Vlad In Tears

It has been a long road so far for Vlad in Tears, a gothic-metal four-piece from Italy now living in Germany. Having suffered personal loss and setbacks, but determined to not give up, Vlad in Tears took some time out before returning stronger than ever.

Although vocalist and songwriter Kris Vlad is joined by a brother and two friends, Vlad in Tears is very much Kris’s project. “I wanted to do something that was mine,” Kris explains in an interview with Hard Rock Hell.

The name of the band comes from Kris’s love of gothic literature; something that evoked the gothic subcultures and is reminiscent of eternal love and hate. “I have always been a huge fan of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Francis Ford Coppola’s movie, although my first vampire will always be Nosferatu,” says Kris.

As the creative powerhouse behind Vlad in Tears, Kris writes all of the music. Initially recording notes on a synthesiser, Kris then adds vocals to the melody. As the song develops, Kris programmes drums, bass and guitars into the mix, before sending it to the rest of the band. There is an occasional request to add something, but the track usually stays the way Kris first envisioned it.

Porpora is the latest album to be released by Vlad in Tears. Unfortunately, it was not the easiest to record. The first attempt was, in Kris’s words, “a complete disaster.” They started again but the result was too “hot rock.” They took a long break, before trying again during the Covid-19 pandemic, and this time it was different. The album is perhaps their truest work to date, as it ties in with very human stories from the past few years. “I was reading news and talking to friends and I started feeling like I needed to tell not only my story, but everyone’s story – something that would make me feel closer to everyone,” explains Kris.

The name of the album came about when Kris was visiting home in Italy. “I was looking for something to read and saw this little book with a white cover that had ‘Porpora’ written it, which was interesting as it is a colour that is a deep dark red,” explains Kris. “I opened the first page and saw that my brother had written it. It was absolutely terrifying. It was surreal, dark and brutal. It was all about violence, suffering, love, abuse and loneliness. It matched so much of the stuff I was writing.”

Previous releases by Vlad in Tears have tended to be more poetic, but this time Kris no longer wanted to rely on metaphors to express emotion. “I wasn’t using soft words or writing poetry,” says Kris. “I’ve been writing directly.”

Porpora is a rollercoaster of an album, which opens up with the powerful Wasted Lives before submerging the listener in the more mournful Down. The album is a continuing contrast between raw metal and melodic goth. This was a deliberate choice, as Vlad in Tears wanted listeners to experience the dynamic.

One of the many powerful tracks on Porpora is the anthemic cover of Running Up The Hill, originally by Kate Bush in 1985. Kris’s brother called, after watching Stranger Things, and suggested that they cover Running Up The Hill. Although Vlad in Tears had originally believed Porpora was completed, they managed to incorporate the cover onto the album.

There had already been several covers of the song, including one by Placebo (a version that particularly impressed Kris), but they were determined to make their cover unique to them, whilst remaining faithful to the original. “I started writing and arranging it, trying to make it sound like our song too, then sent it to my manager who thought it was brilliant and wanted it on the record.”

When not writing or performing, Kris is something of a loner, often preferring to spend time reading a book (particularly those by Neil Gaiman), watching eighties horror movies or playing horror videogames. “They really do relax me a lot,” says Kris. “They take me to another world.”

Being on tour is always demanding, especially when there is so little personal space to retreat to. “I stay in my own space until showtime, then I go out there and give 1,000%,” explains Kris. “I need to open myself and speak to them.”

For the moment Kris, and the rest of Vlad in Tears, are busy promoting Porpora and planning a tour for the coming year, which already includes confirmation for a big festival. However, Kris remains pragmatic, commenting “In these uncertain times nothing is real until it happens.”

Until then Kris and Vlad in Tears are running up that hill and fighting back.