Two years ago, promising Kent pop-rockers Venture delivered their debut EP, ‘Away’. Its energetic blend of upbeat songs and soaring hooks had plenty of appeal, yet like a lot of independent bands, being a musician doesn’t pay the bills and, for the most part, the band disappeared out of sight. Nevertheless, Venture have soldiered on and are now returning with a double A-side single called ‘You/Me’. Ahead of its release this Friday (August 25th), Already Heard is premiering the full single.
Picking up where ‘Away’, the two-track effort is an infectious, catchy pairing as the quartet, consisting of Luke Burgess (vocal/guitar), Alex Jeffries (guitar), Chris Livings (bass) and Mike Lloyd (drums), take their cues from some of “Brit Rock”’s most influential names; Deaf Havana, Kids In Glass Houses and You Me At Six.
In addition to premiering the single, we briefly spoke to the band about what’s happened in the intervening years, the connection between both songs, and future plans.
AH: It’s been over two years since you released the ‘Away’ EP. Can you bring us up to speed with what Venture has been up to since?
Venture: Well we spent a lot of time saving the world as part of the Avengers, however, our characters didn’t really make the cut. Brows, Neckman, LongLegs and CuddlesMcBeardyMan apparently didn’t sound cool enough and our costumes were kinda weak.
In all seriousness, we have been working hard behind the scenes, writing and playing shows when we can. But life took over, we lost two members due to their taste in music changing and they are now in an incredible band that we love going to see and play with. We have been fortunate to welcome Mike and Chris, new additions to the Venture family and we have been working on finding the right sound and dynamic that is going to inspire us and push us forward. It’s all about keeping it fresh with our sounds, melodies, different parts and that style that we are still in love with from 2011!
AH: We’re premiering your new double A-Side single, ‘You/Me’. How has the band’s sound developed on these two tracks from ‘Away’?
Venture: The band focused a lot more on what serves the song. In between our secret missions (and going out for drinks with Thor and the lads) we wanted to make sure that we weren’t over doing it, not killing the song for the sake of our own ego kind of thing? We have focused on an upbeat vibe, rhythms that make you tap along and hopefully melodies that you hum in your head over and over until people in the nearby surrounding areas hate you.
AH: It’s clear both tracks are supposed to be paired together. Lyrically, what’s the connection between them?
Venture: We focused on a concept. ‘You’ was written about that initial connection. It was very reflective of something that I (Luke) had experienced at the time. Looking for something seemed to make it harder to find so I gave up, and then all of a sudden someone and something really positive enters your life, and you’ve got to make the right decisions.
‘Me’ was almost a counter-balance to the previous track. It was still about making that connection but it was about seeing not just the positives in that person. The area and country that we live in seem to have an attitude of “let it all out at the weekend” and party mentality. The false smiles and pictures that you see happening. You recognise it in the looks that people give you, yet are also part of it. It was also about recognising that you’re not perfect yourself and that as a person negative traits are something that you have to accept and run the risk of being upfront about… but in the best most pop-rock way that we could imagine!
AH: From looking at your Facebook, these songs were recorded nearly a year ago. How come they’re only just seeing the light of day?
Venture: We needed and wanted to wait for the right moment. Being completely honest we were showing people within the industry that we trusted and wanted to work with, but the inevitable “oh sorry we can’t help you anymore” happened. We were offered a deal if we could write a lot of songs in a short amount of time, so we worked around the clock 5-6 nights a week writing and came up with enough for an album and another EP. So we now have a lot of music that we are sitting on but are yet to record. We are very very excited to share it with people and are now really comfortable with our process for writing and creating our own sound. Positive things have definitely come out of it, and now it is time for us to play as many shows as we can.
AH: Beyond ‘You/Me’, what else does Venture have in the works?
Venture: As alluded to in the above answer, we have either an album or several EP’s that we want to record and release over the next year or so. But mainly we are going to be working on playing as many shows as we can. We want to find a way to go above and beyond, time and financially. It’s going to be all about taking risks, finding the people that will truly believe in our band and the music, and incorporate everyone that we can into the Venture Family.
‘You/Me’ by Venture is released on 25th August.
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