Chris Fox (Guitar/Vocals), Pat Mayfield (Bass/Vocals), and Dave Masud (Drums/Vocals) are the Zappa-violence road dogs known as Vampirates. Starting in December of 2023 with the first of many new songs, “WTF?” is a d-beat ripper that blasts you with immediate questions, “What the fuck were we thinking? Rarely opened our mouths to say something ornate. Why did we buy all those Dead Kennedys records if we were never going to read the liner notes?” With their first single back they’re letting you know where their heads are at, this song is almost a thesis statement that you’ll feel throughout all their new songs, “Write something that means something, benefit everyone.” 

This band has seen the decline of society’s compassion for one another as a privileged few race to hoard everything around us. “Can you remember the last time you saw a bridge that wasn’t also someone’s home? For the left behind and down out of luck. While up above, a surplus of vacant second houses. Keep pulling up, but those old bootstraps keep getting stuck.” Between the bands fretboard melting riffs and frenetic fusion drums, there’s a desperate plea to be better to one another, “We need help, this culture is only motivated by the distraction of wealth; not by community, not by progress, not by health. Our social fabric, a cheap plastic caste of itself.”

It can be difficult to feel like you’re doing anything genuine in our current digital age, but with each new single Vampirates puts out I feel their frustration. With titles like “Cancel Culture” and “Wake Up”, there is a palpable anger that these songs convey. I am excited to see what Vampirates will be cooking up till the whole album releases in October, make sure to keep an eye out every month for the next single!