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Q: What's the history of the band?
A: We have been playing together for as long as I remember, but those were the pre-Vampyrouss days. We've been playing as a two piece band since 2002 and as a four piece since the beginning of 2006.

Q: Who's who in the band?
A: Kazraine is 19, he performs the vocals and writes all Vampyrouss' lyrics. He likes creativity, music and art and dislikes spiders, large bodies of water and hot sticky weather.

Azrael is 21, plays the keyboards and writes all Vampyrouss' music. He likes inventing, Korg keyboards and various winged animals but dislikes non-Korg keyboards, Turkish delight, rain and large dogs.

Bob is the bass player and is 22, he's mostly into being creative and playing/listening to music although he doesn't like the government, wind, liars or bright lights.

The Angel Midst The Storm video shoot

Finally our drummer is Jaman who's 20 and likes Pink Floyd, Sick Of It All and drumming and we all live in and around Bideford.

Q: What's the name of the band and how did you decide on that name?
A: Kazraine started the band with a friend who was heavily into Black Metal and such, and he wanted to call the band Vampyrouss, so we did.

We never asked him why it had to be spelt like that, it just worked. He left the band along with most of the other members but Azrael and Kazraine kept it going, changing it completely into what we always wanted to do, the name still seemed to fit so we kept it and knew no one else would call their band that!

Q: Which three words best describe your music?
A: Gothic, Ambient, Epic.

Q: What's the name of the track you've chosen to demo and what's the story behind it?
A: Angel Midst The Storm. This is probably one of our best known songs, it pretty much sums up what we do, and we have already tried to make it into a video twice. It's about loss and waiting to be reunited with the people or person you care about most.

Q: What do you think of the current music scene?
A: It's alright, we're not really a part of it though. There are some great bands out there, especially the ones who are breaking boundaries experimenting with sound. There are also plenty of great Darkwave acts that we enjoy as well as the extreme music scene in general.

Q: What has been your most memorable moment and why?
A: Getting reactions from our demos and videos in general. We're really proud of how far we've come for such a small band!

Q: Whose records do you have in YOUR collection? Who have you been influenced by? Who would you love to perform with?ΜύΜύ
A: We've been influenced by artists like Mortiis, Theatres Des Vampires, The Morgue, Cradle Of Filth, Vangelis, Brian Eno and The Prodigy. We'd love to perform with Vangelis or somebody like that who has made such a contribution to music over the years.

Vampyrouss: Reflections in the lake

Music in our collective collection goes from Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Power Metal, Darkwave, Punk, Thrash Metal, Ambient, Minimalist, Soundtrack, Prog Rock, Death Metal, anything and everything really.

Q: If you could have three guests to dinner (fictional or factual, dead or alive) who would you invite and why?ΜύΜύ
A: Vangelis, David Icke & Báthory Erzsébet. I think that’s an interesting mixture of people who would have a lot to say and come/came from completely different angles in their lives which would make things a little interesting.

Q: Complete the sentence "When we become famous...."
A: ...we'll change our music completely and deny our roots... (sarcasm by the way...)

Q: Where in Devon is the band based? What are the highs and lows of living in Devon?ΜύΜύ
A: We're based in Bideford, which is a great place to live since we are inspired by nature and the peaceful way of life, but that doesn't go hand in hand with having a great music scene.

Q: In your own words..... go on sell yourself.
A: Vampyrouss fuses dark soundscapes conveying all kinds of emotions alongside catchy melodies and dark lyrics.

Our music is described as "Gothic Romance" as we try to portray real emotions and feelings through fantastical gothic storytelling. We aren't a band that believes we should have guitars, drums etc in every song unless it's relevant and we'd rather create something that feels natural and emotive than songs with no point or meaning.

We also try to do something different with each song, again depending on the emotions we want to portray. We will happily slip from electronic synth driven Darkwave into some sort of Neo-Classical piano and strings, or even spoken word. Who wants to be restricted by formulas when trying to share your emotions?