Vukovi

Vukovi are a 4 piece experimental rock band from Kilwinning and Troon in Ayreshire, Scotland. They are set to release their debut EP It Looked So Good on Me part 1.

When part 2 is released later this year listeners will be able re-assemble the 8 tracks into a new order to provide a different story within the lyrics.


Vukovi originally started off as a 3 piece called Wolves who had reached the limit of their talent when in stepped Janine to provide the catalyst to start the creative juices flowing again. So a change of name to Vukovi (the Serbian name for Wolves) coupled with some great write ups on their live shows and an invite to do a live session on Radio 1 in October indicates a bright future for this powerhouse of a band.

This intense set from these exciting artists is well worth checking out.



Tracklisting

1. Try Before You Buy (Use Your Sex) [Explicit] 3:41
2. Schwagger [Explicit] 3:28
3. Get Hot & Feel The Butterflies 2:59
4. Vincible 3:38

EP: Released 30 september 2011 - MyDadRocks

Tonight Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, one of Glasgow’s hippest of the hip nightspots, is sold out. Sold out to the point where checked shirts and Converse climb the walls to get a better view not by some cult Canadians or a posse of dour fiddle-toting folk-rockers, but by four alt-rock upstarts from Ayrshire who have only been in existence for barely a year.
But on this showing - their debut EP launch - they deserve just about every skin-numbing backslap they’ll receive tonight. Vocalist Janine Shilstone is, by all accounts, Vukovi’s shining light, and where as many up and coming bands falter as the result of dodgy vocals - and ultimately lose their shot at the big time - each auto-tune annihilating gust of melody shooting out of Shilstone’s lips is defiantly spot on.
Good thing then that they’ve got the tunes to back it up. There’s ‘Schwagger’, a hip-grinding rock cavort dripping in what most normal people would call ‘swagger’ – kids these days – and one of the EP’s lead tracks, ‘Try Before You Buy (Use Your Sex)’, a slithering, sensual salvo impressing with Biffy Clyro-esque juddering guitar.
But it’s with ‘Snakes and Ladders’ - which didn’t even make it onto the EP - that Vukovi begin to eschew notions of being just a ‘local band’ and hint at national and international promise, cap doffing in sound to fellow Scots Jocasta Sleeps and US cohorts Paramore too. Indeed, with soaring female vocals to blame, comparisons to the flame haired, transatlantic superstars will be levelled against Vukovi - but that’s no bad thing - and whilst it’s baby steps at the moment, for any record label scouts peering in, it is surely time to start rubbing your hands.
Chris Cope - The-Fly

Despite being only 6 months old as a band, they’re already causing a stir amidst not only their Scottish counterparts but all across the UK. This is largely via the viral release of their first single ‘Get Hot and Feel the Butterflies‘ which was then chosen by Yvonne McLellan (Island Records) to feature on BBC Radio 1’s A&R Zone with Vic Galloway.

Receiving an unprecedented amount of attention as a result, ‘Get Hot..’ made it all the way to Number 2 in our Amazing Chart and is still a firm favourite amongst the Amazing Radio and amazingtunes.com team. The band were spurred on to then record and release their second track Snakes and Ladders, followed quickly by latest single Schwagger – again proving popular amongst the amazing community and the band’s rapidly increasing fan base.

The quality of that first track alone was more than enough reason for us to invite them down to Blank Studios, where we recorded four songs including two exclusives just for us at amazing.
Having a female vocalist front an edgy sounding rock band means you’re always going to attract the usual comparisons – this is expected but not at all comprehensive of what it is they offer as a band. Janine Shilstone is an excellent frontwoman whose voice compliments the rest of the music perfectly. A history of theatre combined with a jazz influenced background lends a certain amount of soul to her vocals that’s often missing from the majority of today’s poppier rock songs. The three guys in the band – Hamish Reilly on guitar, Jason Trotter on bass and backing vocals and Martyn Lynch on drums – all demonstrate a passion for their music that equals their collective talents. As individuals they’ve committed to making music their main goal and the evolution from previous band Wolves to the lineup and song structure that is now Vukovi, is a move that will no doubt continue to prove successful as they keep on recording and continue to add further dates to their gigging schedule.

It was a real pleasure having Vukovi down to visit and the gig they played on the evening was a true testament not only to their professional attitude but moreover to their innate ability as musicians – managing to sound good in a tiny basement bar, with no sound check, no line check, and frankly no sound man at all was a feat they took in their stride. I look forward to hearing what they come up with next and can’t wait to see them play live again. Check out their amazingtunes.com profile for more information and keep an eye out for them in a city near you very soon - © 2009 Amazing Tunes Ruth Kilpatrick

"Incredibly these rockers only got together six months ago but are already one of Scotlands hottest young acts. Jason and Martyn were playing in a three-piece called Wolves, a band I'd featured on my weekly podcast. Hamish joined towards the end, with Janine soon replacing the original singer, and Vukovi - actually serbian for "wolves"- was born.
Their first recordings were hardly out of the studio before they'd found their way on to national radio.
Janine could become Scotlands greatest female rock singer since Shirley Manson.
With a sound that's accessible enough to break into the pop market, it's going to be fascinating to see how they progress and they could break out of the Scottish scene before music fans here even get to know them. Hopefull they'll shine at some of the festivals, as they're certainly one of the most exciting new acts i've heard recently."
- Jim Gellatly The Sun

On the Radar - No 151: Vukovi

Wednesday, 09 March 2011

Words: Chris Cope

Vukovi freely admit that their name makes them sound like a "Polish boy band" - they’re anything but. They are, in fact, an alt-rock band from Ayrshire.



So what does it mean? “The three boys were in band called Wolves before Janine came in so we wanted to come up with a name that was relevant to us,” they say. “After countless suggestions we came up with 'Vukovi', which is Serbian for ‘wolves’. Janine thought it sounded like a Polish boy band name at first, but it grew on her!”

There you go. Not quite as mysterious as it seems, but hey. And this Janine they speak of is Janine Shilstone, the band’s vocalist and owner of an impressive set of pipes. There is often a deathly trap looming ahead for up-and-coming female-fronted rock bands these days – laboursome comparisons to the uber-succesful Paramore – but there are some advantages, it seems.

“We treat Janine as one of the boys! You could say having a female singer makes us that wee bit more memorable and there’s not a lot of them about,” they say.

"You’d think we were talking about an endangered species," Shilstone adds.

“And let’s face it, our name isn’t the easiest to remember,” guitarist Hamish Reilly points out.

Listen to Vukovi’s music however and there's no escaping the sticking point: the hook. Their songs are bundling balls of energy, swathed in assured songwriting and deep production that belies their age – just six months together as a band. And, sure to aid them to no end, there’s so much melody filling up their tracks that they bulge like Augustus Gloop’s waistband. So, how to pigeon-hole this sound?

“Supercharged indie-pop! We all try to bring our individual styles to the table which seems to work quite nicely," Shilstone says. "We try not to compare ourselves to other bands and don’t think about what other people want to hear. If we like it we’ll play it whether it’s a risk or not. No foreplay, straight-to-the-point tunes.”



So what’s next for Vukovi? An age-old football cliché should cover it...

“We’re not rushing into any sort of EP release,” they say. “We want to keep on writing tunes, build up a strong catalogue and develop as a band in general. We keep forgetting we’ve only been together for six months so our priority right now is to build a good fanbase and just take each day as it comes.”

You can catch Vukovi live on the following dates:
11 Mar: The Venue, Dumfries (with Xavia and Room 16)
18 Mar: Fury's, Ayr (with The Underdog Theory)
29 Apr: 02 ABC2, Glasgow (with Fires Attract)
8 Jun: 02 ABC2, Glasgow (with Futures) - © 2011 Johnston Press Digital Publishing