Interview

Philadelphia's Tapping The Vein has the unparalleled ability to generate scores of fans with their genre jumping appeal without the aid of mainstream marketability or major label push. Standing well away from the security of cliché, they're a modern band forged on the cutting edge, constituted of five members bringing in different musical references to a mix that when combined, creates something beautiful and bombastic, disturbing, and sometimes deadly, all in one dose. Led by the siren-like charms of Heather Thompson's radiant vocal shades, soft and sensual, sudden and stormy, their music is passionate and compelling yet difficult to secure. Having recently signed to the traditionally "Metal" label Nuclear Blast on the strength of only two self-produced EP's ("Butterfly," "Undone"), various Goth comp appearances, and a Tori Amos tribute (!!!), TTV has quickly mapped their own route to success by embracing a multitude of musical personas that weave Dark Wave and Goth with Ambient features and turbulent guitar riffs and selected sampling. The result yields an atmospheric and moody mix of dark elements with free-spirited flighty moments-so close your eyes and ponder the possibilities and keep in mind they've previously toured with the likes of Depeche Mode, Alanis Morrisette, Switchblade Symphony, and Type O Negative! So while the simplicity of their story isn't one of usual proportions as you'll soon discover, where timing and luck do play a great role, talent, vision, and ambition. and an ass shaking lead singer don't discourage shots at success. Currently touring for their newly released full length, "The Damage," my timing impeccable, I caught up with the group an hour before their scheduled set at New Jersey's Metal Meltdown near the beautiful sandy shores of Asbury Park, NJ. Far from impromptu, the perfectly Spring-like weather elements added an unnecessary few moments of drama nonetheless as the winds' gust, the air chilled, the tape rolled, and the blood flowed. so in between smiles and shivers and surrealistic song tracks and album titles, here's their story.

Vinnie: Difficult as it is to be unique today with such a broad range of musical styles all residing under one roof, "The Damage" cuts across a path of its own.

Heather (Singer): It's an emotional album. The music starts out with a moody, dark Rock feel, and once we have the lyrics, it begins to get even more emotional. so our uniqueness is really a full band effort.

V: Tapping The Vein as a title is obviously open to interpretation. So where's the Clive Barker connection there?

Eric (Drums): He started coming out with stories he wanted to put into graphic novel form, and he enlisted the help of comic book artists, and his idea for using "tapping the vein" was to "use" or "tap" that creativity. I guess I heard the phrase and since I'm a Clive Barker fan it was in my head when I started to write on my own. It was an appropriate way to look for inspiration.

Heather: To have that creative energy. "Are you sure it ain't about drugs man?" (Laughs)

Eric: That's funny cause I didn't even think of that till people started referring to it.

V: Yeah and the drug thing would've been too obvious a reference anyway. So now what about the cover image-what's she doing there?

Eric: That's the idea behind it all, the album cover could be interpreted in one or another way, you don't really know what's going on.

Heather: And then we put "The Damage" across the photo and that makes it even more mysterious-so did she or is she getting ready to "damage" herself in some way? Or was she a victim? She's half naked and kind of vulnerable looking and you can't really see so it's very open to interpretation.

V: Right you've got that surrealism happening to keep them guessing. I think it's certainly like that with a lot of bands where they rarely put it all out there for you. Now I found it impressive that your debut album comes out after only two self-released EP's "Butterfly," "Undone") and you hooked up with Nuclear Blast and their traditionally Metal roster. So how does a no-name band just starting out that has brief traces of "metal" in their sound, if any, pull it off?

Eric: I just had the attitude that we should just send press kits to everybody. I'm a fan of a lot of musical styles and that includes Nuclear Blast's catalog. So on the spur of the moment I sent a press kit to Germany and it just happened to land in the right hands. There are a few people at the label that are into more Gothic-oriented bands and really dig a lot of styles. So we got lucky and I think the timing was right. They were looking to branch out a little bit.

Heather: We didn't have any management or anything at the time so we were just trying to harass the U.S. labels. In fact somebody at a big label told me flat out, "I don't want to sign the next interesting or 'big thing', I just want to sign what I know is already selling at label X. And you don't have a track record." So we thought to just go with a cool label that'll take us because they like our sound and let us have creative control.

V: It's unfortunate but that's the name of the game at the majors and that's why a lot of underground music and anything new or different doesn't get much of a chance. But it worked out okay for you anyway so far so their loss. How did this Metal Meltdown appearance come about? And considering you're a little 'out there' have there been any boundaries as far as touring partners?

Heather: Our management company just got us onto two tours. The first tour is with The Electric Hellfire Club and Seraphim Shock. So that'll be the Gothic/Industrial crowd. It's supposed to run four weeks and then afterwards we'll be playing six weeks with Kings X. So we'll be hitting one type of crowd with the first and another with the second. It's going to be really diverse but since our style is hard to categorize we're lucky that we can do such a broad range of touring without limiting our options.

V: And I've found by listening to your music that while you do have many different elements to your style, I'm not hearing all this cutting edge cliché where maybe as a listener you're drawn in by one or two tracks and the rest is redundant. Now here's the odd part for me to even suggest it. Heather, as a singer, you've got a beautiful voice and in spite of the occasional added effects, I'm still hearing similarities to Jewel, Tori Amos. even Alanis Morrissette-only with less whining.

Heather: It's funny because they weren't actually looking for a female singer. They originally had a male vocalist-Eric's the only original member here and he had the guy doing basically Death Metal vocals with a little melody. They were doing a lot of programming and testing the extremities I guess, so they weren't looking specifically for me and my voice. But I ran into one of their ex-members and talked my way into an audition and they decided they liked what I was doing and it all just worked out.

V: Discuss a little about your background as a singer.

Heather: I've been singing forever. Being a singer is a great experience for me to be able to look out and actually have people there to see you and enjoy what you're doing, instead of looking around and it's like, "nobody's watching, we must really suck!" (Laughs)

V: I never realized you guys actually did that, I thought it was more like stare into the crowd, ignore the protests, look beyond. Well so did you begin then as a Pop singer or something different than where you're at now?

Heather: Actually my first band was a Punk band.

V: Really? Okay, well I can see the Kate Pierson (B-52's thing) going on.

Heather: Well I'd actually gone back and forth between doing original bands and cover bands on the side. None of the bands I was in ever got it together though. It was never an easy writing experience, just plenty of fighting, fighting, fighting. I mean I could never find a drummer to lay down a 4/4 beat and let me go like this. (Shakes her butt).

V: So Heather who actually influenced you as a vocalist during your formative years and what do you think of my earlier comparisons?

Heather: I'm sure everybody hates this answer.

V: Bon Jovi?

Heather: No, but honest to God you can ask these guys, I do not have a lot of music-I don't listen very much. I never really had a hero that I wanted to be like. I was always just copying people mainly, so I would actually practice sounding like Alanis or I'd try to sound like Pat Benatar. I would just hear the songs and I would imitate them as if I was singing them. Then people would say, "Oh, you kinda sound like them," and then I would say, "Well then watch this," and then I'll sound like something completely different. Now I just think I sound like myself, I don't try to sound like anybody else. and also the music is as much a part of that as anything.

V: As a group overall, and considering how you each bring in a significant element to the sound, do you share a common influence you would all agree upon as legitimate to shaping you as musicians or a group?

Heather: We've all brought our own individual styles to the band and it's just so diverse. Mark is more old school; Eric's more about Industrial and programming; Joe's the Goth influence; I'm the moody one.

V: And if you could resurrect one of the greats of the past?

Heather: I think collectively we could all say Sabbath. or AC/DC (All nod heads in approval).

V: Now that's what I wanted to reveal, something completely unexpected. I mean, no one's going to listen to this record and think, "oh, there's some AC/DC grooves going on back there!" -

Heather: (Laughs)

V: Now I'm cracking up because I'm thinking about what AC/DC might come off like if they replaced Brian Johnson with a female vocalist! Okay, so let's take a serious turn to the lyrics, which are very deep. I'd like to suggest "Beautiful" and "Hurricane" as two that stood out to me in particular. Talk a little about lyrical inspiration.

Heather: All of our songs are true stories. I usually don't tell but if I were to tell, I could reveal a different story about every single one, whether it has to do with friends, family, or myself. all just very traumatic events ranging from murders to abuse to break ups to suicide and just horrible, horrible things. So I don't actually get lyrical inspiration from other artists or music, just from people and events.

V: So you're on in a little while and you're doing this Metalfest and you may be in danger of being labeled a "Metal" band at least till people have heard you.

Eric: Yeah, we'll play five minutes before people are like, "What are they doing here!"

Heather: We actually played this Metalfest last year and that's how we got found our management. The manager was walking across the "big" room and was supposed to do this interview backstage and he sees this chick standing up there in a bra and he's like, "Oh I gotta see this. she's gonna get laughed off the stage!" So he's standing there very skeptical and he was surprised that I could actually sing. And more and more people are showing up and the girls are shaking their asses and the guys are watching the girls shake their asses and now you've got all these people standing there. and then he signed us.

V: Well if today's any indication, I'm sure you'll have plenty of eager onlookers hoping to see just that. I mean guys who'll be fixed on the stage, so then even if that's your drawing card, you got 'em there, now they hear what you can do.

Heather: Yeah, it's funny because when they see a chick singer up there they really want you to just stink. And when you're okay, you actually get a little respect. But when you're actually singing like a guy and you're singing Rock or really kicking their asses, then they're like, "That was really cool!"