The Wickedly Raging Villain Of The Story

The Wickedly Raging Villain Of The Story

Villain Of The Story is metalcore collective raging out of Minnesota and ready to breakthrough in an epic way.  The band has appeared on the Vans Warped Tour in their hometown and recently completed The Lifelines North American Tour with I Prevail and Wage War.  Wrapped in Vines, Covered in Thorns is the name of the full length debut for Stay Sick Recordings, jammed packed with superbly impassioned songs that should definitely garner the band a good deal of recognition.  We recently caught up with lead screamer Christian Grey to find out more about this wickedly impressive new band on the rise.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Villain Of The Story, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Christian Grey and I scream haha, we’ve been together for about 3 years.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We’re mostly based out of Minneapolis Minnesota, however our drummer Nick is from Chattanooga Tennessee. Our music scene is kind of weird, because the scene itself has definitely lost the spark it used to have years ago, but at the same time the amount of amazing bands has increased. There are tons of really talented bands ranging from all styles. I’d definitely recommend checking out In Search of Solace, Rally Cap, Nanashi, and even though they’re not a band anymore, The Following was great.

How did you wind up signing to Stay Sick Recordings?
I reached out to Fronz in early 2015, he liked the video I sent him but wanted to see how much more we could develop on our own, as at the time we had only just released our EP. We ended up winning our state’s Battle of the Bands for Warped Tour that year so after our set we met up with Fronz and went over what we’re looking for, what they’re looking for, and ultimately we weren’t quite ready. So we spent the next year writing/recording a full length album, which we sent his way and he was stoked. He had us meet up with Mike Milford at the Stay Sick tent at Warped Tour 2016 and signed a contract a few months after.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Wrapped in Vines, Covered in Thorns title?
When we finished the record I went through the lyrics of the song ‘Wrapped in Vines, Covered in Thorns’ and knew that this song had the message I wanted to express as an overarching theme. It’s basically about how since we’re born we are just spoon fed lies, and how as we grow older most of us don’t take a second to question it all. If we do, it seems “too crazy” that our lives are built on these lies, so we dismiss everything as a conspiracy without investigating anything. This is why the artwork shows the “truth” as a cube wrapped in vines with thorns, because the truth is literally right in front of us but we don’t even try reaching for it. When in reality those vines aren’t even really there, they’re “just an illusion” to make us not even ponder the thought that there’s more to these “conspiracies” that we may believe. The artwork visually represents the concept very well, props to Sergei from Bro Designs for creating exactly what I had in my mind haha.

Select any two songs from Wrapped in Vines, Covered in Thorns and what inspired the lyrics.
Logan (my brother/our singer) wrote a majority of the lyrics, but speaking on his behalf our song “Promise Me” is about his grandfather passing away and what he experienced during that time. Our song “A Message for Mr. Rascal” is all about the people who consistently spread negativity through social media. There’s literally always someone who feels a desire to spew hate towards others haha. That song is pretty much just putting them in the spotlight to show how living with that mindset has no purpose. Energy should be spent on fixing their inner issues rather than pushing it on others.

How did your recent tour with I Prevail go and what were some of the highlights?
The entire experience was amazing. From playing to sold crowds to loading in/out every day with the tour package was so fun. The tour just had so many great people involved. Hard to narrow it down but I feel the best parts were being able to play in Canada for the first time & just meeting all the people after the shows. Interacting with fans in new places was the greatest feeling. Although the end of tour party in Sioux City was pretty rad too haha.

What could one expect from a live Villain Of The Story show?
High energy from start to finish. We’re all about making people feel that adrenaline rush. We switch up our songs a bit in a live setting (vocally speaking) so it gives off a really hyped up vibe. We also don’t take ourselves too seriously so we mess around from time to time haha.

Any strange or scary happenings on the road or at a show?
Our drive into Canada was insane. There was a massive snow storm in the mountain range we were going to pass through to get to the border, it forced us to go like 6 hours out of our way and enter in through a different spot. Even then after we finally entered Canada the snow & wind picked up to where we were driving like 30 miles an hour on curving mountain roads haha. Eventually it got so bad we couldn’t see anything, so I slowed down to 20 mph and there was a massive elk as tall as the van standing RIGHT on the shoulder, basically in our lane. It turned it’s head and you could see it’s breath in the air haha. Was such a crazy drive.

What was the experience like playing the Vans Warped Tour and how many days did you play?
We only played the Minnesota date back in 2015 from winning the Battle of the Bands for our state. It’s still one of the coolest experiences we’ve had as a band though, but much has change with our live show since then so we wish we could’ve played it now vs then haha. From loading in to playing to hanging at the merch table, it’s still one of the most memorable experiences we’ve had for sure.

If the music of Villain Of The Story was a donut, what kind would it be and why?
A chocolate doughnut with sprinkles because some of it’s dark and some of it’s sweet. *snaps & points*

What’s up next for Villain Of The Story?
Right now we’re just trying to put together some more tours. We all have a lot going on in our personal lives at the moment so we’re trying to balance everything, but we definitely are beyond eager to hit the road again. We’ve been working on some new music here & there, so stoked to start recording them.

Any final words of wisdom?
Formal education can make you a living, self education can make you a fortune.

Villain Of The Story is:
Christian Grey – Vocals
Logan Bartholomew – Vocals
Sean Wayne – Bass
Cody Pauly – Guitar
Michael Ivers – Guitar
Nick Totton – Drums

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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