The Vampire, or often referred by the members as, 'TV', started in 2021 by guitarist, 'zlpk' (Zakk Hurley), originally considered to be a side project to whatever he may have been doing musically at the age of 10 years old. The idea of something new came from the creation of taking a white, blank t-shirt, and decorating it with paint and sharpies. Obviously, zlpk created something music based with this idea. Trying to think of something that he hadn't heard be used yet, he decided 'The Vampire' sounded cool. He secured the name, when on his 11th birthday, his sister made him his very first physical copy of a album he would create, and that was the final decision - he was set on using this name for this project. On this (demo) album, there would be 8 tracks, with one of them being recorded, produced, co-written, and mixed and mastered by zlpk's dad, 'Paul Hurley'. Using drumming backing tracks to get the basic ideas down, these were the early stepping stones for TV. December 28th, 2021 would see the release of this demo. The Vampire was always meant to be fun, so these releases were privately released. 2023 would roll around, and that would bring the release of the second demo, entitled, 'For Eternity'. Was it perfect? No. But, was it a upgrade? Yes, definitely. Better production, better songwriting, and more knowledge. That was released on July 22nd, 2023, with this time, zlpk creating his own CD copies, that being a jewel case edition, and a digipak edition, including three bonus tracks and extended artwork. 

That would lead into 2024, and this is where the real challenge would come. zlpk would challenge himself to create a album, fully by himself due to the original plans they had having to be cancelled for the time being. Some of the earliest songs created were 'This Maze', 'Speak The Truth', 'Dissemble' (originally titled Two-Faced), and 'Worlds Apart', all being written in early 2023. zlpk would re-visit these ideas, and start to record drums. He originally decided to go to drop A, hence some of the songs being on what you now know as, 'Awakening', being in that tuning. This was a attempt at making a heavier sound, although he decided to continue in drop C, since it just felt more natural. 'This Maze' and 'Anarchy' were the earliest ones recorded, with 'Worlds Apart' coming up closely after. In-between different recordings of these songs, demos would also be recorded and put onto a small EP, entitled, 'Immortal', which had six songs, plus a bonus outtake track of a demo from a similar time of recording. The Vampire would naturally take a more darker, serious turn during the recording of Awakening. This was a different time for the band, a time of confusion around them. Although zlpk is really proud of this release, he says it's sometimes difficult to listen too:


'When I really think about that time, it was really confusing. And to think all of that was going on at the time is kind of a difficult thing to look back on. Especially, with a better grasp on what really was going on at the time. Thankfully, it's all okay now, and we're very proud of Awakening, and we'd like to dedicated it to all those around us at the time, who we love and appreciate more then they'll ever know - they're our hero's.'


The making of Awakening took long, that being because they really wanted to make it everything they wanted it to be. -^UnKnOwN^- would join the fold later on during the recording process, and would help direct the band with the release and different ideas he had. Recording took from February 14th, 2024, to around November 2024, with mixing being done in-between every song. Many songs were re-recorded, 'Speak The Truth', and 'The External' were recorded twice, with both versions being dropped with the band not being happy with the tracking that was done on those editions. Speak The Truth - although being the first song released, was one of the last songs recorded on the album. Once recording was wrapped up, -^UnKnOwN^- helped make the cover, and the originally first pressings of the CD's were released to family and friends, and also put on bandcamp on April 5th, 2025. Throught the year of 2025, the band would release various different songs that were outtakes from the recording sessions. Those songs being, 'Rainfall (Acoustic Edition), 'sjs / june 25th', in the earlier half of the year, and 'A New Self' in November of 2025. 


2026 would bring a short, mini hiatus for the band to prepare for getting there music out there to people. Preparing the website, videos, and having lots of hope. Hope that The Vampire can hopefully, someday, help people. TV are different to a lot of bands - with drive, determination, and hopefully the right select of people, hopefully what started off as a fun little project, will someday become much more then that.


The Vampire are:

zlpk /// Guitars
-^UnKnOwN^- /// Drums


Written By - zlpk