BIOGRAPHY:

Instead of the usual biographies, we've got a great VAULT interview, which tells you a lot about the history of the band too!

NO MORE ESCAPE FROM THE VAULT!

It's sometimes quite strange how you can get in contact with an eighties band. It's easy with an existing band, you give the label or management a call and the band calls or email you back. But how do you do that with a band which split up fifteen years ago? Well, you go to a metal concert, sit at the bar, talk to someone who says he's from Emmen. You see that the guy is over thirty, so you ask if he knows a band from his region, called VAULT. And then the guys says, that he knows the old guitarist, so we exchange phone numbers and a week later, you have the old VAULT guitarist on the phone. That's how easy it can be sometimes.

VAULT is one of the bands, who learned the tough side of the music industry during their years, but had it's hay days as well. They released a 7" and an LP, but could have released 2 LP's if not Mausoleum got bankrupt. The second LP did came out, but 'only' about fifteen years later. Anyway, lots to talk about with guitarist Anno de Roo.

Which bands inspired you to play guitar and form the band?
"That was ZZ TOP! It was in 1979, when some friends, my brother and me started a band. What we wanted was to play music just like ZZ TOP. After that we discovered JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN and that was even better we thought. Especially when we heard "Unleashed in the East". There was no doubt in our mind, when we heard that album, we wanted to play pure Heavy Metal!! After a while, we competed in a talent scout festival, but to sign up for the festival we needed own written songs which we didn't have. So we were forced to write our own stuff plus we didn't have a band name, so we had to made up one too and that became VAULT, which sounded OK we thought. Anyway, that festival made us serious concerning running a band."

In "1982 the band made it's vinyl debut with the 7" inch "Hell of a Block/Burning Eyes", released through NON records or did you released the 7" yourself?
"It was a real label, but we approached them to release it and we were a partner in releasing the 7" inch. So it's half our own release and half from the label. We thought it was time for a release. At that time we gigged a lot. We played support for bands as BODINE and TRANCE. By the way, only 500 copies from the 7" inch were pressed, so it's a quite rare item these days.

A year later "No More Escape" was released, again by NON records. This time a full-length album. What's the story behind this LP?
"The LP was released with the same deal as we had for the 7" inch, so half/half. That meant that we had to make it with a very little budget. It was a tough ride to made to album. All the songs were more or less written before the recording. Me and our drummer Norbert were the ones who wrote them, Koos and Henri were doing more the management side of the band. We made the recording in a 8 track studio, which is ridiculous if you look back. Nowadays not even a demo is recorded on a 8-track. And due a lack of time and money there wasn't that much attention for the album cover. Somebody, I don't know who anymore, made a drawing at the last moment when the album had to be ready. We weren't very happy with it all and we expected bad reviews and reactions. But surprisingly we did got good reviews and reactions. Totally about 5000 copies were sold. Much higher than we expected."

So you were responsible for most of the songs. Which one is your favourite?
"I will choose "Too Young to Fight", because that was a typical VAULT song: pure Heavy Metal with lots of melody in it."

A strange thing on the album is that you hear a lot of double guitar work a la MAIDEN, while the band only had 1 guitarist..
"Yes, I was the only guitarist in that time. Somehow it never came up to take another guitarist., but after the release we took another guitarist and that was Marcel Verdurmen, known from bands as MYSTO DYSTO, MANDATOR and later ALTAR. After half a year, he already left and then got replaced by Jannes Bloemert, who played also in ELISE in the later eighties."

In February 1984, you played at the Paradiso Hard Rock Dag in Amsterdam with bands like SAD IRON, AANGLE, SEDUCER and DEATHWISH. VAULT was on the bill as 'best regional band of Holland'. How popular was VAULT in your region?
"OK, it's a long time ago, so I can tell you what happened. Our manager had the idea to ask every visitor at a VAULT gig for an autograph to make a list to show how popular we were, haha. But we were real popular in our region at the time. I mean, at the gig in Amsterdam busses full with people travelled to Amsterdam to see us there."

Did the band gig a lot?
"Oh yes, at certain times even twice a week. And we played in the whole of the Netherlands. We weren't just a local band. I mean, if we were, we never would have sold 5000 copies of "No More Escape". It's only too bad we never played in Germany. Especially if you know that we lived quite close to the German border. And I can't tell you why, it just didn't came our way I guess."

So the album was a success. How came Mausoleum on the band's path?
"Well, our success was not getting unnoticed. Mausoleum did us a good offer which made us sign a deal with them. Later on we entered a studio in Arnhem and recorded the "Sword of Steel" album. The album came out a lot more aggressive and much better produced than "No More... " and this time the artwork was made by Eric Philippe, a well known artist. So everything looked really good for us."

But what happened next?
"At the moment when everything was finished and ready for the release we got a phone call that Mausoleum was bankrupt. A huge disappointment for us of course, because we really thought "Sword of Steel" was a great product and would help us to the next level. The following six months we tried to find another label to release the album, but without success. This was for the band the beginning of the end and in 1986 we split up with lots of frustrations."

But fortunately the album got finally released after many many years...
"Yes, one track from the album, title track "Sword of Steel", got on the Heavy Metal Maniacs part 2 compilation in 2001. And because of that some German guys got interested to release the whole album. So about one year later the album got finally its release and even on vinyl, too!"

What happened with the guys after band's split?
"I was in several bands. From Henri I only know he rides his bike a lot nowadays. Koos and me started our own studio, band management and label. Which is going on ok for us. Norbert is working in the computer branch. Musically I think Henri is the only one who is still a real metalhead. Recently, I listened to stuff like Zakk Wylde, but I moved on to more blues orientated music. And so everyone moved into his own direction. But I will never forget my VAULT days. I still look back with great memories."

Can you name 1 special highlight of that period?
"That must be the Borne festival in 1983. Thousands of headbangers were there and lots of bands were on the bill. At the time we were ready to hit the stage the whole crowd shouted our name. During the gig the crowd went nuts. Unbelievable what happened that day. Just metal madness!"

Is there any 'nice' VAULT story you want to share with us to end the interview?
"Well, let me think, it's a long time ago, you know. OK, I think you will like this story. At a certain moment we wanted to try out some new show elements during our gigs. Somebody had the idea to use fire arrows/crackers. So we bought a few, but we really didn't have a clue how it worked. But we thought we would find out on stage, it can't be too difficult. So we glued a few of those arrows on my guitar, which would be lit up by Henri during my guitar solo. So during the gig my solo began and Henri was standing behind me to lit up the arrows. But what happened was that those arrows were upside down on my guitar! The arrows got fired straight at Henri! In panic he ran straight in the crowd, haha. The crowd loved it, as they thought it was a part of the show. Luckily Henri wasn't hurt, haha."

(Interview and introduction conducted by: Stefan van Zijl)

MEMBERS:
Henri Draaijer - vocals
Anno de Roo - guitars
Marcel Verdurmen - guitars (MYSTO DYSTO, MANDATOR, ALTAR)
Jannes Bloemert - guitars (WARWICK, ELISE - R.I.P.)
Koos de Roo - guitars
Nobert Sulmann - drums

DISCOGRAPHY:
*Hell Of A Block/Burning Eyes (Single 1982 - 500 copies)
*No More Escape (Demo 1983)
*No More Escape (LP 1983)
*Heavy Metal Maniacs Vol. 2 (compilation CD 2001, featuring "Sword Of Steel")
*Sword Of Steel (LP 2002 - 500 copies, originally recorded in 1985)

MEMORABILIA: