Introducing Forever Vendetta

Words and photograph by Heather Fitsell of February Photography

There are only five bands that I will travel unlimited miles to see, one of those is Forever Vendetta. I came accross the band by chance when I travelled to Swansea four months ago to see another of the aforementioned bands. Whilst the headline band that night cancelled, Forever Vendetta opened for the other two bands scheduled to play and quite simply dominated.

Chris Stryker’s vocals ooze 80’s rock and clearly emulate the likes of Whitesnake’s Dave Coverdale and Def Leppard. These distinctive vocals are backed by a band with a maturity that belies the infancy of Forever Vendetta. Formed at a Swansea bus stop back in November 2008 when lead guitarist KC recruited drummer KB to join him in a new band venture with his old band mates, bassist L.A and Chris on vocals. Last to join the band was rhythm guitarist Pete aka Skwair, who after randomly agreeing with KC that the best Hardcore Superstar album was their first release, was allowed to join the band. They have been gigging for less than a year and have already supported the likes of Hardcore Superstar, Tigertailz and LA Guns and released their first EP. Lead guitarist KC has revealed exclusively to Clink that they are about to embark on their first co-headline tour of the UK at the end of April.

What makes Forever Vendetta work is that they each bring different musical influences to the band, from L.A.’s obsession with Bon Jovi, to Pete’s love of the Wildhearts and KC’s hankering after a bit of Gary Moore. The band blend this together and as Chris screams “You suck the life right out of me” during ‘My Ecstacy’ the rest of Forever Vendetta blast your ear drums with a contemporary take on classic rock. Whilst their EP track ‘Young, Free and Crazy’, makes me want to go out and buy a cowbell so I can become a band member for the two beats right before the chorus kicks in, I think the crazy part is perhaps best left to KB who holds the record for the fastest swear word on Welsh radio at eight seconds and enjoys nothing more than skinny dipping in the Bristol Channel after a gig.

The band certainly has youth on their side and also what many fledgling bands lack and record label marketing departments demand – image. This image is not something just put on when on stage, but it is who each band member is off stage and whilst this might cause some elderly members of the Swansea community to consider KC the spawn of Satan, to me it adds honesty to the band, which is reflected in their music. This is best shown in their signature track ‘Unbreakable’ which has me punching my fist in the air from the opening bars and as the bridge breaks the band down to build up the individual parts from bass and drums to guitars and vocals, I cannot contain the urge to scream “unbreakable” at the top of my lungs with every last breath that I have, as we launch back into the rock powerhouse that is Forever Vendetta. Chris tells us that “This life’s worth living” and with bands like Forever Vendetta to listen to and watch live on stage he is not wrong.

Download their first three track EP for FREE by clicking here
Catch Forever Vendetta on their first co-headline tour of the UK between 22nd April and the 2nd May; check out www.myspace.com/forevervendetta for more details soon.

This post is tagged Chris Stryker, Forever Vendetta, Kb Stephens, KC Leigh, Peter Holmes