Hello Rockstars! Today’s Artist of the Week is Dark Rock band Vendicion!
Here’s their story in their own words! Enjoy!
All Photo’s by the Amazing Tiffany Salerno! (@halfstop on Instagram!)
And also, save the date for their next show on May 16th at Eagle Aerie Hall!
VMS:
When did you start writing and performing your music.
What’s your backstory and current lineup.
Vendicion:
LUST! BLOOD! & DEATH! Vendicion was started back in 2019. My previous band had ended and in the same 5 minutes of it’s ending the bassist and I made a new band. We rounded out our group within a couple months and worked on making something unique. All black clothes, leather tight boots, and skull masks. With an added element of horror and gothic romance, VENDICION was born. I took elements of all things I loved and made it into a band I wanted to front.
I had a clear vision of what the band had to look and sound like and the guys didn’t flinch and let me take full control. coordinated the outfits, the masks, all the lyrics and songs. Took over all the artwork and named the band. VENDICION is what I came up with. In Spanish it means blessing. Bendicion minus the B and added V, made the name look distinct and original. As for the skull masks, I had many brushes with death. I told the band about my experiences and they as well had their own. I took that, ordered the masks and made us a Band of the Undead.
Unfortunately the starting line up wouldn’t make it past 2024. Our current line up consists of SARAH MOURNE (lead), ALEX ANGEL (bass), DANE MORTIS (drums) and myself DAMIEN DEVILLE (vocals/guitar). Credit to our drummer BRANDON ASH (drums 2024-late 2025) who put in immense effort and time into our band as well.
The past year we have been playing shows consistently and building our following (DEADITES). Our reception was stand offish at first. We had a very hard time booking shows. I can only guess our look put promoters and venues off. But, we’ve been consistent and showing everyone how dedicated and professional we are. Now we are booking shows regularly and making merch with plans on expanding and eventually trying to secure a spot on festivals and tour.
We are navigating those challenges and networking but we will get there, eventually.
VMS:
What artist or bands inspire you and your sound.
Vendicion:
We all have different influences musically but that only strengthens our band. When all these different elements come together it only makes the songs better. Our lead guitarist Sarah is very much a shred machine who loves Viking metal.
The bands that inspire her are Amon Amarth, Randy Rhodes, Tyr, Dio, Dream Theatre & Nightwish. Our Bass player Alex has his own other music project Know Angel and is very synthy and gothic. His influences are Joy Division, H.I.M., and Depeche Mode. Our drummer Dane is semi new addition to the band who is influenced by bands like Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, System of a Down and Metallica. I myself (Damian Deville) am influenced by DANZIG, DOYLE, Prayers, Slayer, and DRI. Collectively we all love the Misfits, Ghost, Queens of the Stone Age & Megadeth.
VMS:
What’s your writing process and inspiration for your lyrics.
Vendicion:
How I write songs is very much hands off. I don’t try to write songs or force myself to practice at all. I just let it be. I barely touch my guitar if I’m not at rehearsal. I’ll just watch movies or read books then I’ll suddenly have a burst of inspiration. I rush to grab my acoustic guitar and work out a chorus or a melody. Soon after I’ll have a complete song within 10 minutes or so.
Almost all of our songs are written on acoustic. Simply because if it sounds good acoustically and stripped down, it’ll sound better with the entire band and layers. With lyrics I just listen to the track and whatever feelings it invokes in me that’s what I wrote about. Lots of dark imagery, gothic settings, and topics about monsters, cemeteries and etc..
VMS:
I love your songs “Devils Dance”, “Ritual” and “Hellfire”. What is the inspiration or story behind these songs.
Vendicion:
All three songs were written in the early days of Vendicion. “Devils Dance” is a punk style song. Wanted to keep my punk roots into the band so I wrote Devils Dance in that style. It has a nice dreamy bridge section which is my favorite bridge I’ve written up to this point. The song is about self empowerment by embracing your darker side. “Hellfire” was a song | wrote pretty much start to finish in one sitting with a subtle nod to Metallica. It’s a cautionary song about one person dragging another down. As people we tend to think people we know always have our best intentions but that’s not always the case.
“Ritual” is our anthem. Ritual was also written in one sitting but this song was almost magically put together as soon as I conceptualized the look and theme of the band. At first, I used a few songs I had written for my previous band and reworked them to fit the current band. Songs like “Voices”, “War In My Head”, “Redrum” & “Monster” were those reworked songs but were all scraped as soon as I wrote Ritual.
This song is our blueprint for all songs that come after it. It has the right mix of haunting, sexiness, heaviness and gothic romance that makes it our magnum opus. What’s it about? It’s a simple love song, plain and simple.
Listen to Vendicion on Spotify:
VMS:
Tell me about your EP: “Till Death Do Us Part“. What was the inspiration and process of writing it.
Vendicion:
“Till Death Do Us Part” was already written and ready to go but COVID had hit and we were separated for months. As soon as we could go out we went to record our EP. We recorded it in a day, in about 6-7 hours. I named the ep “Till Death Do Us Part” for the relationships portrayed in the songs. One half of the songs deal with the relationship with one’s self and the other half is the relationship between two people. The quality wasn’t the best due to time but the songs shine on their own regardless. We have our second EP coming out very soon with re-recordings of our songs “Ritual” & “Ready to Bleed” along with two new songs “Always” & “Dues Irea”.
Listen to “Till Death Do Us Part” on Spotify:
VMS:
Which local artist would you like to work with and why.
Vendicion:
Three bands we would love to eventually play a show with would be Past Self, Coffin Fit & Aethereal. We have been trying to get a show with Coffin Fit for a while but things keep getting in the way. We feel their style and ours mesh very well and we would love to play a show together soon and tear it up.
Although Past Self & Aethereal are not as similar to our style of music we do feel playing a show with either of these bands would just feel right. We love the music of each band and hope they have great success in their musical journeys. Maybe one day we can have a show with Aethereal, Coffin Fit, Past Self, Tyrantula, Overbareing Ivory, and Us….could it happen?
VMS:
What’s your overall theme or message of your music.
Vendicion:
Our theme is Death! Our message, life is short enjoy it while you can. Negatives can be positives and there is beauty in darkness.
VMS:
Do you have a favorite song that you like to perform.
Vendicion:
We love playing live. Obviously there are certain songs we love to play that not only gets the audience going but get us pumped up too. For Sarah and Alex they love to play our song “Possession”. As the closer to our set, “Possession” is a fast paced, high octane song that gets the blood flowing. For our drummer, Dane, he likes to play “Devil’s Dance”. I myself love to play our song “Ready to Bleed”.
Both songs are fast paced but each have their own distinct flavor.
VMS:
Do you have any crazy or interesting stories from working in the music scene.
Vendicion:
We all have many tales to share, too many to tell. Each one of us have been in previous bands and have played many shows. So we’ve seen our fair share of crazy moments. From fist fights, to drug use, destroying a home and cop raids nothing really fazes us anymore. Currently with our band we haven’t seen anything worth sharing just yet but if you would like to hear about our past escapades follow us on our page to hear about them.
VMS:
What does the future hold for Vendicion.
Vendicion:
As a group we have high standards and ambitious goals to meet this year. Book as many shows as we can locally and share the stage with as many bands/artists as we can is our top priority. We started to make merch, but we want to expand our current line to have a little something for everyone. We have finished recording our 2nd EP, which we will release soon, but we would love to go back and record more music. We talked about setting up a tour before the end of the year as well as trying to get booked for any upcoming festivals. Although it seems like a lot we are driven and determined to achieve all of our goals not only for us but for you, the fans.
VMS:
What have been your personal pros and cons of being a band here in Las Vegas. What do you think the scene could improve on and what are your hopes for the future of the Vegas Music Scene.
Vendicion:
There are many pros we can share but as well as cons. A big pro for us is that almost every single band we play with are amazing people. We help each other out, share stories and cheer each other on. Me personally I love our Vegas music scene and we should keep this good spirit going. Most venues treat the bands very well, there is a tight community and when you play with one band it’s like you meet five more who are similar.
Cons we see are that some promoters/venues can be picky. Doesn’t matter if you show up and put on a good show. Sometimes it’s a one and done deal and they might never book you again. Especially being a band like us who wear masks. A few times we felt we got pre-judged just based on our look and weren’t considered for certain gigs/shows. Another con is that Vegas doesn’t have many venues. Within a couple months you can play a majority of the spots. A con for Dane, “paying for parking”. We would love to see our community grow. Have more bands form, more venues open, and more opportunities for all bands and artists to preform. As a Vegas local (born & raised) who started in the backyards to now playing stages along the strip & downtown, I know we can do it.
VMS:
What do you want your audience to feel and experience at one of your live shows.
Vendicion:
We want the audience to be taken away. Away to a place full of beautiful darkness, electrifying sounds and haunting voices. Strip away the day to day problems and enjoy every single moment they are there with us. For those 30 minutes, they are the most important people to us. We give you all of our love & respect, so join us at our next show and be apart of our “Ritual”.
For more Information about Vendicion, Please Visit their Instagram! 🙂
—–VMS 😉