history, and a review of their latest EP.
"To round up, The Vaulted Skies, visually and audibly have all the right ingredients for success with an EP and a stage show that is packed full of colour, vibrancy and originality needed, not only for success in their category, but the wider industry also.
It’s just a shame this wasn’t an album, as by the time the final notes of the final track rang out, I was left craving more. My Score…… 10/10"
Ian Davies - Core Global Media
First Review for The 'NO FATE?' EP
Benedict Jephcote shares his views on the forthcoming EP from The Vaulted Skies.
"If you live off melody and atmosphere, the No Fate? EP from The Vaulted Skies is a treat.
'Does Anyone Else Feel (Strange)?' kicks into gear with a measured build of atmospherics. Insistent drums, a cloud of choral voices and icy, chiming guitars open before a bounding bass line draws us into song.
Distorted guitar joins the swirl of melody as frontman James provides a call out to the outsiders of the world.
Midway through, the bridge brings a chromatic twist, the choral cloud hangs over us and a solo pierces through with a squall of feedback.
The song keeps hitting with hooks until it exits in a final flourish of guitar.
'It Starts With You' evokes punk at a magician's sideshow tent. As the drums pound and guitar spins cartwheels, the vocals call out the absurdities of modern life and where the root of dealing with them lies.
The track blusters along pulling over any objects that are not riveted down.
Time slows down for 'The Falling Man'. A track with echoing solemnity, and an emotional response to the images of a man submitting to a long fate in midst of the terror and panic of the World Trade Centre attacks.
The bass is plaintive, the guitar sparse and contemplative as James' implores "it's the only way!".
The Falling Man captures an air of resignation, of submitting to a fate when caught between a rock and a hard place; a sentiment that can echo for many of us outside of the context of the song's own subject matter.
Now step into 'The Night'. Sirens blare and skittering rhythms have us looking round our shoulders in paranoia. Guitar stabs in shards in the breaks between verses.
The Night invites the darkness deep into the protagonist's soul as he longs to "feel your grip around my throat". Crank up the desperation in the derangement and enjoy the ride!"
Benedict Jephcote
Benedict Jephcote is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. Music has been a driving force in both sparking inspiration and fuelling the writing process.
Plasma Music TV
"...the rhythm section is tight and solid while Ben and James swap guitar parts with precision producing a spacey but articulate kind of ‘wave’ of Gothic rock heaven..."
"...by the time TVS had finished their set, we all just wanted more."
The Witching Hour on New York's WayoFM
The Vaulted Skies feature from 14m 55s in this 1hr special on new bands with a dark side.
Between an airing of 'Does Anyone Else Fee (Strange)?' and snippets from our official biog, presenter Gus comments:
"A band that, as soon as I heard them, I wanted to play them on the show, is a band called Vaulted Skies... So I'm going to play them next so that you can enjoy them too..."
[TRACK PLAYS]
"...If this catches on, I can see it being pumped in every dark club from here to Timbuktu. And possibly the Arctic too, where [presenter colleague on holiday] Mr Hyde is right now..."
"...Again, Vaulted Skies: live it, love it, know it!"
Buzzfeed preview
An article talking about the Cure songs that influenced The Vaulted Skies' set-list supporting Cure guitarist Reeves Gabrels in October 2015. Read it.
Ralph's Life has reviewed 'The Strange EP'...
Photo by Antony Essam
The Vaulted Skies - Live @ The Horn, St. Albans, 25th March 2015
Reviewed by Richard M Brown
"I have been following this band through its various guises for more than half a decade. Always highly creative, energetic and musically gifted they have ever seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough. The set they performed recently at The Horn strongly suggested that their hour has come.
What struck me forcibly is the way that raw power has been refined. The youthful energy is still very much there but it is channelled such that it is completely in their control.
When pressed to identify their musical genre, lead singer James Scott lists ‘influences’ (The Cure, Nirvana, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Warpaint, New Order, Muse, Joy Division, Radiohead, PJ Harvey to name the major ones) but won’t be pinned down. This is entirely a good thing; originality is a major element in their appeal.
This independence of spirit is reflected in the band’s ‘livery’. Scott favours the use of make-up, the keyboard player wears a white lab coat and white-framed glasses, the other three are, sartorially speaking, ‘regular guys’. This disparity doesn’t matter; the music speaks.
Scott’s voice is a potent instrument of great dynamic range. His guitar-playing has reached a very high standard. He uses finger nail rather than plectrum. Whilst the left hand dances fluently on the frets the right moves at blurring speed. He pours heart and soul into every moment.
The others match Scott for musical ability and commitment. Rupert Hobday skilfully complements Scott on the guitar whilst John Melia adds a powerfully striking bass sound. In earlier manifestations the band, as is often the case, has struggled to find and retain an empathetic percussionist but in Scott Bradley they have surely found their man, a pyrotechnical master of his instruments. Ben Singleton very creatively provides what the band describe as ‘keyboard experiments’, a contribution which goes a long way towards the creation of a distinctive and distinguished unity.
The five of them play as a very well-integrated unit, always working to make a thrillingly coordinated sound which Scott describes as ‘edgy, alternative, indie pop-rock designed to make you laugh, cry, think and dance’ which, perhaps whimsically, he suggests can sometimes be done all at once.
Scott writes all of the lyrics, citing the poet Longfellow as a major influence. At the recent Horn gig the set opened with ‘It starts with you’, an instantly arresting number which reminds us of our responsibility for many of life’s ills that we complain about.
‘Vampires’ is about the pursuit of love and poses key questions culminating in ‘What’s the matter with you?/What’s so wrong with me?/Don’t you want to be in love?/Like everyone else?’
The question might be rhetorical but ‘Caroline slipped across the sky’ perhaps suggests a strategy. Poetically Scott sings ‘Oh night I crave your soft embrace/But when you hold me I am new/And I cannot give up your grace/For the promise of another truth.’ The advice ‘So get it while you can.’ is the concluding mantra, belted out, leaving us in no doubt.
In the next number Scott, in a more reflective mode, enigmatically suggested that ‘some days it’s bold to be a human being’ but asserts, ‘I will see this through/To the bitter end/ I will make excuses for strangers so we can be happy again.’
These four songs have been in the band’s repertoire for quite a while; they have been refined and polished to a very high standard. The newer, fifth number at the Horn was, ‘Out of sight’ and it showed that the creative juices are still very much flowing. To a degree it is apocalyptic but in the line, ‘But you know there is only one you can blame’ – there’s an echo from the first offering; ‘It starts with you.’
The set ended pulsatingly with, ‘Does anyone else feel (strange)?. Over and over Scott puts the question. The answer surely has to be ‘yes’ but through the power of the music The Vaulted Skies have made it possible for some of us at least to feel a little less strange. Although the band forces some tough questions onto us there is an underlying message of the power of being human. Far from being dismaying the experience was mightily uplifting.
The Vaulted Skies offer music of the very highest quality and a much-needed message of hope. They richly deserve to be heard on the broadest possible stage."
Richard Miles Brown is a published author of works spanning subjects as diverse as skiing and metaphysics. He originated www.universetheory.com and is a co-founder of the writers’ website www.writewords.co.uk
He is also an accomplished visual artist.
The Horn, St. Albans, November 2013
“Great songs, entertaining performances; the whole package. If a band’s objective should be to ‘always leave them wanting more’, The Vaulted Skies achieve this with aplomb!”
“The beauty of a man, staring at the heavens, with his feet planted firmly on the ground...”