Beginning in October of 2017, both the worlds of shadow and light collided in a catastrophic collision thus creating Vickis Dream. The inventors and narrators behind the soundtrack and story to the world of Vickis Dream began with Toxic Thomas followed by Brince, Crow and Fantazma. The four creative minds of this motley crew bonded over several different music genres while developing their own signature blend of punk, goth and metal tones, which became the musical forefront of their driving “post-apocalyptic” sound. They have had the honor to open for notable famous acts including Wednesday 13, Psyclon Nine and Blitzkid. The band has also had the honor and privilege of working with producer and mixer Matt McJunkins (A Perfect Circle/The Beta Machine), Jeff Friedl (A Perfect Circle/The Beta Machine) who performed drums on the record, and GoPal Metro (Bella Morte) who performed keys on their single, “Morbid,” which is about Vickis morbid curiosity surrounding death and the ghosts that travel with her from her past. Vickis Dream is here to break down the walls of reality while diving deep into the human condition and invites the listener on a quest to witness both the beauty and chaos found within the darkness and embrace the light within themselves each and every day.
The band draws from many different styles of musical influences and genres. Some of those influences include: The Misfits, Faith No More, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth, Sioxsie Sue, Peter Murphy, The Damned, Type-O Negative, A Perfect Circle, The MeatMen, The Plasmatics and none other than Prince himself. The sounds and styles of punk, goth and metal mesh together into the band’s own signature sound – what they call, “post-apocalyptic rock.” Fans of our music have described our sound in the likes of The B-52s meets The Misfits and Blondie meets AFI. In short, Vickis Dream is a concept band with a post-apocalyptic theme and backstory, which has been brought to the stage in a highly energetic theatrical live show.” Many of their songs were inspired by personal experiences and other forms of media that were poured into the character of Vicki and her dreams and experiences from the post-apocalyptic world she has entered.
“Last night I had a dream…” a dream about a virus caused by some vigilantes or some other nefarious force, so opens the first track, “Awakening.” A menacing sound ensues from distorted guitars, and then, one minute later the track ends – an intro into a dark time. Next up, “Deja Vu” sounds even more sinister, mixing cutting edge metal guitar, a crazy funked up bass, and punkish, almost thrash metal drum action. The band shouts some words, yelling into their mics – but all I could make out was “What the F is going on?” So far, this band reminds me of a mesh between Jane’s Addiction, White Zombie, Black Flag, maybe the Cramps, The Bauhaus and other early goth/punk bands mentioned before. Quite a ride so far! On a side note, I was happy to hear some great ride cymbal sounds from the drummer. Next is “Morbid” which was described before, has a sound and style that’s very classic. I would say the band reminds me of Blondie, Missing Persons, early Cure, Sisters of Mercy and Bauhaus. Next is “Wendigo” which for those who don’t know, is a mythical creature that originated from folklore stories of the First Nations of the Plains and Great Lakes region of America. Musically, the band pulls back on the dark, punk stuff just a bit, and takes on a more hard rock edge to this track. Drums were performed by Jeff Friedl (A Perfect Circle/The Beta Machine). The album was produced and mixed by Matt McJunkins (A Perfect Circle/The Beta Machine) at Secret Hand Studiosand also produced and mastered by Brince. Recorded atEOA Digital by Brince.
“Desert Punks” takes the best of many styles – punk, goth and hard rock. The band’s forceful singing on this track has a commanding, theatrical presence about it. “Vandal Hearts” features what sounds like Native American chanting, but not in the traditional sense. The band’s approach here has a straightforward hard rock structure, with a familiar verse / chorus / verse structure and a searing guitar solo as icing on the cake. The words on the chorus sounds like “I hate you” as it is being sung, but I can’t say for sure. Moving on is “Nuke ‘Em All.” Now, I can’t say I’m for nuking anybody, or any country – I think the whole idea of having nukes is pathetic and stupid. But political opinion aside, the band brings to this song a story like quality and deep, cutting edged guitars. Overall, the band sounds pretty raw and live on this track. Very old school punk rock with dark, destructive lyrics. The band’s last song is called “Priscilla” – quite a title contrast from most of the other song titles, but nonetheless, this song is one of the band’s shortest, not to mention most personal. Sparsely played, Vicki yells at herself – “wake up, wake up.” Like some out of body experience, she tells her bodily self that “demons are falling out of the sky” and that the world is ending. No real singing to speak of here, just layers of “demon like” voices mixed in with Vicki telling this other person, who again I assume is herself -“wake up!” before it’s too late. Like I said, this album is quite a ride. If you like the dark, disturbing and shadowy sounds of goth, hard metal and punk, you should enjoy the sounds of Vickis Dream.
