Geoff Thorpe – VICIOUS RUMORS

November 05 2011

VICIOUS RUMORS’ founder Geoff Thorpe has a kindness and a passion like no other, so it was a great pleasure to have a chat with the dude under hot Parisian sun, outside of the venue The Bataclan. The band, founded in 1979 in the Bay Area, is back and released in March his latest effort “Razorback Killers”. They didn’t missed the opportunity to replace RIOT as an opening act for the European tour of HAMMERFALL, and to also defend their career on the stage, in front of young audiences not even born when they started, back in the days. Note to some young bands : another attitude and humility lesson from the past…

Fab : You’re replacing RIOT as a support act for HAMMERFALL for this long tour. How does it feel?
Geoff Thorpe (Guitars): It’s incredible. You know, we were already scheduled to do the part two of the tour, the last twelve shows. And, I’ll tell you, I’ve known Mark (Reale – RIOT) for a long time, we played with them, oft and on, and most recently in Japan. In 2007 we did a big couple of nights together, VICIOUS RUMORS and RIOT… So, we’ve done shows with them throughout the years.

I know Mark and I was so jealous when I saw all the dates they had: twenty dates and we had only twelve. This is like the “magical mystery tour”, where every Metal band wants to be on. It’s North, South, West and Eastern side of Europe, with such a gracious and fantastic band like HAMMERFALL.
They’re very professional, they put on a great show every night, and you know, inviting us to be here for just the last twelve shows was an honor. But when RIOT canceled, when I got the call, it’s the best tour we’ve ever been on in our 33 year career. And we’ve been on a lot of great tours, you know? They were all great, but this one is so much longer, covers all of Europe, so, it’s very exciting man (big smile on his face). We’re having the time of our lives right here with the guys, we’ve been going out and celebrating after the shows and all the bands… They’re very different from each other, but work together extremely well to make one great show, with four different bands, all giving you their soul and passion, and a different type of Heavy Metal art. VICIOUS RUMORS just had the busiest year of its career. At the end of this tour, we will have done 92 shows in Europe. And before, the most we’ve ever done was 35, and that was a good year, you know. We just had a great year, we’ve seen so many of our old fans come back, and with a whole bunch of new ones. It’s been a celebration every night!

Fab: Your latest album called “Razorback Killers” was released on March 28th in Europe. How is the feedback so far?
Geoff Thorpe : This album has the best response we’ve had since the “Digital Dictator” album (1988). We found some magic, we worked very hard, and people really related to what we did on this record. The main thing was the addition of Brian Allen on lead vocals. His style really was able to mesh with ours to recreate the back catalog and also take VICIOUS RUMORS into a new direction. When I listen to this album, I hear all the classic elements of VICIOUS RUMORS with, at the same time, a sort of energy of today, and a production of today.

So, we’re very proud of the record, and very excited. Rock Hard Germany named us “album of the month” the month it came out, and the last time we did that was for “Digital Dictator”. So, to do it in 1988, and then do it again in 2011 is pretty exciting. That’s the kind of reaction we got across the board in Europe. We started a new relationship with SPV (Record Label), this is the first album on our contract. They’re behind the band, and pushing the band. And right now, I’m proud to say, I’m proud to sit here in Paris and tell you that we are SPV’s most active band. It’s really exciting. I devoted my entire life to Heavy Metal, and for me to have the best year of my career at fifty-years old… I’m pretty happy about it.

Fab: Is there a special explanation about the title and the cover art? Or just that VICIOUS RUMORS is back to destroy everything…
Geoff Thorpe : That’s what it was man, we’re coming back to destroy the world now, that’s exactly what it was. And we’re using the balls as our weapon. We just felt a fire and an energy… We had plans, we always set goals to do these things and be this busy, but I don’t think that any of us could have predicted that the album would have blown up this much. It just went up and up an up. We started in small clubs, and then we came back in the summer, we started playing big festivals, and that led to this incredible tour. So, if you were in an insurance meeting, and that you look at graphs, it just going up and up…

Fab: Songwriting wise, and recording wise, what were the main changes or differences compared to your former albums?
Geoff Thorpe : The thing is there was no experimentation really. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. We know exactly what we wanted to do. I started this album with riffs, and Larry (Howe – Drums) and I get together and worked out the riffs, the grooves and the beats. And from there, it just evolves into songs. We’re working as a team, even if I’m the main writer. But I think that knowing what we wanted to do, to make a classic VICIOUS RUMORS album, with power and energy and dynamics. And we’ve been working with Juan Urteaga and he’s a big part of what helped us to excel. I’m giving him so much credit. He really knows the music and how to make the records sound powerful. We have a very good working relationship, we can communicate very well in the studio. It’s really easy for me to have what I want out of him. I could almost not say a word and he’d have it almost 90% of the times. He’s that good. He recently did the MACHINE HEAD album, and everyone from TESTAMENT to NIGHT RANGER. He lives in the bay area and we’re preparing right now to go into the studio for a new album. Already (laughter).

Fab: it’s your tenth studio album. Was it a milestone for you? Have you planned something special about it?
Geoff Thorpe : Absolutely. VICIOUS RUMORS had been underground for so many years that people think that I’m disappointed (about their success, their career), that I didn’t get enough, but it’s such the opposite. I can’t tell you how fortunate I feel to live my whole life and living my dream, playing Heavy Metal for 33 years. I just feel thankful that we had such a long run. The thing is I have an eye for surrounding myself with talented people. If I didn’t had all these great players around me, I couldn’t do it. But luckily in the bay area, there’s so much incredible musicians that comes out of there. It’s just one of these hot spots in the world. Now that we’ve hit this milestone of ten albums, I guess the only thing I can say is that, anybody can do ten albums, let’s see if we can do twenty (serious smile).

Fab: After all these years, where do you dig your inspiration?
Geoff Thorpe : Mostly life. When you have a band that has not been around this long as VICIOUS RUMORS, we’ve seen it all in this band. We’ve seen birth, death, divorce, marriage, more divorce, kids… We’ve seen it all man. In addition to all these incredible tours we’ve been on, the adventures we’ve done over all these years, there’s enough fuel there for a million songs.

Fab: You’re in this business for a long of time now. What’s your analysis? Any advices for surviving amongst the sharks?
Geoff Thorpe : Well, you just need to be a bigger shark. That’s hard for me to give advice because, to be in this industry now… I can see why it’s not for everybody… Lot of people think we’re just out here partying and having a great time, you know, we’re driving all night, we’re giving every ounce of energy onstage, we’re preparing during the day, it’s an enormous amount of work and long hours. But if the thrill of seeing people you don’t know halfway across the world singing your lyrics is enough for you, then it’s worth it. My advice would be unless you’re willing to go all the way, and you love it so much that you don’t wanna do anything else, then don’t do it. Anyway, you have to make worth it yourself.

Fab: You released a video for “Murderball”. Any other videos planned?
Geoff Thorpe : We did some live videos, at the Rock Hard Festival which are on the net. The thing is that, since the album came out, we’ve been on the road, so we really haven’t had time to do anything but all this touring. But I’m doing a lot of videos, documenting a lot of stuff about this tour actually. That could end up somewhere. You never know.

Fab: What are you plans for 2012?
Geoff Thorpe : Definitely go back into the studio, it’s all about a new record for us. We feel so much momentum from 2010 & 2011 that we just want to keep that momentum going. Unfortunately, we had a five years gap between “Warball” and “Razorback Killers”. They were unavoidable gaps, because things that happened in life prevented us to doing it. We’re gonna give everything in our power to try to have a little more consistency now. We feel that we have the right line-up, so, we’re gonna keep going at this pace.