Thrash death metal act VEXXUM have released a couple of EPs, have an new single expected soon, shows and tours planned out, plus much else. Drummer Matt discusses all of this crazy stuff right below.
1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or did it come out just like that?
“Vexxum” was the original name of my first band, which was active from 2010 to 2011. The guitarist, Adrian Contreras, suggested it, and we all loved it. The name stuck with me over the years and I pitched it to my friends when we got a band going in January 2017. Come to find out years after the first band ended, “Vexxum” was a line of baseball bats made by DeMarini, and Adrian used these when he played ball.
2. Why did you want to play this genre?
I grew up with hard rock and heavy metal. It’s in my DNA. When it comes to playing, this is just what I gravitate towards. I can’t imagine playing another style of music—at least, not with the same level of passion.
3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?
I’m the only original member in the band, so no. Geremi, the longest running member of the band besides me, found out about us when he came across “bassist wanted” flyers I posted around our college campus. Kevin and Albert have both been in the punk / metal scene for a long time, and they ended up playing together in a band called Avolition. We played some shows together, but I never talked to them. I didn’t know Kevin until he auditioned for us in 2022, despite having gone to the same shows as early as 2017. I didn’t really know Albert until the months leading up to his audition in late 2024.
4. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We are based in West Covina, a suburb of Los Angeles. We play all over LA and the surrounding areas. The local scene is constantly evolving - sometimes it’s thriving and sometimes the metal scene feels rather dead. There are a million bands here, of all different shapes, sizes, styles, etc. We’ve witnessed the rise and fall of more groups than we can count. Out of all the active metal bands, we would collectively recommend Mortalis and Corrupt—not just because they are friends but because they are solid groups with solid music and have been around for a long, long time.
5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?
Each of us would have different answers, but I feel most inspired to write when I’m listening to certain bands—especially bands that pack their songs with a plethora of riffs. Sepultura, Mastodon, Warbringer, Crypta, even younger, newer bands like Void really get me feeling like I can churn out riffs. I’m only the drummer, though, so I’m limited in what I can come up with compared to the rest of the guys.
6. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Our lyrical topics range widely, from the obligatory thrash topic of nuclear war to ghosts to movie or video game references. Some of our songs are simply mosh pit anthems; several of our songs can be boiled down to diss tracks, having been written in response to betrayals and whatnot. Overall our lyrics are usually dark, aggressive, and angry.
7. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Yes, we write our own stuff. Some of the material comes spontaneously in a jam session, and some of it we come up with by ourselves in our own time. Some of it we’ve been sitting on for years. We have our own library of riffs that we add to and take from. Most songs start with a riff or two that someone has, and we either puzzle piece in riffs from the library or come up with new ones. Everyone has a hand in lyrics—that’s something we’ve done since the beginning. On the last album, Geremi, Kevin, and I each have songs that we wrote front to back, and there are a few that we co-wrote.
8. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
We’ve released two EPs (Desensitized in Aug 2019 and Hidden Evil in Dec 2021), a standalone single in between (Amped Up in Apr 2020), and a full length album (Lost in Infinity in Jun 2024). To the prospective listener: we’re a death thrash metal band. We like our music fast, loud, heavy, and angry. It certainly isn’t princess music.
9. Do you have any new music in the works?
We do. We’re working on a single we’d like to release at the end of summer, and have plans for an album in 2026.
10. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
We have two shows in September, one of which will be at the Whisky A Go Go supporting Crypta. And nothing has been announced yet, but we have plans for a short tour this fall.
11. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
Besides what I just mentioned, we’d like to tour more, if we can manage to carve out the time in all our busy lives. Staying in one city is staying stagnant—the music you release as a band will go nowhere you don’t travel to (that is, unless you hit the social media jackpot). People seem to like our music and our live show, and there are many places we’ve been to that we kick ourselves for not having returned to sooner. Since we’re not signed, though, the tours we’ve done and are doing soon are all DIY—booked, funded, and managed directly by us.
12. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Our music is available on all the major streaming platforms. If you want the tangible thing we have CDs (still working our way up to vinyl), which we sell at our shows or through BandCamp, alongside our merch. Honestly DMing us on Instagram would work too. - Cheers, Matt
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