are an
Alternative Rock band from
London ,
UK , formed in 1999 and signed to
Infectious Records .
My Vitriol are
Ravi Kesavaram (Drums),
Som Wardner (Vocals, Guitar & Lyrics),
Seth Taylor (Guitar) and
Carolyn Bannister (Bass & Backing Vocals). Ravi and Som met at university, where a friend of theirs undertook to record them a demo as a project for his studio-engineering course. Ravi played the drums and Som the rest of the instruments and they put together an EP called "
Delusions Of Grandeur " in the space of just two days, using every free studio session they could find in the university.
The name they chose for their band was that of "My Vitriol," not because of its literal meaning of "bitterness," but as a reference to a book called "
Brighton Rock " by
Graham Greene . In the story, the main character has a bottle of vitriol-- an idiomatic name for
Sulfuric Acid -- which acts as his security when confronted by rivals.
About 250 CDR copies of "
Delusions Of Grandeur " were pressed, but only about 30 actually worked due to technical reasons. However, one of these were handed to
Radio One DJ
Steve Lamacq at a gig. Within days
Lamacq had broadcast a track on the Session Unsigned slot, which lead to greater publicity for the band in the form of tracks from the EP being used on compilations. Ravi and Som needed to complete the line up of the band, to give them a fuller sound. They met guitarist
Seth Taylor at a Mint 400 gig and discovered
Carolyn Bannister playing bass at another gig. The band soon released their debut, double A-side single "
Always Your Way "/"
Pieces ", on
Org Records on the 6th of December 1999.
In the last week of 1999, the band signed a deal with
Infectious Records , home to other acts such as
Ash and
Garbage . Their first single under the new label was "
Losing Touch ", released in April 2000, and the second was "
Cemented Shoes " which made number 65 in July of the same year.
Their third single, "
Pieces ", charted at 56, but the fourth, "
Always Your Way ", was the first to reach the Top 40, peaking at number 31. Soon after this, the band’s debut album, "
Finelines " was released and it made number 24 in early March 2001.
They landed support slots with many major acts, including Feeder and the Manic Street Preachers. MV’s star kept rising as the band found themselves appearing numerous times on tv shows such as
Top Of The Pops , as well as festival performances such as, mainstage
Reading to 40,000 people and a nightime higher billing the following year,
Glastonbury ,
V Festival and
T In The Park
The band headlined their first festival stages in Holland on the mainstage in Rotterdam, and the indoor arena in Norway's
Quart . They also performed across europe at Roskilde in Denmark, Festimad in Spain, and to 20,000 people at
Rock Am Ring in Germany. At
Summer Sonic in Japan, where
Sony Music released their debut, they played to 18,000 people. Their first and only headline show in Tokyo sold out in hours and the venue had to be upgraded twice.
The bands music eventually worked its way through to various mainstream TV shows such as
Buffy The Vampire Slayer amongst others and were even offered Hollywood movie roles, and modelling jobs from the likes of Ralph Lauren, and Next along the way. "But we thought it would be better to stick to what we knew best!" drummer
Ravi Kesavaram joked.
The band retained their coy attitude towards the spotlight in the video for their 2nd top 40 hit single '
Grounded ', which starred notorious cult figure
Vincent Gallo . They appeared for less than 30seconds.
"Unfortunately Vincent fell out with our label over stuff... he's quite a character. But it was great not to have to be actors for the day, and hey Buffalo '66 rocked!"
The song was also a hit in
South Africa but MV also saw their popularity reach areas of Asia and S. America to an underground cult following, without performances in those territories yet. This buzz lead to the band signing the US release rights of the record to
Sony /
Epics for a reported $400,000. "Funny really, all that for one tour!". Part of the deal was to remix/tweek the album with
Guns N' Roses /
Metallica producer
Steve Thompson .
On hearing the US mixes,
Infectious records made a decision to re-release this version in the UK as a double album format, including B-sides and rarities, forming the complete works of My Vitriol to date.
At the end of 2002 after 3 years of solid touring, lead singer
Som Wardner announced their hiatus at their second to headline billing at the Kerrang Festival, "We won't be around for a while. We're gonna take a break and write a new record, thanks for supporting us from the beginning".
The band are currently finishing work on the much anticipated follow up to their debut as we speak....
- "Losing Touch" (2000) limited release
- "Cemented Shoes" #65 (2000)
- "Pieces" #56 (2000)
- "Always: Your Way" #31 UK (2001)
- "Grounded" #29 UK (2001)
- "Moodswings" #39 UK (2002)
