All About The Vighkings

The Vighkings are a hard rock band out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The band released their first single(Lately), on March 24th, 2022, off of their debut album; Absolute Zero. Members of the band surprisingly consist of two brothers, and their father. Gregory Nicholas, is the lead guitarist and vocalist for the rock n' roll group. Sam Nicholas, is the drummer for the rock trio. Garth Nicholas, their father, is the bassist for The Vighkings and frequently sings backup vocals for the band.

The band was initially formed in 2015 with members Gregory Nicholas, Sam Nicholas, and Garth Nicholas. They had played a few small venue and small audience shows before 2022, but had not officially released any material. It was on March 24th that the first single was released on YouTube(as well as other platforms).

The Vighkings play heavy, head-banging songs, as well as some softer ones that include piano or songs that simply have a slower tempo. The Vighkings are without doubt a Hard Rock band. Certain songs could also be classified as heavy metal, soft rock, and even punk and grunge music.This band wants to bring back hard rock n' roll music to the world. There weren’t too many hard rock groups in 2022, but one group that certainly rocks, is The Vighkings.

#### **History**

In 2015, Gregory Nicholas got his first electric guitar. It was a kid-sized fender squier guitar, but it really inspired Gregory to learn to play. In 2017, Sam Nicholas received his first set of “real” drums. They were electric drums and came through an amplifier. At this point in time, the band did not have a bass player! Garth Nicholas actually played backup guitar for the group up until the year 2020! He played a Gibson Les Paul guitar. The band did well with two guitarists and no bassist, however there was just something missing from the songs and the band knew what that was...

The original plan was for Gregory to play bass! They bought the bass and everything! Gregory played bass for about a month in late 2020, but in early 2021, Garth tried the bass for one session and the band never looked back.

In 2020, the pandemic struck. There was a lot of worry and concern but also a lot of "private time." The band worked hard on their music and after two years of nothing, The Vighkings released Lately.

Lately was posted on YouTube in the early morning of March 24th, 2022. It got hundreds of views in just the first few hours of its release!

#### **Influence and Style**

The Vighkings are without question a rock band but there are many different sub-genres within the genre and The Vighkings cover almost all of those sub-genres. The Vighkings play a lot of what is considered hard rock, the likes of Guns N' Roses or Led Zeppelin. They also play some slower and quiet tunes, softer rock, like Fleetwood Mac or Queen songs. The Vighkings also have some punk or grunge songs, not too dissimilar to The Offspring or Nirvana, as well as some heavy songs, bands like Metallica. Overall, The Vighkings are considered Hard Rock.

The Vighkings were heavily influenced by the hard rock band out of Los Angeles, California; Guns N' Roses. Guns N' Roses are most famous for their debut album entitled “Appetite for Destruction,” also their singer, Axl Rose, and their guitarist, Slash. Slash was a huge influence on Gregory Nicholas and his guitar playing. In the year 2020, The Vighkings performed their variation of the GNR classics; “Sweet Child O' Mine,” and “You Could Be Mine.” Other bands such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin had a large impact on the band as well, but none as big as Guns N' Roses.

#### **Members**

The Vighkings are constructed of three members:

Gregory Nicholas: Lead Guitarist and Lead Vocalist

Sam Nicholas: Drum Kit

Garth Nicholas: Bass Guitar and Backup Vocals

#### **Albums**

The Vighkings debut album is entitled Absolute Zero. It is a thirteen track album. The second track of the album is also entitled Absolute Zero and the group decided that that would be a good title track.