Vmbra

Manchester quartet are on a rapid ascent, and prog is their secret weapon

Rapidly rising Manchester quartet hit heavy and soft with radiant prog sound

Body//As every //Prog// reader likely understands, good things come to those who wait. For guitarist/vocalist pairing Jack Hogg and Ai Sanchez, it took several years and multiple iterations of their band to become what they’ve always wanted to be: a spellbinding modern prog outfit that keeps the listener guessing.

They’ve weathered storms – “we were recording an EP in 2020 when the line-up fell apart,” Sanchez reveals – but they never gave up on a vision that started 10 years ago while at university. It took a little serendipity to turn the tide and in 2022, Vmbra was properly conceived.

“I met Pete [Cook, bassist] at a prog gig!” laughs Hogg. “We stood next to each other watching Twelve Foot Ninja at Download but we never spoke. Three months later we were doing a musical showcase together and bonded over our love of prog. We soon came to the realisation of ‘I think we were stood next to each other at Download!’ it felt like fate.”

Drummer/vocalist Kieran Byrne found the group through the less sexy realms of BandMix.com. He was meant to learn one of three songs for his audition, but he mastered them all. His tireless work ethic has been an asset ever since.

“They’ve taken the limits off what the band could achieve,” Hogg, historically Vmbra’s songwriter-in-chief, says of their change-making recruits. “Everyone brings in their own flair and styles. The Vmbra sound is getting richer because of them.”

Today, their multi-dimensional sound has whiffs of Leprous’ towering theatrics and The Dear Hunter’s effervescent storytelling ices bedrocks that can be as neck-snapping as Haken and as vintage as Genesis. Impressively, they can throw down with heavier bands – they’ve just won Manchester’s Metal 2 The Massses competition, earning a spot at Bloodstock 2025 – and they’ve been winning over prog audiences too. Despite being told by one punter they were “a bit heavy” for the first band of the day at Prog For Peart 2024, but compelling nevertheless.

As the band continued to evolve, Sanchez took up playing keys to add more to the mix, while discovering that Byrne has a glorious set of pipes felt like a major coup in the quest for limitlessness.

“It was the unshackling of, ‘Oh, now we can have three part harmonies!’” Hogg grins. “As our repertoire is increasing, the metal element has been reducing as other influences start to come in. We want to be a Swiss Army prog band in that way.”

After the success of 2024 EP //DALPSVS//, new single //Money Tree// keeps momentum high while they finish their debut album. It’s a song that has been brewing in Hogg’s riff library for nearly a decade and took this now well-oiled line-up to get over the line.

As Sanchez says, it’s “a high-energy song you can’t help but move to that goes from club section to heavy breakdown,” and live it’s been massive crowd pleaser. If that’s the precursor for the band’s next era, they might just have to change allegiance to Switzerland. PWE

PROG FILE

LINE-UP: Ai Sanchez (vocals, keyboards), Jack Hogg (vocals, guitar), Pete Cook (bass), Kieran Byrne (drums, vocals)

SOUNDS LIKE: Shape-shifting modern prog rock that, be it heavy, soft, is eternally catchy and soaked in three-part vocal harmonies

CURRENT RELEASE: // DELAPSVS// is out now and is self-released.

WEBSITE: https://vmbra-uk.bandcamp.com/

— Phil Weller