Our latest Track Of The Day is from hot new Swedish glam/sleaze sensations Vanity Blvd, whose album Rock’N’Roll Overdose received a rave review in Classic Rock issue 138. Click here for previous Tracks Of The Day.

Geoff Barton talked to Vanity Blvd’s guitarist, the delightfully named Traci Trexx.

Tell us how Vanity Blvd began – didn’t you originally have a female bass player?
The band started in 2005. It was our singer Cindi [Savage] and the original bass player, my little sister Roxxy, who wanted to start a band. They were looking for a guitarist, so they asked me, and I brought along my drummer Frecko from our 70s psychedelic rock band. Yes, Roxxy played bass in on the studio album. She quit the band right after we finished the album though, so my old friend Ted took over the bass (we used to play in a prog-hippie band together about 10 years ago). But we have a new bass player now, Marty. He’s a very talented bass player, which I’m very proud of, and he has a lot of energy on stage.

How would you describe Vanity Blvd’s music?
It’s classic rock-style music, old-school glam, with some blues influences and AOR as well. We try to incorporate everything from Mötley Crüe and Kiss to classic Led Zeppelin, Whitesnake and Journey, which shows in our songs like Since U Been Gone and Come Dance With Me. We like to mix different types of styles into our music: everything from blues to classic rock, glam, AOR, hard rock and heavy metal, and we want that to come out in our songs.

How would you describe Cindi’s vocal style and abilities as a frontwoman?
She’s such an amazing frontwoman. She gives me and the audience major goose bumps! Her main influence is David Coverdale… you could say she’s the female answer to Coverdale… except much cuter, ha-ha! Her vocals are very unique and strong with a lot of power, and they fit perfectly into Vanity’s music. She also contributes great lyrics, with a lot of depth and feeling.

There seems to be a vast proliferation of ‘glam’ oriented bands in Sweden – why is this?
Yes, there has always been a big rock culture in Sweden since the early 80s, a strong hard rock base, and a lot of people seem to like glam and sleaze. It became really big after Mötley released The Dirt and toured big again. Finally, people started to realise what great music was all about.

You hail from the Swedish town of Avesta, which seems to be in the middle of nowhere. Tell us something about your hometown.
Avesta is a great town about 15 Swedish miles from Stockholm. We’re famous for manufacturing stainless steel here – much like Sheffield in the UK. We also have a lot of famous musicians from around here. Like Georg Wadenius, the guitar player from Blood Sweat & Tears, and Jonas Kjellgren from Scar Symmetry. And I used to go to school with two members from The Hives.

Apart from your more obvious influences (Mötley Crüe, Kiss) we’re notice that you’re also into Billy Idol and Sandi Saraya. Can you explain how those two influenced you?
They are great musicians; they have an amazing groove. I want to try to capture that feeling and put it into our music. I’m fascinated by Billy Idol, particularly the rhythms in White Wedding and Dancing With Myself – the way the bass and drums work together. And I’m deeply fascinated by Steve Stevens’ riffs. Saraya’s debut [1989] is one of my absolute favourite albums of all time, with great songs like Love Has Taken Its Toll and Running Out Of Time that totally blow my mind.

Have you heard of 1994, the band fronted by Karen Lawrence? If so, would you count them as an influence too?
No! I have not heard that much of them, but I will check them out for sure.

Who are your favourite Swedish bands?
I don’t have that many favourite bands from Sweden, but I always been a fan of Electric Boys, John Norum, Atomic Swing, Entombed and some old Swedish death metal acts.

Have you ever played outside Sweden? Do you have any plans to come to the UK? If so, how do you think you would be received?
Yes! We have played in Italy, and the response was overwhelming, and we will soon play in Finland as well. Yes, we would love to come and play in the UK, but we have no shows booked yet, hopefully, that will happen in the near future.

What are your plans for the future?
Play like hell, and make people happy with our rock’n'roll. Play in as many countries as possible. Record the next Vanity Blvd album that will be a total blast for 80s glam/sleaze fans around the world.

Any other comments you wish to add?
We just hope that people will take the time and check us out, because we got some great music to offer people. Rock on!

You can download Vanity Blvd’s brilliant song Talk Of The Town for free here. Just watch out for those renegade teenagers armed with guitars and hairspray!

For more info go to: www.vanityblvd.com and www.myspace.com/vanityblvd

Oh yeah… and you can see a video for Talk Of The Town here. Warning: you better have a bucket of cold water to hand while you watch it… we shall say no more.