A Conversation with Atom Age Vampire

Hello and thank you for doing this again. For those who are clueless, can you please introduce yourselves?

Hello This is Zack (Ponch) and Marc from Atom Age Vampire. 
 

So, first and foremost, how is the new album coming along? What sort of things should we, the fans, expect?

A lot of the new songs are written and we are still working on some more. This album is going to be a lot different from what we have put out previously, we still have some of the old elements. Probably the biggest change is how the singer left the band and it left us to restructure. Marc took over as lead singer and we picked up another guitarist (Mikie). We definitely have progressed musically and we believe it will show threw on this next album. 

 

The first album was a collection of songs and the second E.P. was more of a concept based around Creepshow. How did that concept come around?

There really wasn’t a big story behind it. We were writing "The Crate" and joked about doing a whole concept E.P. then decided that we seriously wanted to do it. The whole process of writing it was a lot of fun from writing to recording and creating the art for it. It actually went really fast, I think we wrote the songs in like a week or two. The longest part of it was raising the money to get it recorded.

Concepts are tricky and, basing it around an anthology has its own challenges. How did you pull it off?

We basically just watched the movie a lot and wanted to really capture the essence of the movies in the songs. Everyone in the band came with riffs and the vocals were basically a summary of the different segments of the movie. 

Every band has a process to their writing. How does it work in AAV? 

We all write songs individually first then we bring them to practice where we add to them and feed off each other. Some work out and make it to the album some don’t. 

I remember there being some talk about a live album. Is that still something that we can see in the future?

I think that was one of Heaths (Hellsing) ideas. We may do something like that in the future but not anytime soon. 

 

Let’s talk gear. What are your weapons of choice in the studio and live?

Well that’s a funny question for AAV, whatever gear is working at the time is what we take to shows. 

So, let’s get less serious now, Munsters or Adams Family? Who has the best vampire?

Munsters hands down!

Along those lines, in this two part question: Who is your favorite vampire and, in the second part, who is your favorite person who portrays a vampire? Let’s face it, someone could say Dracula but there is a million people who portrayed him!

Marc says Grandpa from the Munsters or evil Ed. For me (Zack) I would have to say Bela Lugosi as Dracula. 

Enough vampire type questions….who is your favorite non vampire?

Duh Leather Face. 

Who is your favorite band/musician to play with?

We love playing with The Nothing for Covington Ky. They are an amazing band and great dudes. If you don’t know who they are find them and fill your ears full of it!

As well, is there anyone that you haven’t played with yet that you would like to play with someday?

We would really like to play with Mister Monster after the new album drops and they hit the road. Also the Vladimirs would be amazing. 

As musicians, you have toured or played with some great bands. In this 2 part question; first, is there anyone that you have played with in the past that you would like to work with either in Atom Age Vampire or, in another project? As well, is there anyone living or dead that you would like to work with that you haven’t?

There are too many people to list ha ha. 

As artists, what inspires you (movies, music, comics, books, etc.)? What got you into this?

We are inspired by movies music and serial killers. We all grew up watching and being obsessed with horror movies as kids and later got into punk rock/metal and threw that all into a bag and shook it up. 

In the past, I’ve asked people their current assessment of the scene. Instead of that, are there any new artists or bands in the Horror Rock/Punk genre that you think people should know? Someone who is exciting you with the music they make?

Again the Covington/Cincinnati scene is just killer, so many good bands from that area. 
 

Is there any new releases that you are looking forward to (movies, music, etc.)?

As far as movies I am looking forward to seeing Krampus and music I am stoked to see what the new Mister Monster will sound like. 

Thank you once again for taking the time to do this! Is there any parting words you have for the readers?

The new album will be killer and we are working hard to get it out to you!