Sydney's eclectic seven piece New Venusians have just released their latest single 'Get along' in the lead up to their debut genre-bending self titled album, coming out next month. Tomatrax caught up with Ben Panucci, the bands guitarist, to ask a few questions.
How did the band form?
We were all sick and tired of living on earth under the dictatorship of the conservative far right and it's inhumane regime so we thought we would escape to Venus (one of the few places in our galaxy that still accepts refugees) and make music for earth that might help sooth its soul.
Your debut album will be coming out next month, what's it like to have it finished?
It's been finished for a while now and it's a great feeling to look at a tangible object full of noises and things and know that it represents a lot of hard work and fun times. It's also really annoying as its sitting there and no one can listen to it until it is released in March!
'Get Along' mixes rock, hip hop, and jazz, is it hard to get the different styles to work together?
I think it could be hard if you were trying to do it on purpose, but it didn't really come together like that. Like all our songs, it started as a guitar and voice thing, and then the band put its grubby Venusian hands on it and that's how it came out. It reflects our approach to interpreting a song as a band/collective personality as opposed to us purposefully trying to mix genres.
How will the rest of the album compare with 'Get along'?
It will be like 'Get Along' but also not 'Get Along' as it isn't 'Get Along'; but we really hope people will have a listen and enjoy the album, even if it is probably a bit more challenging than 'Get Along' musically...and then hopefully people will want to get along to one of our live shows.
What made you decide to make the album self titled?
It's easier than thinking of a name and for this album, a name didn't seem necessary.
Do you ever listen to your own music?
We listen to it over and over again when writing, rehearsing, recording, mixing and mastering and playing it live...and then sometimes showing people too. But in down time, no. That's not because we aren't happy with it, there's just soooo much music on earth we still haven't heard that we are sure will make us happy.
What music do you listen to?
Pretty much anything and everything.
What do you have planned after the album is released?
Play gigs, write new music, record new music, release new music, repeat.
