Orlando rockers Magnolia Park play a vampy homecoming show at the Beacham

Rise, Orlando vampires, and enter Nocturne Nexus, a shadowed realm where an ancient darkness stirs.

This fictional urban cityscape sets the scene for Magnolia Park’s new album, VAMP.

Orlando-native punk band Magnolia Park play a homecoming show at the Beacham Friday, with support from Hot Milk, South Arcade and Savage Hands. They’re out on tour commemorating the album’s release.

VAMP is an adventurous new chapter in Magnolia Park’s discography, showing off bold songwriting from a band that have dramatically evolved from their early pop-punk roots.

The new songs incorporate heavier sounds and dive deep into the gothic lore of the album’s concept.

For Magnolia Park, the album is more than just the music. “It’s about this group of vampires and their battle against this oppressive government entity called the Shadow Cult,” says Freddie Criales, one of Magnolia Park’s two guitarists and founding members.

VAMP follows Aurora X1, a half-human, half-cyborg warrior who leads a rebel group called the Shadow Breakers. To combat the Shadow Cult’s sinister magic, the Shadow Breakers transform into vampires through a ritual with the mythical bloodstone.

The band’s website features an immersive page dedicated to the larger VAMP universe. Fans can trek through the various locations of the world, learn about the characters, their backstories and abilities, and read the ongoing story, which currently has two published chapters.

The inspiration behind VAMP came after guitarist Tristan Torres showed the group the 1985 Japanese anime Vampire Hunter D. Much like the world of VAMP, Vampire Hunter D is set in a post-apocalyptic future. It follows vampire hunter D, a half-human, half-vampire, as he protects Doris Lang from becoming the bride of Count Magnus Lee, an old and powerful vampire of the Great Nobility.

“It’s really cool. It’s futuristic, but it’s also archaic in its aesthetics. It’s really cool. It’s really weird,” Criales says.

It isn’t the only instance where the group has found inspiration for their music through other media.

“We like anime, so we’ll think of an anime or sometimes, at least for me personally, I’ll look at a videogame. Like I’ll go on Pinterest, look up a videogame, see what the videogame was about and see if I can draw any inspiration from that,” Criales says.

Ahead of their homecoming show and as part of Record Store Day 2025 last weekend, Magnolia Park gave local fans another treat when they partnered with Park Ave CDs for a meet-and-greet and signing event.

“It’s pretty important, I think, showing some love to the people that give you the ability to even do this at all. It’s pretty crucial to show appreciation,” Criales explains.

Magnolia Park hits 25 cities across the country on the VAMP touring run.

“Every city in the U.S. is kind of strange. I always think of it more as regions, like the Southeast has its own vibe,” Criales says. “When you get to Boston, New York, New Jersey, it’s way more of a different vibe. People are more to themselves, they mosh and stuff, but I think people kind of go crazier when you get to, like, California, Texas, that area. So, just different energies is what I noticed the most.”

The band has set aside working on any new music to focus on the production of their tour over the last few months.

“We’ve pretty much been taking time off to focus on creating the best show possible, which I think we have right now. We got more production with the lights, we got statues, we got coffins that kind of set the vibe and the aesthetic,” Criales teases.

There’s an air of comfort in returning to Orlando to play a show.

“It’s nice because we get to see all of our friends, and our friends and family come out, which is always really cool,” Criales says. “I also just love playing in Orlando because I can see how every time we play here, more and more people come out.”

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This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2025.