Birmingham's The VCR making most of comeback - unsigned column
Unlike the technology they share a name with, Birmingham’s The VCR have come back for a second crack at it.
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.
