Interviews

 

EIGHTEEN VISIONS

 

Words: Rod Yates

 

These days, when a band claims to be influenced by ’80s metal acts such as Skid Row and Def Leppard, you can’t help but wait for the punchline. Though there’s nothing wrong with either band – only a deaf person would fail to recognise Hysteria’s status as arguably the greatest pop-metal album ever – such has been the ridicule heaped upon that scene that anyone who dares to regard it with the slightest bit of reverence is accused of being “ironic”. Just ask The Darkness.

For Californian quintet Eighteen Visions, though, it’s an even harder sell. Prior to releasing their third album Vanity in 2002, theirs was a sound built on the barked vocals and swirling, concrete-heavy riffing that are the calling cards of the metalcore scene. Vanity, however, fashioned a pink cover and contained hints of melody and even, whisper it, the odd ballad. Its follow-up, 2004’s Obsession, took things a dozen steps further, factoring in giant choruses, melodic vocals and an image that harked back to the sleaze and excess of the glam scene, albeit with a modern, darker update. The evolution continues on their just released self-titled album.

 

“With the new album there’s a lot of throwback sing-a-long choruses that are reminiscent of some of the big albums you heard in the ’80s, like Skid Row’s first album and Hysteria by Def Leppard,” says Hart. “And of course Nirvana came and tore all that stuff apart, and though we love Nirvana, they kind of killed that whole genre of music. But we’re the type of band that might be the bridge to the gap between grunge and flashy pop-rock.”

 

All of which must be terribly confusing for those fans who sided with the band in their early days.

 

“There is no such thing as an average Eighteen Visions fan anymore,” explains Hart. “It used to be like, your typical metal-hardcore or Goth looking kids. We’ve still got some of those around, but now we just have regular people who are just there to have a good time, and it’s awesome.”

 

As Hart tells it, the reason for the band’s seismic shift in direction is no deeper than the fact that they simply enjoy playing more melodic music. Despite their penchant for wearing make-up and referencing Skid Row as an influence, he immediately shuts down the suggestion that Eighteen Visions might be a modern day glam band, instead saying that what they do is “flashy and has a lot of energy”. And he’s right: while the quintet’s new album is so polished you can practically see your reflection in its songs, it still has a certain grit to its riffs that betrays the band’s heavier past.

 

“I’ve always been very open-minded as far as the type of music that I listen to,” relates Hart. “When you’re 16 years old you say to yourself, ‘This is the way I’m going to be for the rest of my life.’ And then you get older and you go back to your roots, and growing up my roots were Guns N’Roses, Metallica and Skid Row.”

One element of that era Eighteen Visions haven’t adopted is its excess. No-one in the band smokes, drinks or takes drugs, meaning that the wilful destruction of PlayStation controllers is about as close as they come to reliving the destructive past of their idols.

 

“I’d see really big bands back in the late ’80s and they were selling millions of records and having parties and there were chicks and a lot of drugs, but when I finally got to be the age where it was like, wow, I might be able to make it doing music, all that stuff was kind of wiped out,” says Hart. “But the reason we tour is not for drugs or women and money, the reason we’re on tour is to get our music out there. And we’re more focused on putting on a great show and sounding great than we are with the perks of being in a band.”

 

 

 

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