Bristol Blues-Punks Mother Vulture Discuss Bonkers Music Videos, Their Bucket List and Touring

Highly-rated Bristol blues/punk chaps Mother Vulture have just released their brilliant new single “Rabbit Hole” accompanied by a suitable bonkers new video. Having seen the video and found out the band also sold out of their recently released live album, Doing It Live, we had to find out more about these rising newcomers. Head below for our quick chat with guitarist Brodie Maguire.

Thanks for your time; how is life treating you at the moment?

Brodie Maguire: “Not at all, thanks for having a chat with us. Life seems to be treating us pretty darn well! We’re keeping very busy for the first time in a long time, and we love it.”

To start with, can you tell us a bit about Mother Vulture? Who you are. What you’re about musically?

“At heart, we’re a rock n’ roll band, there’s really a lot of simplicity to our sound and what we do. But we take influence from just about everything; punk, metal, hard rock, even rockabilly, you name it. We’re just four guys who want to show people a good time, no matter who they are. It’s loud and a bit mad, but it’s all about just having a great time and doing what we love.”

At the time of this interview, you’ll be midway through a tour in collaboration with the Music Venues Trust. A hugely emotional subject over the last eighteen months – how does it feel to be back playing live events again?

“Correct! With the help of MVT we put together a 13-day tour, but there were a lot of other shows booked on either side of it, so it’s ended up being a 24 dayer! Our biggest yet! And to finally be back out there doing what we do best is pretty euphoric, considering how we’ve spent the past year and a half. And it has definitely been emotional, I think there’s been a little bit of finding our feet and getting back into the groove of it, but all in all, we couldn’t be happier. This is what we do best and we love it.”

How did you get involved with the MVT and what has been the impact on your local music scene in Bristol?

“Our manager has some connections (we didn’t get too involved in the initial convo)! I think they were looking to inject a bit more rock n’ roll fury into the Revive Live shows, and of course, we were happy to step in and bring some of the UK’s best upcoming bands with us. Bristol is a funny ol’ place, especially when it comes to the live music scene. It’s very hit and miss, but all the venues seem to be standing strong and it’s good to see our pals back out in the venues.”

Artwork for the album ‘Doing It Live’ by Mother Vulture

The tour is also in support of your new single, tell us a bit about “Rabbit Hole”…

““Rabbit Hole” has been a work in progress ever since we demoed it at Abbey Road back in 2019. It’s a little out of the ordinary for us because it’s got the little choral intro, so we thought we’d match that with a music video that was just as mental. Hence the waterboarding, haha.”

Given the momentum you built up pre-lockdown, does the new single feel like a new start for the band?

“It feels fresh, but I wouldn’t say new. In the sense that we’re basically looking to use the single as a jumping-off point to go out and do exactly what we were doing before lockdown. If not a bit wilder!”

Pre-lockdown you had some pretty high-profile things going on, are those plans still in the pipeline or have you had to reset and refocus?

“For the most part, everything we had lined up is going ahead in some way or another. And the stuff that has dropped off or fizzled out, has already been replaced by better and bigger things (we hope). We have had to refocus ourselves to an extent, in the sense that we’ve locked into whatever we were doing before, even stronger now.”

Going back through lockdown, for all the challenges, you’ve had some cool stuff like a sold-out live album, free guitars and a track on a new video game. Opportunities that are surely going to help now life is returning to a new norm?

“What can I tell you, clearly someone out there likes us! There were some pretty low points for us all during lockdown, and to have these little gems pop up really does help to lift the spirits, and kind of let us know that as long as we stuck it out, there’d be people waiting on the other side. Whether that be to support us, or just come and see us live.”

Looking ahead, what are your plans for 2022 then? Anything interesting in the pipeline?

“At the moment, all we can say is to expect more than ever before. More touring, more music, more chaos, haha. We’re not going to be hanging around waiting for the next pandemic.”

As a band, what’s on your ultimate bucket list?

“To tour with some of our favourite bands is obviously a big goal, from Turbowolf to AC/DC, and getting on some of the big ol’ main stages like Download and Reading & Leeds, and letting rip would certainly be great. But in a wider sense, for all of us, our main ambition is just to be able to play in this band and earn enough money to survive. But headlining Download one day would also be nice…”

Just as we finish, let’s talk about themed videos. Has lockdown given your imagination the chance to run riot and are there more videos in the pipeline?

“Speaking for myself, I’m really into making music videos. I love movies and films and getting to be creative in a way that isn’t musical is really fun. The other guys aren’t quite so bothered, but I arguably enjoy making the videos more than recording the songs! So there’s certainly more on the way, and we’re going to do our best to keep the MVU theme going.”

If money and restrictions were no object, what would your ultimate Mother Vulture video consist of?

“A full-length feature film, ideally starring Tobey Maguire’s ’Spider-Man’. It could have a few of our tracks thrown in throughout and I’d be happy.”

Thanks again for your time, over to you to wrap this up…

“Thank you so much for the chat! We really enjoyed answering your questions and hopefully, we’ll talk again soon. Come and catch us live! We’ll be playing throughout the rest of the year and there’s plenty more to come.”