Born to Kill

Vigilant is a 4 member rock group including Jack aka Jon Reshard (bass), Jordan Ferreira (guitar), Padget Nanton III (drums). Fronting the band is Chloe Demetria whose exhilarating vocal style contributes a supercharged urgency to their message. They spent much of the last year recording their debut album Born To Kill which presents ten songs that will reveal another perspective to those turned on by mindful, massive-sounding bands like Muse, TOOL, Metallica, and Rage Against The Machine. It was produced and engineered by Jack. David Isaac (3-time Grammy Winning Producer/Mix Engineer whose legendary resume includes Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, and Stevie Wonder) as exec producer and mix engineer for the album was a constant mentor to the band through steady contact and magi like insight. Additional studio work was done by Randy Emata (also highly respected Steve Miller, Lou Reed) in Los Angeles, along with Jawad Mills who ran the drum sessions that took place in Jacksonville, Florida as well as Brian Matheson of Skyline studio in San Francisco. From the raging-apocalyptic opener "Silver Machine" to the concise charge of the second to last track "Born To Kill," the album bleeds the senses with perfectly made sonic intoxication. "I love creating as much of an escapism as I can, I mean, we all feel this way," main songwriter and bass player Jack says. Jack put together the idea for Vigilant late 2010. He first worked with drummer Thomas Pridgen (The Memorials, The Mars Volta), who he flew out from Oakland to record the drums (Jack had demo'd everything first on his own, including the drums, for Thomas to play to). Thomas asked Jack if he wanted to do some shows with him, so Thomas flew him out to Oakland and they did a few shows, which turned into a tour the following year. After that tour, guitarist Jordan Ferreira booked sessions for a new Elixir On Mute album, and ended up getting Jack on it. "Jordan was gracious enough to let me play on his record. We had a certain chemistry with Elixir On Mute. He was a fun guy to be around and play with... everything was there. I asked him if he what he thought of the idea of Vigilant and he was into it. We had a lot of the same ideas about being artists and performing." After going through singers trying to find the right one, Jordan remembered a friend who knew of a singer who ended up being Chloe. "I emailed her and she got back the next day." So they set up the vocal sessions at Jordan's studio in December of 2011. "Chloe came in for about a week and recorded most everything," Jack says. "We didn't finish then, but Randy let us come out and finish recording the vocals in three or four days at his studio in LA. In January, Jordan had finished all his guitars, following that, I tracked the bass, and a good buddy of mine, Jonathan Kuhr, did all the organ, piano and some of the synth stuff." They all show deep love for all kinds of music throughout the album, but they've definitely hit on a sound that can only be described as Vigilant. Chloe has a gorgeously expressive voice with no antecedent that comes to mind. Jack's playing is some of the heaviest and grungiest and is comparable to the likes of rock's legendary bass predecessors such as John Entwistle, Geezer Butler, Rex Brown and Cliff Burton. He shows his virtuosity and innovativeness by getting down on solos like the ones featured on "Born To Kill" & "Get It" that you just have to hear for yourself. Jordan's guitar work is ungodly to say the least. With so much raw energy and intensity across the board, from the power in his chunky riffs to the vocal-esque solos that are ornamented with some lighting speed runs, it's no surprise how Bumblefoot (Ron Thal, solo artist & guitarist with Guns & Roses) can say, "I think that Jordan is one of the people that's the next generation of these guitar guys that everyone is gonna be naming and saying,'yeah, that guy!' " At the moment the band is finishing up a short [video] featuring two songs from the album, "The Door" & "Carling." They haven't said too much about the feature, but they definitely made it clear that the piece is an extension of their music and is meant to enhance the world and spirit of the songs. Vigilant is currently working on their show and preparing to take the extraordinary sound of Born To Kill on the road. "The reason I'm so excited to be part of this band is that I feel like we are on the same wavelength as artists. We all have a fire inside of us to be on the cutting edge at all times. We all want to bring the same sense of escapism and magic that our favorite artists bring to us. I really get the feeling that this band genuinely wants to strive to be one of the greats, and to be part of that feeling is amazing," says Jordan.