Shannon Wilk – Before we talk about your new album, ‘Ignite The Sky’, I wanted to talk about how you got into singing.
Vicky White – “Well all my family from my mom’s side are musicians or dancers. I grew up with music. My mom is a singer. So that’s how it began. I started singing in some kid competitions. There was a time when I was a teenager when I wasn’t doing anything music-related but I got back to it. I grew up with music and singing so I’ve sang as long as I could remember.”
Shannon – Can you talk about forming Bloody Heels and explain the story behind the name?
Vicky White – “It’s quite a funny story for me, I was almost 16 and I was hanging out at a friend’s place and I was headed home. There was this art school graduation party and I thought I could go there on the way home. I went and I saw Chris, our previous bassist, and I really didn’t like him. I thought he was kind of a douche. But he put some music on, like Def Leppard or Motley Crue, and boom that was it. He had a band already – Gus (Hawk) was the drummer and they had some other guitarists. So I joined the band and then we found Harry (Rivers) through Facebook or something. The name came during one rehearsal when one of our guitarists had new shoes and he had bloody heels. So we thought it was a good name and easy for people to say and remember. We wanted to change the band name before the debut album ‘Through Mystery’ but we stuck with Bloody Heels and I’m glad we did.”
Shannon – Can you describe some of the differences between the writing of your previous album, ‘Through Mystery’, compared to ‘Ignite the Sky’?
Vicky White – “With ‘Through Mystery’, we were all really into ‘80s metal and hair metal so we tried to do a 1987 album nowadays. I feel like it was almost a tribute album to all the bands we loved at the time. We still love those bands and that scene but with ‘Ignite The Sky’ our influences were much wider. I think that’s a big reason why ‘Ignite The Sky’ has such diversity. There are more melodic songs like ‘Healing Waters’ with the sax solo, and more heavy metal songs like ‘Criminal Masterminds’. So I guess we started to think outside the box. We didn’t try to sound like anyone, we just wrote and recorded what we felt at that time.”
Shannon – What were your goals going into the making of “Ignite The Sky”?
Vicky White – “One of the goals was to get signed by a major label. And I’m glad we achieved it by signing to Frontiers Records. With them our music will get more exposure and a lot more people are going to listen to it. That was one of the main goals.”
Shannon – Let’s play a game! I’ll explain a situation and you tell me which song on your new album “Ignite The Sky” best suits the situation.
Vicky White – “Okay, I’m gonna try my best laughs”
Shannon – You are playing in a sold out stadium. What song from “Ignite The Sky” gets everyone singing along?
Vicky White – “I think ‘No Matter’ or ‘Thin Line’ would be a good choice. They have great hooks and great melodies in the choruses so I think those would fit great.”
Shannon – If someone is just finding your band, what song off “Ignite The Sky” do you recommend they check out?
Vicky White – “Hmm. I guess ‘Criminal Masterminds’ would be a good choice because it best represents where the band is now and what we sound like now. We are a bit heavier than other melodic rock bands. ‘Criminal Masterminds’ would be good because it shows all of the elements of our band. Actually ‘Black Swan’ would be a really good song as well because it has great melodies and the heaviness and rawness. I guess I’m choosing two songs for the answers haha.”
Shannon – It’s the 80s’, what song off “Ignite The Sky” is the number 1 hit?
Vicky White – “Alright. I would say ‘Healing Waters’ would do well, I assume, because it has the sax solo and the good hook. I would also say ‘Sugar and Spice’ because perhaps the lyrics in the song are a bit much for 2020 but it would do quite good in the ‘80s because it’s quite a dirty song.”
Shannon – In your eyes, what separates Bloody Heels from other modern rock bands?
Vicky White – “‘Ignite The Sky’ is a bit more dark than most melodic rock albums. The album is not about flowers and parties and the good stuff. It’s about life and the struggles on the road and depression. I guess that would be different from other bands.”
Shannon – What is the story behind the first single released from “Ignite The Sky”, “Criminal Masterminds”?
Vicky White – “The story is not about your normal criminal who might steal something from the store or rob someone, it’s the main evil. Maybe someone from behind the curtain is responsible for the little criminals. That’s what ‘Criminal Masterminds’ is about.”
Shannon – Anything else you’d like to include?
Vicky White – “We want to thank everyone for listening to us and supporting us. I hope you and everyone reading this enjoy the album, ‘Ignite The Sky’ out now via Frontiers Records.”