As a two-piece alternative rock band out of Louisville, KY, Feral Vices has created a sound and feel all their own. Drawing from influences ranging from Queens of the Stone Age to Refused to The Jesus Lizard and even The Dillinger Escape Plan, lead singer and guitarist Alexander Hoagland and drummer Justin Cottner bring a feel to the world of two-piece bands not yet well tread.
How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
Alexander: It's actually a funny story. Technically, Justin never actually joined the band. My previous band needed a drummer for a show and I asked Justin to fill-in and after that show I ended up basically kicking everyone else out of the band and then just kept asking Justin if he wanted to practice. Eventually we just became a two-piece because we never bothered to add anyone else.
Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
Alexander: I've been in a few different bands, some hardcore, a pop band, and the 3 projects that slowly evolved into each other and then into this band. I got into music through church and my family being a really musical family. My church needed someone to play guitar for the youth group and someone to play bass in the main service and I figured, "how hard could it be?" And here we are.
Justin: I got into music by playing drums for my youth group band in highschool. It evolved into playing in different projects with my brother and friends and has lead me to this project years later.
First concert that you ever went to?
Alexander: This is going to be a deep cut for the Christian kids, but my first concert was the Christian group FFH.
Justin: First concert was probably a Winterjam haha.
What's your writing process like?
Alexander: We usually jam out a bunch of songs or pieces of songs and then I started coming up with melodies based upon those and tweak to music to better suit the melody if it doesn't totally work, then words come in and I tweak the melodies and music again based upon that. THEN we go into the studio and do a lot more adjusting with the producer and just being in that zone changes how you feel about things or the tones you get at the studio can change the feel of a song and you have to rework it.
What other artists or songs inspire your music?
Alexander: For me, the biggest influence for the band is Refused. From there, I have a a ton of bands that influence me in a lot of weird ways from music to lyrics so here's a quick little list: Dillinger Escape Plan, Queens of the Stone Age, Starflyer 59, Pedro the Lion, Stavesacre, Neon Horse, Failure, Further Seems Forever, the Jesus Lizard, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Sunny Day Real Estate, and White Lies. Probably even more than that too.
Justin: Them Crooked Vultures have been a huge inspiration to me personally. I just love how they have a raw rock sound and that’s something I strive for us to create.
What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be its own thing?
Justin: With us just us just being a two-piece band, I think we both agree on what you hear on the record, is what you’re going to hear live. We experimented on this record with adding additional guitar but our goal is to not play with tracks live.
Alexander: For sure, we do want the live show to be a bit more of an experience so sometimes we'll change something up a little bit or if we find something a little cooler, we might do that, but the goal is for the record to sound like us live. Best case, we sound great recorded and even better live.
Has the band toured? What has the touring experience been, best shows? Worst Shows?
Alexander: We have! We didn't really get any chance to tour the band early on with us really starting right before COVID so we haven't toured as much as we'd like to. Post-COVID the touring world is just an entirely different animal and it can be hard for bands to tour because there are so many new bands, a lot of venues closed, and people are a little tighter with money these days. That said, we're doing a lot of touring and will keep doing more and more as we can!
Justin: Our best show is definitely opening up for Four Year Strong, Microwave, and Save Face. Microwave is one of my favorite bands so having the opportunity to open for them was very exciting and I am very thankful for that.
Worst show? I’m thankful we haven’t had too many “bad/worst” shows. We’ve definitely played a handful of shows to 1-2 people in the room but we always have a good time talking to other bands and whoever is running sound/door. We try to make the best out of a worst situation because at the end of the day, I just enjoy playing music.
What's up next for the band?
Justin: A lot of touring. We are in the process of finishing up booking for this year, and I’m getting ready to start routing for 2024.
Make sure to follow us on all socials @feralvices to keep up to date with all of our shows and new music!