Biography

The story of the birth of Vex is the story of a gradual transformation and mutation of a sound that has developed organically. The bands germination took place in 1989 in the womb of the fruitful Portsmouth music scene, which has given birth in recent years to cutting edge indie-experimentalists such as THE CRANES. VEX began as the pop oriented AMAZING WINDMILLS who gigged in Portsmouth and in and around London, performing with acts such as THE INSPIRAL CARPETS, CORNERSHOP and THE KITCHENS OF DISTINCTION playing venues in london, Portsmouth and the surrounding countryside. THE AMAZING WINDMILLS released one track called "Deepth" on the local compilation Audio Postcards From The Concrete Nipple and decorded an unreleased single "Epic Movie" before becoming in the words of VEX member Dean Clarke "a one track movie". As the boundaries of THE AMAZING WINDMILLS sound became restrictive the nucleus of the band - John Callendar (drums, vocals) and Dean Clarke (bass, vocals, guitar) - regrouped with new recruits Steve Pilcher (keyboards) and Neil Carter (vocals, guitar) as VELCRO. This new band debuted at a series of residencies at Doc's in late 1995 and produced a number of startling demos, one of which fell into the hands of Ivor Trueman at Ohm Recordings and resulted in a record deal. Another line-up change saw Steve replaced by Richard Wiczkowski (synths, keyboards, vocals) as the bands compositions "Heidelberg Speedmaster" - re-recorded and released as the banda debut single on Ohm - and "Jim Watches Over Us" won the band comparisons with early PINK FLOYD and THE VERVE. However VELCRO's music had developed into something much more astute and challenging, drawing on diverse influences whilst mixing modern technologies and stunning instrumentalist energies. Blending waves of synth, bass and lead guitar to create musical meshes crested with powerful harmonic vocals the songs linked themes that tackle modern and futuristic cultural values. This combination has been called both ultra-pop and free form symphonics and the band in furthering their experimentation have used experimental dance troupes and an offshoot outfit called the Appliance of Science (who take to the stage brandishing vacuum cleaners) to push the envelope of their possibilities and extend the borders of the experiment.

The transformation of the bands sound has been finalised with the recent adoption of the new name VEX which happened after a well known fastener manufacturer objected to the use of Velcro and threatened legal action. VEX have recorded an entire album of stunning sonic sculpture titled Frontiers and New Technologies that will be unveiled in the autumn by the Ohm label. the current EP New Technologies is a taster for this album, with five compositions that encapsulate the trandformation of Lo-Fi bliss into Sci-Fi, Hi-Fi, ultra-pop for the 21st Century....