South African brutal death metal bulldozer, Vulvodynia,are set to release their latest offering Mob Justice on the 30th June 2019 through Lacerated Enemy Records. The Metalist’s WaydeFlowerday caught up with Duncan Bentley (vocalist) ahead of their Mob Justice album launch to be held at Rumours Rock City in Johannesburg on the 3rd May 2019.
You ended 2018 on quite a high note by announcing a new album as well as achieving 1 Million streams on Spotify alone. For a band in a genre as niche as yours, especially coming from South Africa, what do you think you did differently to attain this level of recognition?
We started Vulvodynia as a band to just try and get our music recorded and heard. From there it just snowballed and with all the support we got we knew we had to make sure to give it our all with every release forward. We love blending multiple genres into our writing and I think that exposed a lot of our fans to some heavier genres that we truly enjoy and are inspired by. Prior to last year there has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes to be able to afford to go on tour. Touring and meeting the fans have been supporting us since our first EP Lord of Plagues has been a huge honor and made it possible for us to be able to make this release of Mob Justice the best album we have released yet. Without the support from the listeners we wouldn’t be where we are today and we are truly grateful for everyone we have met along the way. In the end we’re just trying to make music we love and hope people will be able to enjoy.
Speaking of the new album, how is the recording and production going? Is the end in sight yet?
The entire album Mob Justice has been completed and has been sent off to press. The album was recorded at Chris van der Walt’s Tampora Studios, it was mixed by Andrew Zinc and Connor Reibling at Hollowed Studios, and it was Mastered by Yannick St-Amand. The album will be released by Lacerated Enemy Records on the 30th June 2019.
The title of the new album is Mob Justice – given the current social and political situations around the world, it seems like a very fitting time for such an album title to be utilized. Do you feel a sense of responsibility to comment on worldwide issues, and address them through your music?
Yes we do, with this new release we wanted to expose some of the horrors we face in our day to day lives living in Africa.
It seems nowadays that you spend more time abroad than you do back home in South Africa – what are your touring essentials (besides instruments)? What is the one thing you would refuse to go on tour without?
Weed.
With all the touring we just spoke of, you’ve gotten to share the stage with some of the biggest names in metal. Which act would you consider to have been the biggest honour to share the stage with?
This is a hard one for us to decide on. We have had the opportunity to share the stage with so many extremely talented musicians. If we had to choose one it would be sharing the stage with Despised Icon on a full tour last year. Close behind, Suffocation/ Whitechapel.
Looking at your guys’ growth, it is almost too easy to assume that you’ve “made it”. What would be the crowning achievement for you? What would be the one thing you want to achieve that would let you sit back and say, “Goddammit! We did it!”.
It would be to play every metal festival and country in the world.
Lastly, do you have any advice for younger bands that want to follow in your footsteps?
Don’t skimp on things like production/artwork and gear – work hard and never doubt yourself. Look at how the bands you aspire to be like, go about doing things and make sure you are putting out the same quality.
Interviewed by:
Wayde Flowerday
Answered by:
Duncan Bentley (Vocalist)
Artwork by:
Jakub N. Rusek