Q: Hi! How’s 2023 going for you all?
VLAD IN TEARS: So far, it’s been super crazy busy. After recording and releasing our current album Porpora, we’ve been touring around Europe, promoting our new music.
It’s a new life, a new beginning.
Q: If I understand correctly, you all are siblings with different music style preferences. Yet, in your latest record, “Porpora,” everything and everyone sounded so concordant. I’m wondering how each style predilection contributed to this album.
VLAD IN TEARS: Yes we are all brothers, but actually, I’m (Chris) the songwriter and producer of the band. I write both music and lyrics from scratch. After writing my songs, I present them to the rest of the band and we complete the structure and the final sounds. We all have different tastes in music, but we all agree on doing what feels more “right” together.
Q: You all composed “Hope” and really the entire album during the COVID isolation period (correct me if I’m wrong). In fact, many artists took that time to write and produce as a means to navigate through the low points of their life. How did “PorPora” impact your lives?
VLAD IN TEARS: As for the rest of the album, I’ve written that song just at last.
It’s a song to lift up the spirit, to remind us that we shouldn’t lose the strength that keeps up going. This album is like a black diary filled with the darkest hours of all of us. I personally thought that it was over.
I’ve been struggling with depression, alcohol, and drug abuse trying to cope with some kind of pain I didn’t even totally process.
After all the nightmares,o found the strength to put it all down in music. It’s a relief.
Q: I want to go back to the fact that you all grew up together, which means you all know each other very well and may even agree on a lot of things because of it. However, I have siblings, too, so I know that there are creative differences. I mean, Lou Reed from VU and John Cale had their differences. Were there any disagreeing moments while working on the album? And if so how did you all get through it?
VLAD IN TEARS: That’s right. We grew up together, and we played together for so long that we always find an agreement on what to do as a band. It’s actually interesting to combine our differences in taste and mix them all. Each record from us is a different story.
Q: I enjoyed the message of “Hope” and the sonic dynamics that make it sound so lively. What was your favorite part about creating the track?
VLAD IN TEARS: I really appreciate that you enjoyed it! I honestly didn’t think too much of that. I was at the end of the writing process and I wanted to send one last message to our listeners, something that goes beyond the music genre we play. Words came out smoothly. It was easy to write that song.
Q: Tell me about how the album title and cover correlate with each other.
VLAD IN TEARS: Fan fact: After writing the album, I took off to Italy to visit my family and relax a bit.
When I was in my old bedroom, I was looking for something to read and while browsing through my library, I noticed a thin book, entitled “Porpora”.
I loved the title, and I’ve read the book. It was a novel written by my brother Alessio.
The book tells a dark story of violence, solitude, anxiety, and inner demons.
I’ve got impressed by how close the topics in the book were to my Album, and the novel has been written 10 years ago! Best coincidence ever.
The cover of the album is absolutely perfect match to the concept behind each song in the record.
Our friend Stefania did a great job, she got inspired by the lyrics and she came out with a meaningful and intense design.
The blindfold to cover our eyes crying for sorrow, an eyewitness of such pain can’t be unseen.
Q: Where did the band name come from?
VLAD IN TEARS: I have always been a huge fan of Dracula, and all the vampire novels and movies.
I’ve read Bram Stoker’s Dracula and deeply loved it. I watched the movie, Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula and I was so impressed by one scene in particular: when Dracula (Gary Oldman) after being ditched by the love of his life Mina, goes on his knees and starts crying too badly that he his face starts melting, turning it into the monster he has become for cursing himself after denying his own God he used to fight for.
I think Love is the most noble and strong feeling in the world, it’s what gives us hope and the will to keep going, it makes us capable of anything, but at the same time, it eats us alive, it can be a true torment, making our life a living hell.
Q: Tell us who exactly Vlad in Tears is, and what are you all about?
VLAD IN TEARS: Vlad in Tears is all about this, a timeless topic, a deep and unforgettable journey through human nature and feelings.
Interviewed by Taylor Berry
