VENUS - Questions for the Band
This weeks Questions for the Band features Venus Grrrls, I caught up with them just a few weeks ago. As usual I will let them introduce themselves.
A gentle start, for those that don't know the band that well, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves ?
We are 5-piece all girl rock band from Leeds, promoting the participation and inclusion of women in alternative music, as well as a safer, diverse music scene. Aiming to bring a positive energy of feminism and activism through hard hitting alternative rock and punk influenced music. We formed in the back end of 2018, we have Grace Kelly on vocals & rhythm guitar, Jess Ayres on lead guitar, Hannah Barraclough on bass, Gabby Cooke on drums and Grace Stubbings on synth.
What is your writing process ? is it music or lyrics first ?
Our writing process is very fluid. Sometimes our songwriting process will start from a demo one of us has put together, sometimes from improvising together or someone will bring in some lyrics, loose chords or riffs and then we all build on them as a collective.
Which artists/bands do you draw your music inspiration from ?
We have a lot of artists that inspire us as we all listened to such different music. Some bands that we listened as a collective are Bikini Kill, Garbage, Dream Wife, L7 and Rosetta Tharpe. The Riot grrrl movement is a massive influence on us as a band and is what brought us together. “Riot Grrrl” was a movement in musical history that is once again not spoken about often enough. Particularly because it gave lgbt+ creatives a safe space to explore art. This had a knock on effect throughout the entire industry, and hopefully means some lgbt+ creatives now feel safer in the industry despite there being loads more work to be done. This movement has definitely allowed us to feel safer as musicians in the industry and has allowed us to write music with more ease than we could have before the movement. It was actually a riot grrrl band, Bikini Kill who brought us together and set us on the path that we are on today. During one of our first rehearsals, we learnt ‘Rebel Girl’ and we still play this cover at our shows. It’s a song that means a lot to us.
What do you enjoy most about being in a band ? And least ?
My favourite part is being able to travel with my four best friends. Not many people can say that. I’m so grateful for the promoters and the gig goers who make touring possible. I guess my least favourite part is when you’re away from home for long periods of time, you may miss out on family events.
What are you doing to cope and get through lockdown ? Any tips for others ?
I am keeping busy by exercising. Going on loads of different walks in the area and gardening. I’ve also been introduced to loads of new bands during this time so I’ve been catching up with new releases. Something that I have found has helped is organising weekly video chats with the rest of VENUS. This has been very productive and its just super nice to catch up with everyone.
If you could choose to support any band who would it be and why ?
We would LOVE to support Dream Wife. They are such an important band to us right now and we love their music.
Tell me, how do you interact and respond to fans ?
We try to interact with our fans as much as possible, I’ve been running the twitter and engaging in conversations with people throughout Covid, as I feel this personal interaction helps with engagement of the band and I just really enjoy talking to people.
Given our current living situation with Covid -19, what are your plans for the rest of the year ?
Everything is still up in the air at the moment. However we are hoping to get in the studio and release our next single. This will be followed by some shows in October and November. We are scheduled to play Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh on 23rd of October, The Hug and Pint in Glasgow on the 24th of October and Live at Leeds on the 28th of November.
And finally if you could each choose only one album to listen to for the rest of your life, what would it be?
There’s so many that we would choose. But as a band, we have got to say Garbage by Garbage as this is such an influential album for us.
Huge thanks to Grace for this fantastic insight into VENUS, fingers crossed that their gigs later in the year can go ahead, after discovering them a few months ago when they released their EP Wicked Things they have been on my must see list.
Venus Grrrls can be followed via their website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify:
https://www.facebook.com/VENUSGRRRLS/
https://instagram.com/venusgrrrls?igshid=bpjxj4zi5u4q
https://twitter.com/VENUSGRRRLS
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ZmtxfuEtTsKgKEiM42jQ9?si=OgBBuNkgQsi1kr9bKbvetA