| Uniting musicianship with unbridled aggression in the tried and true spirit of Northern California thrash, the Venting Machine have made a name for themselves as one of the Central Valley's top heavy metal attractions, a pedigree they’ve earned despite the area's remoteness.
The members of the collective that would first become known as Breach and then the Venting Machine first began meeting in high school, when guitarist Jeremy Epp -- who was playing drums at the time -- was asked by now-drummer Joe Tobin to join a band that he and his brother Doug were forming.
Epp initially declined, but by the following school year had begun devoting his time to playing the guitar. When asked again, Epp accepted Joe's invitation into the band.
Epp says the band gelled as a unit immediately.
"When I came to their practice, he (Tobin) knew all the songs on drums that I knew on guitar, like Megadeth and Metallica and Van Halen, so we immediately had material to play," he says. "And we were just both smiling at each other because we're nailing all this stuff and we had never really jammed together."
Joe and Jeremy started a cover band, playing songs by Pantera, White Zombie and other metal acts that were well known at the time. Epp began getting fed up with the revolving door nature of the band and welcomed bassist Chad Murphy and guitarist Justin Villa along with singer Walter Backeroff to perform with the band as full time members. By then, they had written original material and began playing gigs at parties.
Backeroff later left the band, citing outside obligations, at which point Josh "Brady" Hoover stepped in to cover the vocal duties. Villa exited as well, unsure that the musical direction was something he wanted to pursue. Murphy says Justin's departure was also prompted by personal and financial commitments.
"So, you put those two things together with somebody that's not real sure about the direction the band was going or maybe a direction he wanted to go, then it just wasn't a good mix anymore," he says.
Although the past members still remain friends with the band, Chad admits that things became easier with one guitarist in the fold.
"Jeremy would come to practice a lot with a riff already written," he says. "And we wouldn't have to wait for him to work it out with Justin."
Murphy and Epp agree that the addition of Hoover to the lineup upped the ante for the band, both musically and with regards to their popularity.
"He brought some fresh ideas," Jeremy says. "We were kinda like old school thrash metaller dudes."
"We were still pretty much tuned to E at that time, too," Murphy interjects. "Maybe D every once in a while."
The band settled on "Breach" as a name and later redubbed themselves the Venting Machine, mostly due to so many other bands sharing the name Breach.
| The current lineup has existed to this day without any changes. Jeremy says the configuration works because there are no worries about any one member being able (or unable) to fulfill his duties.
"It's cool, because we already know what we can do," he says. "I can come up with a song without even them hearing it or something, and show up one day at practice, and if we really wanted to and put our minds together, we could play it, write it, and play it live the next day."
Indeed, the Venting Machine is already renowned in local circles for the virtuoso talents of its members. Epp, the son of a respected South Bay guitar instructor, shines both in live performances and on the band's "Diablo Demo" with muscular, Dimebag Darrell-like riffs and precise leads that are technically impressive without sounding masturbatory. Tobin and Murphy’s airtight rhythms ably set the pace, cruising along at 55 mph one moment and going straight into hyperdrive the next without missing a step.
Equally capable at both screaming and crooning, Hoover finds placement the most challenging part of being a lead vocalist.
"It's not so much the technique of screaming or whatever," says the frontman, who is currently taking singing lessons. "It's picking your moment in the song, I think is the most difficult part. Putting your part where it deserves to go."
Jeremy agrees, adding "there's no written law or guidelines to how to do that."
He also believes that there is no need for the band to feel pressured just because the genre is so crowded, and that they simply enjoy doing what they do best.
"We just jam," he says. "We like playing heavy metal. We come up with tunes. We go play 'em live. That's as deep as it gets."
For now, the Venting Machine wants to rely on its sheer talent and songwriting ability, honing their skill as a band. They are currently fleshing out material for a new album, which they happily report is more than up to their standards.
"It's kind of like our second occupation that we're hoping to make our first some day," Murphy says.
While the band is eager to take its career further, certain factors such as location have become obstacles.
"When you're out in Tracy where we're at, it's harder to find people in the industry that believe in your music as much as you do," he says.
Undaunted, the band is working towards getting its music distributed, and Epp believes the quality of the band’s output will speak for itself.
"I've always known that if something's good, it'll cause controversy,” he says. “There'll be people that love it, people that hate it, people that'll cuss you out, people that'll kiss your feet."
Murphy concludes: "People that tell you you're never hard enough and people that tell you you're the f--kin' gods of heavy metal. You run the gamut." |
