Vampire Rodents | |
|---|---|
 Vampire Rodents circa 1993, from left to right: Victor Wulf; Andrea Akastia; Daniel Vahnke | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Phoenix, Arizona, US |
| Genres | Experimental rock, sound collage, industrial |
| Years active | 1989–1996 |
| Labels | |
| Past members |
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| Website | facebook |
Vampire Rodents was a sound collage and experimental music ensemble based out of Phoenix, Arizona, although its core members originally came from Canada. The creative nucleus of the project comprised vocalist and composer Daniel Vahnke and keyboardist Victor Wulf. Daniel Vahnke was primarily influenced by 20th-century classical and avant-garde music, whereas Wulf drew from new age, ambient and synth-driven pop music. Their work also dabbled in big band, bebop, musique concrète, industrial, electro, Indian classical and Greek music.
Vampire Rodents debuted with War Music (1991), an album that showcased their knack for dark humor and experimentation with the pop and industrial music format. Premonition (1992), recorded with violinist and cellist Andrea Akastia, revealed the band's artistic ambitious and interest in electroacoustic and ambient music. Considered by some to be the group's magnum opus, Lullaby Land (1993) further expanded the sound with the inclusion of additional musicians, house beats, swing rhythms and world music.
In 1993 Akastia and Wulf ceased to make direct contributions to Vampire Rodents and it became Vahnke's solo project, although he continued to utilize music his former bandmates had recorded previous to their departure. Vampire Rodents embraced an electro-industrial sound informed by orchestral music on Clockseed (1995) with the help of producer Chase and the contributions of numerous musicians already established in the 90s industrial rock scene. The final album, Gravity's Rim (1996), returned to the more aggressive and sardonic nature of past work while emphasizing dense string and horn arrangements backed by drum machine rhythms.
Vampire Rodents' last recordings were made in 1996 when Vahnke was preparing the follow-up to Gravity's Rim. Legal issues with Fifth Colvmn Records unexpectedly halted activity and the project was put on hiatus. After over a decade of inactivity, Daniel Vahnke officially announced his musical retirement and the project's abandonment in 2009. In 2016, Vahnke established an official YouTube page titled Rodentia Productions and began issuing unreleased material with the suggestion that it would be made available for purchase. On November 11, 2017, Vampire Rodents' sixth album, Noises in the Wall, was issued digitally on their official Bandcamp page.