Vangough
Formed: 2003
From:
Oklahoma City,
OK,
United States
Last Known Status: Active
Background
Oklahoma City based powerhouse Vangough may be named after a post-impressionistic artist, come from a conservative bastion of the U.S. and draw inspiration from heavy guitar driven 90s prog-rock metal bands like Dream Theater; yet driven by the explosive, cutting edge vision of guitarist and lead vocalist Clay Withrow, the band’s incisive and infectious songs—13 of which appear on Vangough’s critically acclaimed indie debut Manikin Parade—and intense energy requires adjectives far beyond words that describe mainstream artists. So here’s an opening attempt: committed to drawing listeners into their melodies before totally upending the tea table, they spit fiery madness by drenching your ears with a purple sunrise of melodic cocaine and a not-so-subtle approach to reading you the story behind today’s headlines.
Vangough Interviews and Features
Below are our features and interviews with Vangough.
Interview
The ProgPower Interview: Vangough
During the weekend of the annual ProgPower USA festivities, running into the members of Oklahoma-based progressive metal band Vangough is probably one of the cooler experiences an audience member can have. With influences ranging from Dream Theater to Pain of Salvation and video game soundtracks, their music is as much a trip as is a conversation with one of them. With several albums under their belt, the members of Vangough met with me on Saturday morning at this year’s festival to discuss the next record, their most recent 4-star record, “Kingdom of Ruin” (reviewed here,) the new directions of their music, and K-Pop and Milli Vanilli, somehow.
Switching back and forth between deadpan humor and outright laughter fits, similar to how the band’s style switches from mood to mood within a song, it was clear to me that the members of Vangough take their music seriously while taking the other parts of life with a twist of lime. The bandmates are: Clay Withrow (guitars/vocals), Jeren Martin (bass), Kyle Haws (drums), and Justice Jonston (keys/orchestra). More...
