Victoria K revisits their origins with "LACUNA XXIV," a reimagined version of their debut single, highlighting the band’s growth, evolving sound, and deep connection to their musical journey.
1. "LACUNA"
holds a special place in your journey. What inspired you to rework this track
and release "LACUNA XXIV"?
Lacuna was
one of the first songs I wrote as an artist when I was around 13 years old. To
me, this song marks the beginning of my musical journey and the journey of ‘Victoria
K’. We thought reworking and re-releasing this track was essential in showing
how our sound has changed as well as honouring the band's beginning. It felt
like the perfect time to return our debut single as a segway into new material
we’re currently working on that has a very different sound from where we began!
2. How does "LACUNA XXIV"
differ from the original version on Essentia
in terms of sound and production?
Musically
and structurally, the song is pretty much the same. Our first addition was
bringing on our good friend Jerry Zahija from the band ‘Carmeria’ (who we toured
the album Essentia with) to do some guest guitar parts. He recorded new lead lines
and wrote solo sections that added to the song's musical layers. Personally, I
love what he’s done with the track! The other big change is the re-recorded
vocals. I recorded the original vocal when I was around 13-14 years old, which
is a massive contrast to how I sound on ‘LACUNA XXIV’ as an adult. We wanted to
showcase the band's growth that way and to show how we have matured as artists.
The track was then re-mixed and mastered by ‘Lance Prenc’, with whom we worked
on FROZEN. We absolutely love working with Lance, as we think he’s the right
person to bring out our sound! He’s made LACUNA XXIV Sound so massive in
comparison to ‘Lacuna’, and again, it just highlights the maturity and
evolution of the band's sound.
3. You’ve described this re-release
as part of a journey of reflection and evolution. Can you elaborate on how your
music has evolved since the original "LACUNA"?
Our music has taken so many different paths since LACUNA and Essentia. We always want to experiment and do things a little differently with each release because that’s where all the creativity leads us! There was already a significant change from Essentia to Kore, where we explored more ‘progressive metal’ sounds and Eastern European folk music and focused on the storytelling aspect of the writing. In Essentia, however, it was very much a symphonic album with clear influence from bands like Nightwish. Then, if we move to ‘FROZEN’, we’ve taken more influence from the modern metal and hardcore scene, exploring more industrial and electronic sounds. I think our music has changed a lot with age and with our personal tastes as well. Personally, I love deathcore, electronic music, folk music, and many other genres. When I write and compose, I don’t write for a specific genre or to make the songs ‘heavier’; I like to let the music be whatever it needs to be and serve the song. So with the new music we’re currently working on, I think people will see a lot of different, more modernised textures and flavours that we haven’t tapped into before, with a lot of genre-blending that isn’t strictly ‘metal’ or ‘symphonic’
4. Your music
often explores deep concepts, as seen with Kore’s
Greek mythology inspiration. How does "LACUNA XXIV" fit into this
narrative style?
All of
‘Essentia’ was written about the human condition and human emotions that I had
observed as a child since I was in my pre-teen/early teen years when I wrote
and recorded it. Lacuna specifically was about that missing space or emptiness
that a person feels, but one that they can’t quite pinpoint the cause or how to
fill that void. In terms of narrative, it’s very different from Kore since Kore
was specifically a concept and themed album, which was written for the story.
In saying that, all the songs off Essentia have a story within each of them.
For me, the narrative for ‘LACUNA XXIV’ feels different from the narrative of
Lacuna. It may be that it has changed as I’ve grown and experienced more
things, or it may be a perspective thing; I’m not entirely sure. But I feel
now, as I’ve grown, I’ve found that missing space that I wrote Lacuna about
through my art, my work and the people I surround myself with. So the narrative
for ‘LACUNA XXIV’ is almost like a reflection on the past, looking back and
understanding the journey it took to find what the character in the song was
looking for.
5. What role
does nostalgia play in revisiting and refining tracks like "Humanity"
and "LACUNA" for their "XXIV" versions?
Revisiting
these songs feels very nostalgic; it takes us back to a specific time in our
careers when we were launched into this musical world! There is a very special
feeling and energy that I feel is held within both of these songs and the
‘XXIV’ releases kind of gave these feelings and energies back to ‘Victoria K’
in a way. When reworking the tunes, it brought back particular memories and moments
from before the band was launched, while I was still dreaming of going on tour
and playing with some of the bands I’ve played with now. I was a very different
person then, and reflecting on who that Victoria was and who I am now makes me feel
quite emotional. Everything this band has achieved is because of that young version
of me and the songs she wrote, so I do have a powerful connection to both of
the tunes.
Returning to
these songs feels like a massive full circle; it’s a beautiful and grounding
experience. I wonder if some of the long-time Victoria K fans get this same
sense of nostalgia when listening to the re-released tracks.
6. Your recent
success with the "Frozen" cover shows your versatility as artists. How
do you balance paying homage to your origins while exploring new sounds?
Thank you
so much; we are really proud of how FROZEN has been received! The ‘Victoria K’
sound will always be there because the same people are writing the music, so I
think it’s hard to escape. When exploring new sounds and working with new
textures, I like going all out and seeing what happens! The process of creating
the music is very collaborative between our producer, Lee Bradshaw and myself.
We always refine and finalise the songs together so that partnership alone is a
massive part of the ‘Victoria K’ sound. I’ll often bring new music to him, and
then we work on refining and completing the songs together; Bradshaw is very
similar to myslef, in the sense that he’ll push the boundaries of a song as far
as they can go and draw it back if we need to, so there’s a lot of creative
freedom and experimentation. Again, going into the new material we’re recording
at the moment, we’ve completely gone in a new direction with the sound and have
decided to experiment with not as conventional musical sounds and ideas;
however, the ‘Victoria K’ sound will always be there, this new music still has
the same energy as any other VK record!
7. Victoria K has opened for major acts like Eluveitie, Blind Guardian, and Katatonia. How have those experiences influenced your approach to music, particularly with "LACUNA XXIV"?
Opening for
all those bands and sharing the stage with them was a dream! We’ve learned so
much from them as musicians, performers and professionals in the industry, and
we’re so grateful. For us, seeing how all these completely different bands
explore their own sounds is really inspiring; they all have a particular
signature that defines them as bands and musicians. I want to have this with
VK; I want to explore our niche. Through writing and preparing our new music,
our specific sound is becoming more apparent. So with FROZEN and LACUNA XXIV,
we wanted to segway into that sound. Another thing I found when working with
these major bands was that they sounded larger than life on both their
recordings and in the concert space. When working on ‘LACUNA XXIV’, I wanted to
go in and see how the song could be as large as it could be to help it live up
to its full potential.
That’s why I
went in and collaborated with Jerry Zahija on guitars, so he could add a new
layer of harmony and work with Lance Prenc, who has worked with bands such as Alpha
Wolf and Thornhill. I could see how these creatives could make our music and
LACUNA XXIV sound larger than life and give it a presence it never had before.
8. Looking
forward, your third album is set for 2025. Can you give us any hints about what
to expect and how "LACUNA XXIV" sets the tone for this new era?
‘Expect the
unexpected’ haha. The new album in 2025 is extremely different from any other
Victoria K album we’ve written in the past. We decided not to focus on making a
‘metal’ record and just writing a good album. Similarly, to bother FROZEN and
LACUNA XXIV, we will be working with Lance Prenc again for mixing and
mastering, so I think that plays a massive role in the sound of our band. LACUNA
XXIV is a more refined take on the original track, an evolved and matured song.
In saying that, LACUNA XXIV opens the gate for a more mature, evolved album. The
track is almost like a small glimpse into how we’ve grown and changed as a
band. With the new record, you can expect lots of extreme light and shade and a
lot of industrial and electronic influence. I actually can't describe it when I
think about it. Every song on the new record is an individual, and they all
have a different sonic landscape, but they all tie together quite nicely. It is
definitely the body of work I am the proudest of, and We’re all so hyped to
show you!
9. The Melbourne
metal scene has played a pivotal role in your rise. How does "LACUNA
XXIV" reflect your connection to your roots?
The Melbourne
metal scene is so incredible! It’s such a good community, and everyone is so
connected across all subgenres! I remember when the band started, and we
released Lacuna; I was still very young and new to the metal scene here; I’ve
grown up in it. There are a few people I’m still friends with and still work with
from the scene who have been there from the very beginning, and I’m so grateful
for those people. I have always felt accepted as a musician, and it’s a
community I’m very proud to be a part of. ‘LACUNA XXIV’ honestly reflects, as I
said before, the very beginning of our career as a band. Lacuna was the song
that pushed us into the Melbourne scene in the first place; my roots are very
strongly tied to Lacuna. The song was so accepted and received such good
traction at the time, so as a goth band who had released their first single, we
felt so welcomed! It was also the song that scored us our first show as a band
with Eluveite. So, I owe our whole career to Lacuna, and releasing ‘LACUNA
XXIV’ pays homage to the band's raw beginnings in the scene.
10. What
message or emotions do you hope listeners take away from "LACUNA XXIV,"
whether they’re longtime fans or discovering your music for the first time?
Lacuna has always been a song of hope and longing; for those who have been there from the beginning when we released Lacuna, we hope those messages still rung true in ‘LACUNA XXIV’, or maybe, like myself, this song might have a new meaning for people, and that can be for anyone to decide. For those hearing us for the first time through ‘LACUNA XXIV’, we want it to convey a feeling of hope and determination. Overall, we hope everyone who has heard ‘LACUNA XXIV’ can find their own meaning within the song.
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