A lot can be said about the awesome quality of Vektor. A lot can also be said about the events that brought their temporary disbandment, the false negative image that came out about them in the world and how much it cost them on the most upward moment of their career. But the important thing is that they are back, with founding members David DiSanto (guitars, vocals), Erik Nelson (guitars) and newcomers Steve Coon (bass) and Mike Ohlson (drums). David doesn’t hold back his words and talks to us about the band’s past, present and future. Interview: George Terzakis
Rockpages.gr: Hi David. It was 2016 and the band was in a great momentum, but internal issues led to the end of this very successful run. What happened back then?
David DiSanto: It was a very difficult decision for all of us. We were all and still are extremely good friends. It ultimately came down to everyone not getting along with my ex-wife. She would bring herself on every tour and her negative attitude really grated on everyone, so my band gave me an ultimatum to choose between my wife or them. I thought I would try to do the right thing and choose my wife’s side. In hindsight, it was the worst decision I ever made. I tried to stick up for her and save her reputation after the band broke up. In the end, she ended up making horrible lies about me to ruin my life.
Rockpages.gr: During 2019, false accusations were made towards you that caused among others to lose a record deal with Century Media. You cleared the air just recently with a YouTube video, so why the three-year long wait to do so?
David DiSanto: People who are close to me have always known the truth and that was enough for me for a while. I didn’t want a bunch of strangers knowing everything about my personal life. The reality of my marriage was very opposite of the picture that my ex painted online. I don’t want to go into the exact details of how she treated me and people around me, because I’m trying to move past all that. Let’s just say my bandmates, my family and my friends witnessed her treating me very badly on several occasions. I waited three years because the lies completely destroyed me. It sent me into a very dark place and I wasn’t sure I’d get out. In a weird way, I also was still trying to protect my ex-wife’s reputation even after she ruined mine. I figured if I defended myself, people would learn the truth of how awful she was and shit talking and drama just aren’t in my nature. Now I see that her words caused real life problems for me and my band beyond the internet bullshit, so I had to tell my side.
Rockpages.gr: Is it easy or hard to find new bandmates who can follow the highly demanding music of Vektor? Did you search long to find Steve and Mike?
David DiSanto: I was searching for a couple years from 2017-2019 and I found a couple decent players, but then I had to start all over when the false allegations came out. In the end, it actually worked out because it allowed Erik and I to reconnect. He knew the truth, so he had my back immediately. It almost seemed like Steve and Mike came to me through fate. I had just moved back to Arizona at the end of 2019 and I was at a Blood Incantation show. Steve just walked up to me out of the crowd and introduced himself. We hit it off right away. He already had a Vektor cover on YouTube, so he got the job immediately. Mike was basically placed in my lap from my friend Nolan. He plays in an Arizona band with Mike called Warhead, so it all worked out really well.
Rockpages.gr: How’s the hunt for a new record deal going? Do you face closed doors from labels and/or promoters due to the aforementioned false allegations?
David DiSanto: Well, luckily our manager is really fighting for us. I think my statement video helped ease the minds of promoters after the Century Media news. We still have a couple offers. We will begin looking at these offers again after this tour.
Rockpages.gr: How about a new album? Is it something you are currently working on? Are there any details or possible release date?
David DiSanto: Yes, we are working very hard on our next album. I only need to come up with two more songs and it will be complete. We are hoping to have an album by this time next year. Some of the songs are pretty depressing because of my mental state while I was writing, but there are also a couple of really fun, classic Vektor stuff. One song I’m working on now is at the ten-minute mark and I feel like it’s only about halfway done. Maybe we’ll have a twenty-minute song in the next album.
Rockpages.gr: Speaking about that, you often write songs with long durations and two of your three albums’ total running time exceeds one hour. Did you ever think that you couldn’t reach a wider audience due to the fact that many people don’t dedicate so much time in listening to music? These long songs come naturally during the songwriting process or is it something that you like and seek to achieve?
David DiSanto: Yeah, I know most of the general public is intimidated by our long songs or my harsh vocals. Sometimes I try to write shorter songs, but it’s actually kind of hard for me to do. I usually have too many ideas and so I end up taking riffs out of songs. I think “Recharging The Void” was over sixteen minutes before I came up with the final structure.
Rockpages.gr: Songs like “Collapse”, “Dead By Dawn” and the aforementioned “Recharging The Void” have acoustic parts with clean vocals, something completely different from the general direction of your music. Will we listen to something like this on your next release?
David DiSanto: Yeah, I’ve always enjoyed bands like Pink Floyd, so I wanted to start incorporating more of that into our sound. “Collapse” and “Recharging The Void” both opened that door for us and they’ve become fan favorites. There will definitely be more of that in the future but I’ll never fully take out the harsher Vektor sound.
Rockpages.gr: From where do you draw inspiration for the lyrical themes of the band? Any favorite books or movies? Would you ever write music for a science fiction film if you were asked to?
David DiSanto: I would love to make “Terminal Redux” into a movie. That would be amazing. I like so much sci-fi from the cheesy old-school movies to even The Mandalorian. That stuff doesn’t inspire as much as philosophy or science does though. Anything that makes me think deeply is inspiring to me and sometimes that just happens from learning something new.
Rockpages.gr: Vektor started when extreme progressive/technical music pretty much wasn’t on the map and for some years now we see bands of this genre springing up like mushrooms. Do you consider yourselves as pioneers or that you played a big part in the evolution of the scene?
David DiSanto: I really have no idea! I think we’ve inspired some bands because they’ve told me. I would never consider myself a pioneer of that genre though. I think of bands like Watchtower, Aspid, Coroner and Atheist more of pioneers than us.
Rockpages.gr: You will return to Greece after six years and these highly energetic shows in Athens and Thessaloniki. Any special memories from that time?
David DiSanto: Everything was special about those shows. The crowd was amazing and knew all the lyrics even though the album just came out. We all felt like the Greeks latched on to our new album faster than anyone else and they showed it at those shows.
Rockpages.gr: What should we expect from the upcoming shows? Last time you played here you performed the amazing “Terminal Redux” in its entirety. Maybe a setlist based on all your albums this time?
David DiSanto: We will be playing a mix of old and new. I think fans from every album will find something they like.
Rockpages.gr: David, thank you for your time. You can close this interview by saying anything you want.
David DiSanto: Something I learned from the old Greek philosophers was skepticism. I think most Vektor fans already have that. I’m glad that most Vektor fans were skeptical when the false allegations came out about me in 2019. I really truly appreciate that. Our shows on this tour have been packed full of very positive people. I can’t tell you how much that has meant to all of us.
