Victory Red was a unique alternative band, that existed from 2007 until 2010.
The band enjoyed extremely fruitful writing & recording times together, & the occasional foray into the live 'arena', but were extremely unlucky, during their time together(hence the occasional foray).
Injuries thwarted the band at every crucial juncture, as it strove to put itself into the public eyes & ears, but they never let that stop them creating.
Their sound was a devastingly beautiful blend of sounds, incorporating everything from duelling guitars, huge drums, driving basslines, sweeping strings, synths & piano flourishes, & some truly wonderful vocals & harmonies. Creating massive pieces of music that pushed artistic boundaries, in a vastly inflating world of copycat bands.
They appeared on Kerrang Radio several times, as part of the famous rock magazines acoustic, & unsigned sessions, & won Sound On Sound Magazines 'Demo Of The Month', for their self-titled Demo EP. They were also in the running for the writing & recording of a much coveted Bond theme('Devil May Care' Audio book), when injury struck yet again.
With recent injuries finally healing, the band decamped to Ocean Studios in October 2008, to begin tracking of their debut album, the provisionally titled 'Accident & Emergency'(based around their record of A&E appearances during their time together).
The recordings were taking amazing shape, & would have made a truly stunning, & brilliantly ambitious debut, but disaster struck again, as Kate left the band in May of '09, during these sessions, & with only 5 tracks completed.
The guys decamped to find a new singer, & after 6 months of fruitless searching, decided to move Stef into the vocal position.
New tracks had been written during the search, & these were harder, darker & more direct. With the new sound not really fitting in with the album sound any more, the band decided to postpone 'A&E' until some undecided later date, when deemed fit to resurrect it.
The band pressed on in their new direction, & when finally set for their debut gigs, were hit by another bombshell, when Dan decided to call it quits.
They enlisted band friend, Paulo Santos to play 2 final shows, to give the band a send-off/sign-off of sorts, & 'rocked' their final performances, as Victory Red, with gusto. Prompting calls of 'dont quit' & 'why are you quitting'
? Good questions, but only they themselves know the reasonings behind that.
So, as another great band becomes another 'lost band', we are left with thoughts of what could've been, or should've been. But Victory Red have left a great legacy for themselves as artists, & for a lucky few that got to witness them, & own a smattering of their songs, they will live on. Maybe not in shape, but in sound, somewhere, & I get the feeling that will be good enough for them.
Stan Puftone - Great Lost Bands
