History
(1)
What for songs did you cover in the beginning of VENUS HILL?
In the beginning we used to cover stuff like No Doubt, the Silvertones, Elvis and so on...
(2) What bands are strong influences on you?
We have so many influences that it’s hard to answer this question. For example No Doubt, Metallica, Pantera, Sepultura, Rammstein, lots of Jamaican ska like the Toots & the maytals, The Skatalites, Desmond dekker and lots of compilations with really old stuff, Bob Marley, Liberator, Madness, Muse, System of a down, Beef, Dance Hall Crashers and you can go on forever. Our horn section is influenced by dub and jazz for example but we all listen to lots of different music I guess.
(3) How did you decide to name the band VENUS HILL?
Our name...hmmmm. That was just a joke I made, and now we still bear the consequences. In english it doesn’t mean anything but in german and dutch it does (I guess you know). We thought it would be a funny name because there are so many women in our band, and it doesn’t sound too pretentious.
(4) Very unusual to have three lead singers.
How did you get three lead singers? We actually came up with the idea to form a band somewhere on the road on the way to a concert of No Doubt; we were singing very loud in the front of the bus and then Stefan, our guitarplayer now, thought that our voices sounded good together and suggested to give it a go. And so we did. We were with a group of friends. We didn’t plan it, it just happened.
(5) Is it difficult to manage three singers like who has to sing which part?
Sometimes it is, occasionally there is some new part or line that we all like a lot, but in the end we all have totally different voices, so basically everyone has her own speciallity.
(6) There are just a few women on stage in the ska as well as in the metal-scene. Is that difficult? Are there a lot of nerds that want to marry you?
We’ve only had one proposal in our guestbook so far, so we’re not burried in cards and flowers or anything like that. So it’s not difficult at all, we just like to make music and we have lots of fun doing that.
(7) What would have been your favourite show memory (own concert)?
Lowlands is by far our best show memory up untill now; the audience jumped from the first second we played... wow! But on the whole we feel privileged, and even kind of spoiled in a way with audience we have. They usually seem to want to tear the house down so we get all the feedback you could wish for, great!
(8) What is your worst memory of a show?
One time we had a show somewhere in the north of Holland, during the show we experienced technical problemsl; two of our amplifiers started producing their own kind of (loud and grungy) music, which neither us, nor the audienc,e could really apreciate very much. Then, on top of that, when we wanted to go home in the middle of the night, it turned out that someone had ran into our van, leaving us to pay the damage to the car rental company.
(9) How was the very first show?
If I look back now, it was probably hilarious, but as far as I can remember, we played our first three self composed songs and three covers on top of that. The first 15 minutes I couldn’t dance because of my knees shaking so much, and by the time I got back on my feet, the show was almost over allready. During that first gig we just had three singers, drum, bass and guitar. Our first show with a complete band (including horn-section) was actually our third show (at the Winston Kingdom in Amsterdam). That was incredible! The concert was sold out, the bar had a record in liquor sales, and the roof really went of that night! From then on we knew we had something going..
(10) What are you doing besides VENUS HILL?
Everyone has his or her more or less boring job during the week, and at the weekends we rehearse and have gigs and make a party.
(11) Are band members active in other bands?
Most of us invest all our energy in Venus Hill. Some of us have an occasional project running once in a while. Our complete hornsection used to play in a big band for example.
(12) You are at the moment 10 bandmembers. How difficult is it to get all of them in one bus?
It is impossible In Holland only 9 persons are alowed in a van, so we always have to tie up one of the trumpet players on top of the van
(13) Is it even possible to find dates, where everyone can play a show? How about touring?
Sometimes it’s difficult in holiday periods, when everyone is going his or her own way. But everyone has Venus Hill high on their priority list, so mostly its works fine. We would love to tour, would be great to come to Germay to name but one country. We understand a lot of people are crazy about ska over there?
The Netherlands
(1) Tell us about the Ska scene in Amsterdam. Are you known to the Big Ones like Dr Rude, Rude Rich, Mark Foggo?
Yes, although about Dr Rude, I don’t know, we should ask him. In fact I should have, I saw him perform in Amstelveen a little while ago, great show! I think a lot of people in the SKA scene in Holland know us by now. We get to see a lot of bands ourselves as well. Just went to see Rude Rich in the Melkweg last Thursday, and we just played with DefP & the Beatbusters again last Saturday. It’s a small world after all.
(2) What other ska-bands from the Netherlands would you recommend? De Hardheid is really great, we are their biggest fans.
(3) Travel tips: where do you go in Amsterdam if you want to listen to some ska music?
De Pits is a cafe where they play punk/hardcore and ska. Two other places are the soundgarden and Korsakov where they play alternative music and also ska. In the Melkweg, a bigger venue, you got ska nights regularly. (4) Name three things that are typical dutch to you. Sex, Drugs and R&R? (5) And three typical german things too. Hmmmm.. I’m affraid what comes to mind is Lederhosen, large Beers, Bratwurst, Schlagers ?? But they are better then our windmills, wooden shoos and tulips
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Own CD
(1) How did you like the recording experience? Are you satisfied with the result?
It’s was a learning experience for us. Next time we would like to do things differently ofcourse as allways, but taking in account the time we had, I guess we are quite satisfied
(2) What band would you like to have your CD compared with and why ?
I haven’t got a clue?...A realy lousy one perhaps? .....guess why.
(3) How is the feedback?
So far so good. Great! We even got someone stealing a box of cd’s out of the car of our bass player some time ago. So some people must be liking it.
(4) How would you describe your musical evolution from the first demo-tape to today?
When we made our first demo our horn section had only joined us for a couple of weeks. We play much better together now. Lots of people didn’t really have a musical backsound so we had to learn a lot by practicing and growing musically together. Our shows get funnier as well.
(5) On the CD are at least two songs from your first demo. Do you write too few songs or did you want to record them right for once?
We made a democratic desicion to record the songs everyone liked the best at the time, and we also had a pretty tight recording schedule (hence the eight songs). So we just voted. But don’t worry there is plenty of new matterial.
(6) There are also just eight songs. Why?
That’s just a money thing. We would have loved to record much more but we couldn’t afford that. Studio time still is not cheap.
(7) How do you develope your songs?
Generally Stefan (guitar) and Karolien (singer) make a first version of a song. Karolien writes lyrics and melodies and Stefan writes the music. Then our hornsection and the rythm section pick it up and add their thing.
(8) There’s an obvious difference between ‚happy‘ ska-songs ( ‚Sorry‘, ‚This Way‘) and more or less dark, angry crossover songs (‚Memories‘, ‚To Destroy‘). Are they written by different people?
How perceptive of you to notice. Sorry and This way were written with Phippe Hill, our former bassplayer. Although we do still make happy songs without him
(9) Are there discussions in the band to decide for one musical style (like either ska or metal)?
Not really, we like the cocktail: More surprise, freedom, challenge, and less labeling.
(10) How important are the lyrics to you? They seem very personal.
It’s my way to deal with stuff, to write it down and make a song to get rid of it.
(11) Who is danny o’really?
He’s the soud engineer of the Studio Aluna (and yeah, that’s his real name!).
(12) Will there be anything on vinyl from VENUS HILL? (i’d like to have that, mnjam)
I am afraid that this won’t happen on short notice; our live engineer wanted that as well, maybe another time when we have enough money to record what we want and how we want it
(13) You did some brilliant show features doing your show in the MELKWEG. How important are those choreographies to you? Do you work a lot on show features (especially the horn section!!)?
The horn section does ballet practicing sessions every other wednesday. The rest of us don’t really practice but it comes with the music when you have fun. Everytime it’s different allthough some funny dances tend to come back if the’re nice (by the way, our sax player just was born that way).
(14) How about these school girl clothes?
Don’t you like them?
(15) What are your future plans? What would be a really big goal to reach with VENUS HILL?
We want to record another album, for example a live cd in a while and then make an international tour.
(16) Have you ever played in other countries?
Not yet, but we once (twice actually!) got lost when we were looking for this place we had to play that night, and ended up in Germany... Quite an experience...
Politics
(1) we are a political interested magazine, so we like to ask bands about their political views. How about the rightwing scene in the dutch ska-scene? Did you ever had difficulties with fascist skins coming to ska-concerts?
I am glad to say we did not experience difficulties of that sort (knock on wood). The nice side effect of being a less die-hard/old school ska band might be that we seem to attract a wide variaty of people at the shows.
(2) You go for personal lyrics, not political. Do you think this will ever change?
I can’t say. You never know.
(3) Did you ever feel the urge to have a political message as a band?
As it is now, our main target as a group is playing music, having fun, and making people go home after the show with a smile on their face. You might regard that as a political statement by itself. We think the world would be a better place if politicians made a funny dance or listen to some crazy music more often. But that doesn’t stop us from doing a show for charity if we can afford it.
(4) Did you vote for Lijst Fortuyn? (i know, no one did, but there must be people who did...) You are right.....there must be....But No we really didn’t and we are defenitely not happy with the stuff that’s going on in Holland at the moment.
Thanks for all your questions and the fact that you took the time to make this interview! I hope it will be on time. I had help from Jochem (trombone) and Stefan (guitar) to answer the questions. See you! Karolien Venus Hill
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