Vower
Black Peaks, Toska and Palm Reader members unite for heavy, emotional second life.
Life and death are cyclical, and when three prog-tinted British bands fell, Vower was the phoenix that rose from their ashes. Featuring members of Black Peaks, Toska, and Palm Reader, the group represented a much-needed lifeline – especially for a crestfallen Joe Gosney.
“I moved to the Austrian mountains for a couple of years after Black Peaks,” the guitarist relays. With COVID shutting the world down, and the band he’d dedicated a decade of his life to over, he needed a break, far away from it all.
During that period, Black Peaks drummer Liam Kearley and Doja guitarist/YouTuber Rabea Massaad released a spiky instrumental EP as the Totemist to scratch a creative itch. Gosney was later pulled into their orbit and, through his influence, their music veered away from “mad instrumentals to song-based music. And a lot of music was written in a short space of time.”
Simultaneously, Gosney had agreed to deputise in Palm Reader for their final years on the road. When vocalist Josh McKeown caught wind of their project, he immediately threw his hat into the ring.
“A couple of weeks later, he was in our studio space in Brighton,” Gosney recalls. “He arrived with nothing, but in one session we finished a couple of tracks. There was an instant chemistry.”
Vower became their daily obsession overnight, and while there are echoes of their respective pasts, they’re also ardently forward-thinking.
“When we first started jamming, Rabea brought us two baritone guitars, which neither of us has played before,” Gosney remembers. “It pulled us outside of the box and forced us to write in a new way.”
“Joe and I have been fans of each other's creative output, and we’re both fans of the same bands,” Massaad develops, citing the Mars Volta, Tool and Karnivool as influences. “Karnivool pull a lot of emotion from their chord progressions and harmonies. So that side of Vower was almost a given. We never discussed our sound; we just knew.”
“Somewhere along the line, prog became a dirty word,” Gosney extends. “But it means progressive, and we’re always looking for ways to evolve and for different things to inspire us. Everyone’s at the top of their game, and it’s become a very circular thing – it pushes us all to be better.
“There’s an attitude to the band; we are constantly trying to improve and move forward. We still want to be unpredictable, but we’ve also learnt to go with our gut.”
One year after their debut EP 'Apricity', they’d already notched performances at Download, ArcTanGent, 2000 Trees, and Radar festivals. With a follow-up EP slated for the autumn, and an album in 2026, a fast-paced opening salvo is only just the beginning.
“It all came together at Download,” says Massaad. “I remember looking out at the packed tent before we went on thinking, ‘Shit. People are into this.’ We wouldn’t want to grow at a quicker rate. There's something to be said for enjoying the journey, playing sweaty venues and savouring those moments. And that’s what we’ve done.”
- Phil Weller
PROG FILE
LINE-UP Josh McKeown (vocals), Rabea Massaad (guitars), Joe Gosney (guitars), Liam Kearley (drums), Rory McLean (bass)
SOUNDS LIKE Adventurous British metal that puts Karnivool, Tool, and modern, lawless prog into an emotionally turbulent melting pot
CURRENT RELEASE 'A Storm Lined With Silver' is out now, and is self-released
WEBSITE Music | VOWER