ON a recent Thursday evening, the members of the local rock trio Vultures Await gathered at their central San Jose practice pad, which doubles as the home of drummer Anthony Scott. From the street the dark green single story building looks no different from any of the other houses in the area, but walk inside and it becomes clear that this house exists in an entirely different world. This is a darkened lair of rock & roll.

The dimly lit interior of a small living room is covered floor to ceiling with posters, flags and other forms of homage to the gods of rock: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Motorhead. Guitars of various denominations line the walls, as does a huge hand-painted tapestry that bears the Vultures Await moniker. Two enormous amplifier stacks sit a few feet apart. Adjacent to the living room is a narrow hallway which, incredibly, is fitted with Scott's full size drumset on one side, complete with a massive gong hanging overhead. Against the other wall, a bookshelf stands loaded with an assortment of rock-related trinkets, plastic skulls and Godzilla figurines.

The amplifiers are turned on, and a low hum reverberates through the house, warning anyone inside of the impending explosion of sound. Guitar and bass are tuned, and drum heads are tightened. I take a seat on the couch, propping myself on a Jimi Hendrix pillow as Vultures Await begins to rehearse.

The band, looking '70s in sideburns and worn-out jeans, dives into a gritty power riff, and I'm instantly transported back in time to the golden age of hard rock. The sound emanating from the amplifiers is bluesy, gutsy garage rock a la Zeppelin, Hendrix and Sabbath. Guitarist Steve McAulay's cream-colored Stratocaster delivers an earth-shattering snarl while Scott pounds out a huge, plodding drum beat that marches forward from some dark, primeval universe. Singer/bassist Matt Tognetti issues a rumbling bass line as he approaches the microphone to sing; his voice, part Ozzy, part Delta bluesman, is perfectly matched to the music swirling around him. McAulay engages his wah-wah pedal and launches into a screaming guitar solo as the song escalates into a romping slab of rock & roll ecstasy.

Later, we're sitting around a table on the back patio, talking music. Cigarettes are lit, beers are cracked open. "The thing about rock music is that everything's already been done," McAulay says. "So to make a song original, you have to be able to piece together a bunch of different things and then make them your own."

The conversation turns to the state of modern rock, and perhaps surprisingly, the three musicians are pretty optimistic. "The Internet has completely changed the music industry," says McAulay. "Even 10 years ago, things were really different. Now you can record yourself, put your songs online for millions to hear and sell your own music—that's pretty good for small bands." Tognetti points out that the days of sending out demos to record labels in hopes of a paycheck are long gone, but adds that "if you're in it for the money, then you're barking up the wrong tree."

Vultures Await came together a few years ago as remnants of two deceased bands, and originally a fourth member handled the vocal duties. But soon the group was cut down to its current lineup, with Tognetti taking over on the microphone. With a debut album in the works and a handful of gigs under their belts, including a few stints opening for metal powerhouse High on Fire, the trio are poised and ready to emerge from their darkened lair. The Vultures Await name was Scott's idea: "I was joking around with my buddies and I told them that I drink so much, vultures follow me around waiting for me to die."

While it's easy to pinpoint some of the obvious influences that permeate the Vultures Await sound, the band is also intriguing because, in reality, they don't clearly resemble anybody. "We all have so many different bands we like across all genres, when we come together and write songs they usually end up being pretty original," says Tognetti.

"At the end of the day, if we like it, then we'll play it—we're not trying to please anybody," adds Scott. "But we've found that people seem enjoy the stuff we come up with."

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