Birmingham's The VCR making most of comeback - unsigned column

The four-piece rockers took their time, thumbed through their back catalogue and shoved what they thought was their best shot at success into the recorder – and these tracks would become the EP Forever, released in April.

And rather than stutter and shudder like the VCR picture quality famously stood up by comedian Michael McIntyre, this VCR - originally named The Van Cortlandt Rangers - have kept pace with more modern equivalents.

“I think we’ve been fortunate in that we’d built up quite a number of songs before taking a break,” said vocalist and rhythm guitarist Ian Rushton. “So now that we're back we've been able to really keep the pace up with new releases.

“Since reforming our outlook has been centred around enjoying what we do and focusing on the music and performances instead of the other things that come with trying to make a success of the band. Ironically, the more we focus on the music over trying to promote it the better the response has been, so we’re in a really great place at the moment.”

It's a philosophical outlook for the band, who originally split in 2015 after four years together and got back together at the beginning of this year. Their prolific pace has also seen them release two singles – Lovesong in August, and the most recent, Castaway, on September 20. It’s been good to sit back and bask in a glory maybe not afforded to them so much first time around, and they shortened the name during that process too.

“We’ve been lucky to be as productive as we have,” Rushton adds, “spending a lot of our time at Muthers Studio in Digbeth recording and writing with support from sound engineer and producer Dave McCabe.

“So far we’ve been blown away by the response to the new releases. Both singles have been played by Alex Noble on BBC introducing WM and Lovesong was given ‘Track of Week’ status on Brum Radio. We’ve had radio play all over the UK and the reviews we’ve had so far have spoken really positively about the music we’re making.”

And Lovesong brought a lovely moment for the band in particular as they were able to put on a headline show at one of their home city’s best small venues.

“As part of the Lovesong single release we headlined The Sunflower Lounge thanks to Birmingham Promoters. The event was our first sold-out headline show and the atmosphere was incredible.

“It was really great to see so many people there to be a part of the event and the reaction from everyone to the new tunes was amazing.”

Joining Rushton in The VCR are drummer Josh Kirby, Joe Ivory on lead guitar and bass master Matt Moxon.

“We first met at school when we were 13 when I saw the band playing in a school assembly,” Rushton recalls. “It totally blew my mind at the time, seeing kids my age performing like this. I knew then that I wanted to be a part of it.

“A couple of weeks later I joined as the singer and spent the following months learning to play guitar - with a lot of support from Joe. We started off playing lots of punk rock and metal covers but as we grew more confident and as I got better at playing guitar we started experimenting more with writing our own music.”

And despite having been busy in the studio already ploughing much of their resources into recording, The VCR don’t plan to stop there. They already have their sights set on more recording time, and those who have been enjoying their return to the limelight might have an even longer project to get excited about by the Christmas period.

“We plan on releasing another couple of singles in 2019 and then possibly our debut album,” Rushton continues. “This would be a compilation of the previous releases along with three or four brand new tracks to see in the new year.”

Those who missed that Sunflower Lounge show will get more opportunities to catch them do their thing later this year too. There’s one big date in particular they wish to tease with us, but are unable to do so quite yet.

So they’ve told fans to keep an eye out on their socials for the big reveal.

“We’re going to be doing a handful of shows in Birmingham throughout the remainder of 2019, as well as the odd show in other cities around the UK. Check out @thevcrmusic on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date.

“We put a lot of energy into our performances and really pride ourselves on that aspect of the band, so it's great to see new faces getting involved and supporting us.

“We’re in discussion with promoters about further gigs around the Second City and we plan on playing as much as we can. We’re also going to be putting on our own release event with some of our other favourite Midlands-based bands joining us, so that should be an epic gig.

“It’s a really exciting time at the moment and there are going to be a lot of big announcements over the next few months so check our social media, give us a follow and be a part of it.”

So The VCR are in no way defunct as we head towards 2020. As they said themselves, watch this space.

Keep an eye on the social media channels above for updates on The VCR’s live shows and future releases. Their previous singles and EP can be heard on their Spotify page.