“I find music is an amazing way to express yourself, to tell stories and take people to a better place,” the band’s multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Rose said this week.

“We like to help people have a good time and inspire them in different ways,” the 2009 Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year winner said.

“Just look at Fela Kuti who described music as a weapon.”

As a youngster Rose was attracted to the vocal qualities and the aesthetics of the saxophone, now playing alto, tenor and soprano saxophone along with the clarinet.

 It was after rubbing shoulders with professional jazz musicians while a student at North Sydney Boys High School that he fell head over heels with the sounds of jazz.

“I think the best music is able to obtain a certain amount of complexity but still remaining simple enough for anyone to understand,” he said of the groups travel down the aural paths of dub reggae, afro-Peruvian, afro Cuban, Balkan and afrobeat soundscapes.

In fact the group have travelled extensively through the Americas, bringing home new inspirations and approaches to music.

“Cuba is incredible,” Rose said.

“The people have this really jubilant, joyful culture.

“While I was there I saw that music can be an integral part of a culture, where everyone learns to sing and dance, and I really took that away with me when I left,” he said.

Rose said that while proceeds from their music do not fund vampires directly, they do have an affinity for the TV series True Blood, which the band watched while on tour.

“We came up with the name before the whole Twilight resurgence of vampires,” Rose said with a laugh.

“It actually comes from the jazz term ‘to vamp’, which means to repeat a part like a bass line.”

Rose holds an Honours degree in Jazz Saxophone from the Sydney Conservatorium and has studied around the world including London, Oslo, and New York.

The Vampires hit the stage this Sunday from 2pm, at the Four Winds Windsong Pavillion, Barragga Bay.​