Liverpool newcomers Venus Demilo were founded in 2014. Their infectious indie rock sound is dominated by catchy vocal melodies, ethereal guitar playing and haunting electronic sounds, which has seen them comparable to household names of the genre such as Foals and Bombay Bicycle Club.

Over the past year, the band have been making waves and creating a storm playing alongside More Than Conquerors, Bad Grammar, Beaty Heart and The Pigeon Detectives.

We thought it was time that musicmuso caught up with them to chat about life love and just about everything in-between, here's how we got on....

 

 

 

Hi guys, please would you tell us a little bit about the band?

We're an indie-rock band based in the city of Liverpool, made up of Tom Anderson (vocals, guitar), Reuben Hobson (lead guitar), Christopher Connor (bass) and Ryan Williams (drums).

 

 

Can you tell us a ‘fascinating fact’ about one of the band members?

Chrissy is a pretty mean sax player!

 

 

What is it about the Aphrodite of Milos that led you to name the band after her?

We spent a while trying to decide on a name until 'Venus Demilo' was suggested to us by a friend of Tom's. After a few days of trialing it out we realised that our 'sound' was almost like a musical representation of the statue itself, so we combined Venus de Milo into 'Venus Demilo' and that was that.

 

 

You’re from Liverpool which is quite a tough place to be in a band what with there being so much competition around, how do YOU stand out from the rest?

We really enjoy the competition! It's all friendly and a lot of the bands around us are already our friends, so it's great to be able to play alongside them and push forward together. The best way to make ourselves stand out is to always play a great show, no matter what, and make sure that people are talking about it the next day.

 

 

Your new single ‘Sophia’ was recently premiered on BBC Introducing Merseyside, how did it come about and how did you feel when you heard yourselves on the radio?

We used the new music uploader on the BBC Introducing website, and luckily enough it was picked up by the show's host Dave Monks a few days later. We've had music played on his show before, but this time it felt very special as it was something we worked very hard on and were immensely proud of what we'd created. Since the premiere it's been played a few more times on the show, which is phenomenal!

 

 

 

 

Your music and your approach to songwriting has been likened to bands such as Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals and The Maccabees, are these big influences on you?

They are definitely big influences on our sound we're creating, and to be compared to any of those groups is a huge compliment, as they are all such big names in the genre they've defined for us. We also have big individual influences that we all like to bring to the table, and that's what helps to make our 'Venus Demilo' sound, we're all taking little parts from something we love and making it our own.

 

 

Who is the lady on the front cover of your ‘Sophia’ single, I assume it’s ‘Sophia’?

The girl on the artwork is actually the protagonist, or rather who the song is about, but not Sophia. The story behind ‘Sophia’ came from a tragic tale of how a woman had passed away after her addiction had spiraled out of control. During her depression, the woman had become obsessed with spirituality and became increasingly dependent upon an intangible being - Sophia.

 

 

Your music often refers to the highs and lows of being a twenty-something in the present day, being a twenty-something in the early 90’s without social media and mobile phones was tough (believe me, it sucked!), what would you say are the highs and lows of the current day?

Nowadays everything is very accessible, especially via the internet. You can listen to brand new music from unsigned, underground bands on pretty much any platform, which is amazing because so many people can listen to your music at the click of a button. Whereas not too long ago sites like Spotify, YouTube and SoundCloud weren't around, and it was very hard to get yourself heard.

Social media is kind of an ironic term in a way; people spend hours scrolling through news feeds and notifications, which isn't 'social' at all if you think about it! It's not a negative thing, if it makes people happy then why not!

 

 

Many bands are nothing these days without the powers of social media, if you rewound back to the early 90’s, how do you think you’d have gone about marketing yourselves in order to build a fanbase?

No idea! Back then word of mouth was the be all and end all, and if your music fell into the hands of the right people, that was it. Looking at the most iconic bands from the late 80's and early 90's it's clear they all had an 'image', and groups these days are still doing the same thing, building an image for people to recognise and associate with their genre of music.

 

 

What would you say has been your biggest musical ‘claim to fame’ to date?

Supporting The Pigeon Detectives last year, that was a nostalgic moment for us. Recording our music at the UK famous Parr Street Studios was also very special. It was crazy to think we were standing and recording where bands like Coldplay, The Coral, Elbow and Stereophonics have previously recorded.

 

 

You’re based in Liverpool but have toured alongside the likes of More Than Conquerers, Beaty Heart and Pigeon Detectives, what touring plans do you have for 2016?

It's a privilege to be able to play with so many great bands when they come to visit Liverpool on their tours, we always feel very lucky! We haven't planned a tour for 2016 (yet) but we'll have a string of gig dates close together at the start of the year, hopefully up and down the country.

 

 

Any confirmed festival dates yet for 2016?

None yet, but we're very eager to play any that come our way!

 

 

Have you managed to get overseas to play any gigs yet, if so, where did you play and how were you received?

We haven't played oversees yet, but any chance we get we'll cross the water.

 

 

What has been the oddest thing that ever happened to you whilst on stage?

There was once a police drugs raid at one of the venues we were playing at in Liverpool. We'd just started playing our last song and out of nowhere there was a swarm of neon high-vis jackets and about 50 police officers stormed the place and cut the power!

 

 

Christmas has just been and gone for another year, did the big man bring you anything nice?

Chrissy got a GoPro, we can't wait to start playing with it at rehearsals and gigs!

 

 

What new years resolutions are you setting yourselves for 2016 and how long do you think they’ll last?

We've probably already broken them all! We're just going to try and play as many gigs as we can, and release more music for everyone!

 

 

Please tell us your favourite joke?

What cheese is made backwards? Edam. Oh yeah, real cheesy! (TAXI....)

 

 

We love new bands here at musicmuso, can you please tell us 3 bands that we should be keeping an eye on?

Clean Cut Kid, Sugarmen and Fickle Friends

 

 

We'd like to thank the band for taking time to answer our questions and we wish them every success for 2016, if you can spare just a few minutes, please check out their social media sites, they're all listed below, simply point and click!

 

Social Media

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Interview by Steve Muscutt