Embarking on his musical journey at the age of 13, the self-taught musician immersed himself in a variety of instruments, which set the foundation for his musical development. Honing his craft, Venetian saw success in bands, such as We Are Saviours & Leokai and went on to share stages with musical icons such as Iggy Azelea and McBusted. Shifting his focus to his solo career, Venetian is determined to carve his own lane in the music industry and put his passion forward through the embodiment of his lifetime of music and broad styles. The hotly tipped musician has received staunch support for ‘Feel Me’ already, after entering the track in the Spinnin’ Records competition. After placing second, Venetian decided this was the perfect cut to establish his new sound and serve as a taster of what is to come from the multi talented singer, songwriting producer.
THE INTERVIEW
CR: Hello Venetian, Glad to have you on Canadianravers how are you doing?
V: “Not going to lie here, I love Canada. You guys are great! I’m amazing, thank you.”
CR: What is a typical day in the life of Venetian?
V: “I mean I swear every morning I have Frosties… think I’ve got a problem. I guess my days are made up of chilling with friends, working on tracks in the studio and then throwing a little gaming in there too. Weekends? Get me into a club or festival and I’m a happy guy.
If the weather's snowy enough I may go snowboarding at our local place too, I used to teach that at one point. Need a lesson just hit me up.
There’s also those moments where I look at my hair and think...is it time? Is it time to kill the bun?
Nah, bun for life bro.”
CR: Tell us a little bit of story behind the track ‘Feel Me’ from the writing, producing, and the inspiration? We also wanted to know if the vocals were your own.
V: “So there I was, staring at my screen, waiting for ‘inspiration’ to come give my face a lickin’ and that’s when I noticed the Spinnin’ Records competition hosted by Breathe Carolina (whom I love).
They basically said you had to use some of their samples in a track so I thought, why not? I had time to kill and needed an excuse to spend even longer working in the studio.
The track went big! It got that much recognition that it was listed as 2nd on the competitions chart. We’re still waiting on the Breathe Carolina boys to actually pick a winner but end at the spot is a huge
I then thought I should probably release this, so I got working on the track.
2016 hours, 5 beard trims and enough demo’s to cover the car ride from England to you lot and we had the finished ‘Feel Me’.
I’m pretty sure my close friends hate me as I’d send them a ‘new’ demo after spending my day tweaking the pianos, changing a few notes here and there, thinking it was a big deal.
The vocals are all mine, I sang it in so many different ways but we all decided the whole futuristic pop vibe was the way to go with this. You can probably hear it but I got trigger happy with the pitch-shifted harmonies (no regrets?).”
CR: We saw the music video that is featured with the track and got an edgy side to it, how did the idea behind that style of music video come to life?
V: “I like stories, in fact, I love stories. Now I couldn’t get to a hotel in Long Beach to shoot any scenes, so we made do with Birmingham city. The idea is me and the girl I'm flexing are just walking around laughing at bad jokes when those pointy masks guys roll up and kidnap us. The story is about me fighting (and dancing?) through them to get to her.
Then there’s a lil twist at the end…
I’m pulling a ‘shock’ face, I hope you are too
We worked with LG Vision (WHO WERE INCREDIBLE), who took the storyboard I had and turned it into reality. They’ve worked with some big names over here and are great at giving something that gritty, edgy vibe.”
CR: We noticed you have been producing for a while and your style of music was different from your previous work, what made you change your style?
V: “Hey! You heard my old stuff! I don’t want to be that guy but ‘The Tallest Mountain’ is totally my favourite, that boy always gets the max volume treatment.
There was this phase where I went all Disney, must have been something in our water…
To be real with you, I never really changed my style, but rather evolved. The more I wrote, the better I got at producing and the better I got at creating songs, to a point where I could create what I was visualizing in my head. Don’t get me wrong I still hear ideas in my head that I know I’ll learn to create in the future.. I’d say I’m pretty versatile in terms of what I make as it depends on how I’m feeling the day I sit in the studio. I’ve never sat down and set out to make a certain ‘style’ of song.
In reality, most of the releases sounded completely different to when I first created them, it all really depended on what was happening in my life at that very moment and whether or not I had a good - or bad - day. The crazy part is if you asked me to recreate the track, I wouldn’t be able to, because I can’t replicate those emotions without experiencing them at that moment. “
CR: We know the Dance scene is huge in the UK, how did that influence you as an artist? Also, which club in the UK is your favourite to attend.
V: “I’ve always been into dance music (and about 24242 of the sub-genres of it too). Growing up I listened to so many different artists and genres. If we’re talking the dance side of things, Calvin Harris, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Tritonal, Kwassa, Martin Garrix...I could go on for ages, but listening to all of these at parties, club nights, festivals made me want to get into this genre of music. I love the energy, the whole unsolicited bop that you start doing without even realizing it, the way it can make a great night go from “yeah same again next week?” to “ahhhhhhhh yeahhh!” My favourite club used to be Gatecrasher but that place was shut down, though there’s some crazy venues in Manchester though! The O2 academies over here are always ace too.
CR: Who inspired you to become a Producer/ DJ and If you weren’t a Producer/DJ what would your other career option be?
V: “I started music when I was 13 on a Casio keyboard playing the tutorial for some Beethoven song a million times over. Over the years I self-taught myself a few instruments and there was this band, You Me At Six fronted by Josh Franceschi. They were not dance or edm at all, but that’s what made me push harder in music than ever before. We all have artists that inspired and pushed us - without them ever knowing - in our childhoods, these guys were (and still are) mine. There were other people I met through my life that gave me more inspiration and helped get me in the right direction when I was younger too, as well as teaching me how to produce music ( shoutout to Bryce Pain and Nick Hollis)
And my alter-ego’s career? I actually wanted to be a vet when I was super young because you know, animals are great. “
CR: As we are all in a lockdown are there any genres that are inspiring you to create your next tracks?
V: Summer is coming and the boredom of lockdown is leaving me needing some amp in my life, so a lot of my playlists are made up of big floorfiller tracks at the moment. I want the next release to be another upbeat stepper so I’m clouding my brain with that genre at the moment.
CR: Are there any UK based artists that you would love to collaborate with in the future?
V: Ah, there’s loads I’m loving at the moment, but to name a few. L Devine, Clean Bandit, Jax Jones, Kwassa, Sigala...
CR: What are some of your goals for 2021, anything our followers should know about?
V: See, the crazy thing about having all this free time, is the amount of music I’m creating. I’ve been going hard to get my favourites finished and ready for release this year. We’re looking at dropping something this summer with a huge (who knows what) happening in the 2nd half of the year!
Lighting Round for Venetian
Texting or talking? Texting
Coffee or tea? Tea
Hard liquor or Wine? Hard liquor
Cake or pie? Cake
Hot dogs or hamburgers I’m veggie so...urrm….veggie burgers?
Xbox or PlayStation? Xbox
Movie theatre or arcade? Movies
Guitar or piano? Piano
Marvel or DC Comics? Marvel
Dog or cat? Dog
Hot weather or cold weather? Hot
CONNECT WITH VENETIAN
