Vexed: A Baptism Of Fire
When VEXED released Culling Culture in May, the metal world took notice. Thanks to an amalgamation of crushing riffs and a dynamic vocal display from Megan Targett, the UK bruisers became rightfully one of the breakout names this year. Despite the absence of a live outing to support their debut record thanks to the ongoing fight against COVID-19, when Bloodstock Festival made its much-anticipated return in August, for the band, it marked the first time they could showcase their material in a live environment and further send their hype to a new level. For both Megan Targett and guitarist Jay Bacon, they explain to Distorted Sound that the anticipation of making their live return on one of the biggest of stages didn’t come without its anxiety-ridden moments.
“I was allowing myself to not think about it, at all. I was getting into the zone, getting into character and not think about it,” Megan explains. “Because the second I think about it too much, I’ll either start crying which is not really VEXED appropriate or I’ll shit myself!” Jay adds, “I was shitting it then I went the portaloo and gave myself a pep talk and I was fine! I was like mid-piss saying ‘you’ve got this mate, you’ve got this!’ It was nice as it felt like we were unleashing the lockdown rage, it has been so long man!”
We’re talking backstage at Bloodstock, mere moments after the band have pummelled a rapturous crowd at The Sophie Lancaster Stage. Packed to the brim with energy through thumping breakdowns, tech metal-driven riffing and a truly captivating stage presence from Targett, as the dust settles in the weeks that followed, it’s clear that VEXED are very much worth every ounce of hype thrown towards them. Give one cursory listen to Culling Culture and it’s abundantly clear that the band are pissed off and unleashing bout after bout of suppressed anger, live, this is frightfully clear. “We really try to capture it live,” Jay explains when we query their ability to channel the aggression shown on record to a live environment, Megan adds, “if we were like skipping around with smiles, it would be a bit strange. The music in itself, you should just be able to let go, enjoy it and not care about what you wear, what you look like or anything like that. But on a deeper level, it does mean a lot to us. It is about letting out demons and that cathartic kind of thing so it’s nice to be able get on stage and act how we wouldn’t act in real life.”
Anyone who caught even but a moment of their bullish and adrenaline-soaked performance at Bloodstock will all come to the same conclusion; VEXED are the real deal. Given the fact that fans have had to wait such an agonisingly long time to hear their material live, the performance from both band and fan alike felt like one huge release of pent-up aggression. Whilst now, the band can look back to that set with great admiration, in the build-up to the festival and their first live show back, for both Megan and Jay, they explain that the warm reception they received in the wake of Culling Culture‘s release has felt as strange as it has been relieving, thanks to the weird disconnection between band and fan caused from the absence of live music in the periods of lockdown. “It’s so strange because people will message us and we read it and it’s like ‘this can’t be real! This can’t be us they are talking about?!’ It’s so strange,” Megan says before Jay adds, “especially because we put a lot of fucking work into it man, we put so much work into it. So to see that it has paid off and people like it, it is so relieving.”
Now that the dust settled and those present can reflect on actually attending a full-capacity metal festival once more, the attention moves towards the immediate future. Whilst there is still underlying anxiety towards the winter months as COVID-19 is still very much present, for VEXED, the hope is that they can build and expand on the momentum established from their storming set at Bloodstock. “If we can just get some sort of tour, if it is like five or six shows, we’ll be happy,” Megan tells us when we ask about what is in the works for the band. “I just want to get out and see people. It sounds really cringe but I just want to thank people because the fact people give a shit about us means so much! I sat in my bathtub the other night watching somebody cover one of our songs on guitar and I was just crying. I just want to thank people!”
Culling Culture is out now via Napalm Records.
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