Twenty years ago, composers on Nightjar, Jeremy Rose and Nick Garbett were surfers, housemates, bandmates. A surfer vibe infuses their music: being at ease and alert, sitting in the swell of a magnificent immense natural force, until the wave comes. Ride it as gracefully and as far as possible.
The Vampires have been hot-housed in Sydney. Expanses get in our bloodstream, they are visceral. It’s in the music. Think of the 35 year long reverberations of The Necks.
The Vampires grew into their own music listening intently to The Necks. Individual members of The Vampires play with individual Necks: Tony Buck on Nick Garbett’s 2019 The Glider; and Lloyd Swanton with Jeremy Rose and Hamed Sadeghi in the improvising trio Vazesh. Chris Abrahams was a compelling collaborator to make music with– which is now Nightjar.
The Vampires, here in lush vamping form, meet the singular acute bright and tender touch of Chris Abrahams.
Together since 2005, The Vampires have forged their sound from their travels and musical lives in jazz, improvisation free-diving and the vibrant cultural bleed of bands driven by Caribbean, Persian, Indian, South Korean, West African and Latin beats. The compositions have always been postcards to other Vampires from wherever they were, but have gradually shifted from the early jazz soloing into longer stretches building texture and tone, buoyed on irresistible riffs.
