Interview with Derek DelVecchio
By Jake Jack-Off

The other night I had the opportunity to catch up with some old highschool buddies, somewhat of a welcomed reunion if you will. I being impressed by their killer band,Vilipend, and they being stoked with the fact I have been clean and sober for 120 days. It was a great night spent with great friends, and killer tunes. But I got down to business when I interviewed Derek DelVecchio, Vilipends guitarist and newest member..

Punk Globe - How long have all you guys been playing in Vilipend?

D.D- Vilipend started in September of '07, though we've been gigging around the cityToronto) since February '08.

Punk Globe- How did the band come to be?

D.D- It's a bit of a complicated story but Gramlich, Adam and Mike were jamming together with a previous guitar player but he couldn't stick to a regimented scheduled due to other music project obligations. It became apparent to the other dudes that they needed to find another player. Mike decided to ask me if I was up to anything musically. I had just finished up working on a black metal project and had ideas floating around for something more noisy/doomy. The boys wined and dined me at a local dive and I outlined my vision for how I wanted to sound. They were intrigued/stoked and I went to a couple rehearsals with them. Nothing ever really works out as you plan so we ended up a whole lot more aggressive than I had originally intended but I credit the rest of the guys for influencing and coaxing that out of me. Here we are now, over a year later.

Punk Globe - Why the name Vilipend?

D.D- Vilipend. To regard or treat as of little value or account. a) because we've been sick of the lack of sincerity in today's heavy music scene. It's all pretentious bullshit. To diminish ourselves with a reminder that it's just fucking rock music keeps us at ground level where we can stay true to our roots. b) reviving lesser known words of the English language is always a plus.

Punk Globe- Who are some of your influences?

D.D- Influences are wide and varied. Adam and I both grew up listening to bands like Soundgarden, Tool and Alice in Chains. But Adam's also got this classic rock vibe to him as well. We both love the proggy stuff like Yes but he's way more into Neil Young, The Band and shit. Mike is pure punk at his core: D.O.A, Bad Brains, Black Flag etc. Gramlich is a mixed bag. But that guy takes cues from the likes of Henry Rollins and little bands like National Acrobat, Kittens, Jesus Lizard.

Punk Globe - Do you just have the one album? Are you working on a new one?

D.D- We recorded the Northern Hostility Sessions in April '08 as a way of getting our music on the internet and widely available. We went into the studio in August of last year and re-tooled a few of those songs as well as laid down a couple new ones. Currently, it's available for streaming on our MySpace and will be available in physical copy shortly. Title is "Love Left to Rot." We're constantly writing new material and I'd love to get more stuff down in hard copy.

Punk Globe - What's been your best show? why?

D.D- Best Show: opening for Today is the Day. Hands down. Steve Austin is an amazing dude and being support for one of the seminal acts in our genre was incredible. I mean, without Steve, you wouldn't have Converge, Lamb of God and the like.

Punk Globe- What genre would you describe yourselves as?

D.D- Hmmm, as far as genres go, I'd say we're metal with elements of doom and thrash and ambient post-rock tendencies. Fuck, sounds pretentious, but I hate descriptions!

Punk Globe would like to thank Derek for the interview and suggest you all check out Vilipend for yourself. You can listen to their tunes at :

www.myspace.com/vilipendmusic