Vant (band)

Vant
Vant at Boston Music Rooms by Paul Hudson[1]
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Alternative rock[2] punk rock[2] garage rock[2]
Years active	2014–present
Labels	Parlophone,[3] Dumb Blood[4]
Members	Mattie Vant
Website	wearevant.co.uk

Vant (stylised as VANT) are a British indie rock band formed in 2014 by frontman and songwriter Mattie Vant. In 2015, Vant signed to Parlophone Records.[3] The band announced an "indefinite hiatus" in 2017 to take effect at the end of their Last Days of Punk tour during November. The band released a new song, "Propaganda Machine" in December 2018 and teased new music in 2019.[5]

Background

The band came together in London, while Mattie was working at Dalston venue, Birthdays.[6] Originally from Seaham, Mattie has played in various bands, formulating the style for Vant while living in Brighton.[7]

A lot of Vant's lyrical themes deal with political issues, with Mattie citing inspiration from global issues; "My concerns are worldwide things. It's not strictly centred around the UK - it's wars, global conflict, global warming".[7] With this philosophy, Vant prefer to refer to their origin as 'Planet Earth' - rather than associate with a particular nationality. Of this issue, Mattie says "I don't believe in borders, I was born on Planet Earth".[8] This is evidenced in the lyrics to "Birth Certificate".[9]

Vant toured throughout 2015 and have made appearances with Royal Blood,[10] toured on DIY Magazine's NEU tour with The Big Moon and InHeaven[11] and appeared at several festivals through the summer, including Reading and Leeds Festivals,[12] Secret Garden Party[13] and Dot To Dot Festival. They started 2016 with an appearance on BBC Radio 1's Future Festival[14] and toured the UK and Europe through the beginning of the year. They continue into festivals through the summer, including Glastonbury Festival, 2000 Trees, Japan's Fuji Rock Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, plus one off dates with Biffy Clyro and Catfish and the Bottlemen.[15]

The songs "The Answer", "Parking Lot", "Fly by Alien", "Karma Seeker" and "Peace & Love" have all received premieres on BBC Radio 1 as Annie Mac's 'Hottest Record in the World'.[16][17][18][19][20] The song "Parking Lot" was featured in the trailer for the video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2017. The track also appears on the game's soundtrack.

The band released their debut album Dumb Blood on 17 February 2017. It peaked at number 46 on the UK Albums Chart.^[citation needed]

On 2 October 2017, the band announced via a Facebook post they were taking an "indefinite hiatus". With the announcement the band also declared their upcoming tour, "The Last Days of Punk" to be their final and announced a final mini-album called Talk like Thunder.[21]

On 18 November 2018, exactly a year after the band's last show, a video was posted on the band's social media pages of lead singer Mattie as well as their profile pictures being turned into a black screen and the stylization of the band's name being changed to lower case.[22] On 3 December those signed up to the band's mailing list were sent a link to a new song entitled "Propaganda Machine".[5] The song showed the band turning away from punk rock sound of their previous music and turn towards a hip-hop/pop inspired sound. On 12 April the band released the EP Exoskeleton, which featured "Propaganda Machine" and the previously released single "Thank Lucifer".[23]

Band members

Studio

• Mattie Vant – vocals, various instruments (2014–present)

Live

• Mattie Vant – lead vocals, guitar (2014–present)
• Alice Costelloe - bass guitar (2019–present)
• Ed Hayes - guitar (2019–present)
• Adam Gammage - drums (2019–present)

Past live members

• Billy Morris – bass guitar (2014-2017)
• Henry Eastham – guitar (2014-2017)
• Martin Söderin - drums (2014-2015)
• David 'Greenie' Green – drums (2015-2017)

Discography

Studio albums

• Dumb Blood (2017)
• Conceived in the Sky (2020)
• Extinction Ballads (2021)

Mini albums

• Talk Like Thunder (2017)

EPs

• Karma Seeker (2016)
• Exoskeleton (2019)

Singles

Title	Release date
"Parasite"	22 April 2015[24]
"The Answer"	24 July 2015[25]
"Parking Lot"[26]	30 September 2015[27]
"Fly-By Alien"	10 February 2016[28]
"Karma Seeker"	21 June 2016[29]
"Peace & Love"	11 October 2016[30]
"Do You Know Me?"	1 January 2017[31]
"Thank Lucifer"	25 January 2019[32]
"Propaganda Machine"	22 February 2019[33]
"Exoskeleton"	12 April 2019[34]

References

1. "Vant". Flickr - Photo Sharing!. 21 January 2015.
2. "VANT on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
3. "Artists - Parlophone records". Parlophone.co.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
4. "Vant (2) - Parasite". Discogs.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
5. "vant - 03.12.18". Facebook.com. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
6. "Counteract - Birmingham's Online Music Magazine - Music news and reviews from the West Midlands". Counteract - Birmingham's Online Music Magazine.
7. "Turn it up: The no-nonsense bolshiness of Vant". Diymag.com. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
8. Emmie Morris. "Interview: Vant". The Independent.
9. Vant - BIRTH CERTIFICATE (DEMO). YouTube. 25 March 2015.
10. "Royal Blood". Songkick.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
11. "The Big Moon, INHEAVEN and Vant to play DIY Presents… The Neu Tour 2015". Diymag.com. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
12. "Vant". Reading Festival. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
13. "Secret Garden Party 2015". Songkick.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
14. "Annie Mac - Future Festival 2016 - BBC Radio 1". BBC. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
15. "VANT Gigography, Tour History & Past Concerts – Songkick". Songkick.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
16. "BBC Radio 1 - Annie Mac, Vant and Alessia Cara, Vant - The Answer". BBC.
17. "BBC Radio 1 - Annie Mac, Vant + Mabel, Vant - Parking Lot". BBC.
18. "VANT - Fly-By Alien, VANT + Mystery Jets, Annie Mac - BBC Radio 1". BBC. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
19. "VANT - Karma Seeker, VANT + Power Down Playlist, Annie Mac - BBC Radio 1". BBC. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
20. "BBC Radio 1 - Annie Mac, Vant + Power Down Playlist, Vant - Peace & Love". BBC.
21. "VANT on Twitter". Twitter.
22. "Vant - 18.11.17 one year of silence and noise 18.11.18". Facebook.com. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
23. "VANT have debuted a new single, check out 'Exoskeleton'". Dork. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
24. "PARASITE - Single". Itunes.apple.com. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
25. "THE ANSWER - Single by VANT on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
26. "Vant (2) - Parking Lot". Discogs.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
27. "PARKING LOT - Single". Itunes.apple.com. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
28. "FLY-BY ALIEN - Single by VANT on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
29. [1] ^[dead link‍]
30. "PEACE & LOVE - Single by VANT on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
31. "Do You Know Me? - Single by VANT on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
32. "Thank Lucifer - Single by VANT on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
33. "Propaganda Machine - Single by VANT on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
34. "Exoskeleton - Single by VANT on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.

External links

• Official website