“The whole point is that now we’re having a discussion about politics in an interview,” explains VANT’s Mattie. “If I’d just written about my ex-girlfriend, we’d just be talking about how heartbroken I was and what’s the point of that? It doesn’t change anyone’s life. It’s very self-indulgent.” The band have been causing ripples since the release of ‘Parasite’ early last year and their impact has been growing every since. “The only reason we can get on stage and not feel like a complete and utter joke, is that we deliver something that we feel is important. When people leave, they’ll have had a great time but they might also have a realisation about something that maybe they hadn’t looked at before. It might impassion them in some to go down a path that might change something for the better. We could have the next left wing prime minister in our audience for all we know and that’s why you do it. You try and make a difference in some way. That’s what fuels us, drives us as a band and it’s the reason we’ll never give up.”
It’s taken a while for people to properly get their heads around the band’s “mature-punk.” Their desire to start a conversation, rather than simply burn down the establishment, has come into focus with every release and with a debut album on the horizon, VANT are set to crystallise.
[sc name=”pull” text=”We could have the next left wing prime minister in our audience for all we know.”]
“The whole album, every single line of every single song, means something important. Not just to us as a band but in terms of the way we see the world. It’s a marker of where we are with humanity in this moment of time, that’s what all my favourite bands did. The Clash sung about ‘this is what’s happening at this moment’ and that’s the point of the record.” The songs are all very direct. “There are a couple of moments where it’s a little more open for interpretation but a lot of the time, if I feel really impassioned about something, naturally my way of reliving frustration at an event is to vent my anger through songwriting and make it into a positive thing. Something that can open discussion about important subjects rather than just being at home and getting pissed. It’s just coping with it in a different way and I’ m very lucky I’m able to do that. I hope I speak for a lot of people, and for a lot of working class people especially because, lets be honest, there’s not a lot of working class bands anymore. It’s a struggle. Life is a struggle but the thing that got me through when I was younger was hearing kids talking about the shit that I agreed with. Now we want to take that mantle and do the same thing.”
Ahead of their album, VANT have a couple of huge tours with You Me At Six and Nothing But Thieves. The potential, huge. “Those shows are the biggest we’ve ever done and will hopefully give us a lot of exposure and a new audience. We do have plans for our own headline dates but we have to keep hush at the moment. We just want to get out and play to as many people as we can. And speak to people. It’s really inspiring. It’s direct contact now. Everyone seems to agree with our core values, and that’s important. It feels like its validation to continue to do what you’re doing, when you can see a direct impact. It’s reassuring to see that so many other people share the same values and principles that you do. It gives you hope. You’ve got to have that reminder to keep going. You don’t want to succumb to conformity, in any way. We’re disrupting the status quo of rock at the moment and those little moments are what remind you that it’s worthwhile and you need to continue doing it. Hopefully the more we do it, the more attention we get. Hopefully more bands will do the same thing. We’d love to get to a point where we could do things outside of music that could have positive impact but you’ve got to get there first. You’ve got to create stability in your own life before you can start changing other peoples. The message is important but it’s what we do next that’s really important. I can’t wait for the future, what’s left of it anyway.” [sc name=”stopper”]