Biography

"Be a composer or a rock star. You can't do both," says Daniel Vahnke, whose orchestrated samples are the backbone for the Arizona-based Vampire Rodents. Be forewarned, the Rodents consider themselves a sampling project rather than a band, and they wish to teach their listeners to be composers. As Vahnke likes to say, "All research - not Art." -- Michael Mahan, Alternative Press Vampire Rodents was founded in 1989 as a sound collage and experimental music project by composers Daniel Vahnke and Victor Wulf. Vahnke was primarily influenced by 20th-century classical and avant-garde music, with Wulf drawing more from ambient, new age and synth-driven pop music. Their work also dabbled in big band, bebop, musique concrète, industrial, electro, Indian classical and Greek music. Vampire Rodents debuted with War Music (1990), a mix of pop and industrial rock. Premonition (1992) revealed the group's interest in experimental, electroacoustic and ambient music. Considered by some to be the group's masterpiece, Lullaby Land (1993) expanded the sound with the inclusion of house beats, swing rhythms and world music. Vampire Rodents embraced an electro-industrial sound while emphasizing dense string and horn arrangements on Clockseed (1995) and Gravity's Rim (1996), made the help of producer Chase and the contributions of numerous musicians active in the 90s industrial scene. Vampire Rodents' sixth album Noises in the Wall (2017) was issued digitally on their official bandcamp page.