Scottish band ‘Vukovi’ are known not only for their unique sound and powerful vocals, but also for their energetic live shows. They recently opened for Set It Off, touring the UK and mainland Europe in April, 2019. With their upcoming album on the way, Michelle sat down with lead-singer Janine Shilstone to discuss the ‘change of sound’, female representation in the scene and their most memorable show at the Bataclan.  

M: How has tour been so far, now that you’ve almost reached the end of it?

J: Really good. I think the [Set It Off] fans have just been so welcoming and been very good. Both bands Bearings and Set It Off have been very very nice [to us]. 

M: Sooo you’ve been on tour with PVRIS?! 

J: Yes. We’ve done PVRIS. We toured with ONE OK ROCK in December, it was a short tour. And we’ve done a longer tour with PVRIS, it was amazing. I feel like Europeans are just different to [fans in] the UK, they’re just much more passionate and they really just get to know you. After the shows I always try to come out, say hello and talk to them. I feel like since the PVRIS tour we’ve got a big following in Europe and it’s crazy because I feel like when they like our band they are very loyal. That’s what I have noticed about European fans and it’s great.

M: What has been your craziest tour experience?

J: Oh my god, so many. I once cut my finger down to the tendons right before the show. You can’t really see the scar (shows it) but it really went down the to the tendons and it wouldn’t stop bleeding. I felt really faint, but our tour manager wrapped duct tape around it, just to stop the bleeding and when I came off stage he was like ‘We need to take you to a hospital’ because it was really bad. We were walking down the street in Manchester and we had a festival the next day in Scotland, so we didn’t really have time to go to the hospital. This bouncer was like ‘What’s wrong? What’s happened?’. I said I cut my finger quite bad and he said, ‘I’m an old army medic, I’ll stitch it up for you if you want’. I was like cool, yeah, why not so he took us to this beer cellar. This like massive German guy, he’s called Bunny, just stitched up my finger for me. That was mental but I was so sore. I’m trying to think of what else… We nearly got chucked off Thekla in Bristol for climbing the mast on the boat. That wasn’t very funny to be honest but yeah.

M: Ok, so how do you feel about female representation in the scene? Do you have hope for the future, how do you feel about it now? 

JS: I think like, everybody’s getting a lot more confident now! I think that for me, I’m just me as a person, I’m never gonna change how that industry is…you know what I mean? But I feel like if I can inject enough confidence into girls that can help in the future. I think a big thing about girls in the industry is the confidence thing, cause it’s so male-oriented and it’s about like ‘Ohh..I’m not good enough’ or you know. I think for me it’s just [that]! Having the confidence to do it and then believing in yourself and knowing that you’re just as good or better. And it shouldn’t really be about gender at all but it’s just unfortunate that that’s still [the case in] the industry.

M: Do you feel like you have to take on a role model [position] or do you feel pressured?

JS: Honestly, I just act myself - I’m not just saying that - I just like to be myself. And if I was to act like someone else I’d be miserable. [I’m] already quite miserable but like even more miserable *laughs*. 

And I feel like if I’m myself and people like me, that’s the simple life right there. 

M: Alright so, your new single [‘Behave’] is coming out tonight! How do you feel about it? Are you nervous? 

JS: I feel like it’s quite a big change. A bit of a change of sound…but I’m not saying that that’s our new sound! I’m just saying that we don’t want to put the same stuff out all the time, so it’s just a bit of a change. The whole album isn’t gonna sound like that. It’s the guys that wrote and produced all the Spice Girls songs, they have mixed [our new single] and it’s quite interesting. Yeah, I don’t know what people are gonna think of it, I’m not sure but we’ll need to see what happens.

M: What is your favourite song on the new album? Or what else can we expect from the new album?

JS: There’s a song that we’re opening the album with called ‘Violent Minds’ and it features a virtual pop-star called Hatsune Miku, she’s a Japanese virtual pop-star. That’s my favourite song. I love it. 

M: Nice! So you’re not signed actually…

JS: Yes! 

M: How does that influence your writing or recording or releasing music?

JS: I think for us, like we’re with a different label for this album but both labels are very much ‘you do you and we’ll support that’. And I think that’s kind of how we function properly right now. Having a label being like ‘you do whatever you want and we support that, we like this and that’s why we’d like to sign you cause we like you and we like everything that you do’… 

M: That’s not common! 

JS: No it isn’t! I’ve found that out, I have found that out recently like by a lot of labels that have been talking to us, but they’re just like “Oh, we can only really sign one band with a girl in it!” but they’ve got 20 other bands with guys, all guys. Like no, fuck off. So yeah I think having a label that basically like[s] you for you and they’re just happy to [be like] “You be creative, you do all the creative things” and then they do everything else. It feels good.

M: If you could play one show again which show would you choose? 

JS: Oh my god! D’you know what…I think it’d be The Bataclan, with ONE OK ROCK in Paris. Like that was amazing, it was just really special.

M: What made it special?

JS: I don’t know. Like, I think we were in The Bataclan and after what had happened in that venue with the terrorist attack. Actually walking around and just taking it in and thinking about what happened in there, it was a bit emotional. 

M: Yeah, it gets in your mind. 

JS: It [does]! I didn’t think it would be like that and then being on stage performing to a sold out crowd – I don’t even know the capacity in there, it’s crazy it’s like 10K, I don’t even know I could be totally wrong. [We were playing] one of the slow songs ‘Colour me in’ and like everyone put their phones up and I didn’t even ask them to do it. And just for that moment I was looking at the crowd and I thought this is like – with what happened to this venue and the people that died – this was like a massive “Fuck You!” to terrorism. Like these people don’t give a fuck, they came out here and they’re having the best time of their lives and it’s a full venue. That was such a special moment, especially after the terrorist attack. 

M: Yeah, it won’t stop them from coming to shows. 

JS: Yeah, that’s what I liked about it. It was like these people and this crowd they don’t give a fuck, that’s not gonna stop them. And that was really emotional. 

M: That’s really powerful. 

JS: Honestly, it was. And I thought that’s hard to explain to someone that wasn’t there but I’ll never forget that, that was amazing!