Since the release of their debut album “The Circus” in 2009, The Venetia Fair have been hot on the scene with their unique pastiche of sound that touches on pop to punk – hardcore to jazz. Imagine The Used meets Foxy Shazam combined with Panic At The Disco’s first album and you might have something as unique and influential as The Venetia Fair. The band just released their second album, entitled “Every Sick, Disgusting Thought We’ve Got In Our Brain,” partially funded by Kickstarter. The band had a few thoughts on their new album:
“’Every Sick, Disgusting Thought We’ve Got In Our Brain’ is 13 of the best songs we’ve ever written. We knew we were going to work with Steve Sopchak at The Square Studio again the second we got the first mix of The Pits back; and he went far above and beyond our expectations this time. It’s bigger than anything we’ve ever done. We tracked all sorts of horns and strings and extra percussion and now this thing is just a massive beast of an album but with a real focus on making each song stand strong on its own. It makes The Pits sound like a toy and we love The Pits!”
We got a chance to talk to them a little more about ESDTWGIOB, what life on the road is like, meditating and what’s coming up next.
How did you come up with the name The Venetia Fair?
Venetia Phair was a young girl when she named the planet Pluto “Pluto” (I think her name was actually Venetia Burney back then but that wouldn’t have made a very good band name). Then she got old, scientists decided Pluto wasn’t a planet anymore, we named our band after her with a slight tweak to the spelling[.]
When did you first realize music is what you wanted to do? Was this a first choice career?
My [Lead vocalist Benny Santoro’s] mother saved a flyer I made with Corel Print House when I was 7 years old that said “I am starting a band. So far, I am the only member.” I don’t think I knew how to play any instruments or anything, I just knew I wanted to be in a band.
What message are you trying to share with your music?
We’re not really into messages. If people find some message in our music, it probably wasn’t put there for them. I write songs about me pretty exclusively and anything that people relate to or any philosophy that finds its way in there is still just me talking about me and not some attempt at getting anything across to anyone ever. I could be all alone screaming my life story into the ether of space and it would feel the same to me. But it would look a lot weirder to you.
How would you describe your sound?
It’s rock music because the guitars are distorted and the drums are played very loudly. I sing a lot so that crosses a whole handful of genres off the list. It’s dramatic and theatric and big and the piano is a very large part of the sound. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but it’s never really funny at all, like we’re not a ska band. That’s the best I can do, really.
Who would you like to work with in the future?
We really like working with nerds. The music industry (and maybe every industry) is full of ’em but they’re sorta hard to find and we love ’em because they generally have disproportionately small egos compared to their talents. It’s realllllyy easy to find the opposite. People that think and carry themselves as if they’re really good at things when they’re not that good at things. We hate those people. We might be those people but we hate them also.
What are 5 fun facts from the road?
1. I never drive the van because I fall asleep very easily in any sort of car.
2. Mr. Chark sometimes fuses his body and soul with the van and can drive for like 30 hours straight and when this happens he barks at anyone who tries to get in the drivers seat.
3. Sleeping in the van (and generally just being in the van) is not what you think it is, it’s way better. Sometimes I sleep in the van outside of people’s houses and they don’t get why I wouldn’t be leaping at the opportunity to sleep on their disgusting couch or hard wood floors instead of my fucking BED in the van. Also, while we drive we have power and internet and I really don’t need much else to kill time on a 30 hour drive.
4. We travel with 7 camp chairs, 5 razor scooters, and one enormous pellet gun at all times.
5. Our wonderful publicists at Catalyst Publicity Group keep getting mad at us because we act like children all the time and say a lot of stuff we’re not supposed to both privately and publicly.
What’s your favorite part of playing live?
I’ve really been trying to figure out if I like to slither or perch more and I really don’t know that I can choose. I really like doing both of those things. Other than that, I just like when people like my band and I can see that they like it. Singing along, dancing, smiling, pointing at something cool happening on stage, taking pictures, videos, really anything at all that shows they like me.
How do you mentally prepare before show? And how do you unwind after?
I spend usually about an hour before we play kind of in a weird, involuntary meditation where I don’t speak or look at anyone. Sometimes I fall asleep during this time. Occasionally someone will approach me and I try my best to be friendly but I feel like I always look like a jerk BUT I’M NOT A JERK. After we play, I’m VERY talkative and just want to talk to everyone about everything. I’m literally the opposite of before show me. Then to unwind, I change out of my wet, gross clothes and climb into the back bench of the van either blast around the internet or play a v-game or something.
What else do you have coming up?
We’re gonna be on the road until we die. Some pretty exciting things in the works but nothing set in stone so keep an eye on our f[reakin’] pages.
What other pursuits do you have outside of music?
Some of us build things, some of us record bands, Mike runs a record label, some of us are taking classes, we do a bunch of shit but we mostly just work on this band. It’s definitely a full time job the way we do it and doesn’t leave a lot of time for much else. Our girlfriends are always mad at us.
What can you tell others pursuing the same career?
I have no idea what to tell others, I don’t know shit about anything, I couldn’t even begin to give advice. Just don’t be pussies.
What 5 bands or songs are you currently listening to on your iPod?
I don’t have an ipod. I mostly listen to the comedy stations on pandora on my iPhone but I’ve been getting into the bands that Mike has been working with … like The Wicked, Ramsey, Flannel Mouth, Old Sake. My best friend put out an album a little bit ago that is…brilliant, he’s called Old Best Friend, we’re playing with him in about a week in Long Island so that’s really good. And of course Rock Lobster by the B-52s never gets taken out of the playlist.