Vampire Rodents

Vampire Rodents was the name of an industrial music and experimental rock band formed in Toronto, Canada. The band was led by singer, guitarist and composer Daniel Vahnke (aka Anton Rathausen) and also included Victor Wulf (keyboards), Andrea Akastia (violin, cello), Jing Laoshu (percussion). The band was well known for their usage of guest musicians on many of their songs. Daniel Vahnke was primarily influenced by classical and Avant-garde music, whereas Wulf was more focused on Ambient music, and both styles contributed to the mood of the band.

Across their five album career, they appeared on four different record labels, including "Dossier", "Vampire Rodents Productions" (their own label), "Re-Constriction Records" and finally on "Fifth Column".

As well as Vampire Rodents, Vahnke also had a side project called "Ether Bunny", and Wulf had a solo effort called "Dilate", which released two albums on Cleopatra Records. The Rodents also collaborated with Babyland to create "Recliner", which released a few songs direct onto compilation albums, and later onto full VR albums.

While the band was mainly active during 1990-1996, Vahnke has expressed his desire on his myspace page to restart the group, however there has been nothing new produced as of 1996.

In January 2008, Daniel released on his myspace page raw material from the proposed side project "Pillow" which was to be done in collaboration with 16volt.

Discography

Albums

* "War Music" (1990)
* "Premonition" (1992)
* "Lullaby Land" (1993)
* "Clockseed" (1995)
* "Gravity's Rim" (1996)

ingles/EPs/Compilation Appearances

* "Thugs 'N' Kisses" (1995) ~ Core
* "Vampire Themes" (1997) ~ Schubert Trio in E Flat
* "The Black Bible" (1998) ~ Chain

As Recliner

* "Rivet Head Culture" ~ Nosedive
* "Scavengers In The Matrix" ~ Zygote

Official Links

* [http://www.myspace.com/vampirerodents Vampire Rodents' MySpace page]
* [http://myworld.ebay.com/VRPREC Vampire Rodents Official eBay Store]

Additional Information

* [http://wc07.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=VAMPIRE|RODENTS&sql=11:axfoxqegldse~T0 Vampire Rodents entry] in Allmusic
* [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol6/vampire.html Vampire Rodents] review by Piero Scaruffi
* [http://www.sonic-boom.com/interview/vampire.rodents.interview.html Daniel Vanhke interview]