THE LATE BLOOM OF VENICE

Something strange is happening with the band Venice.  The band from California has no hit songs, is hardly on TV or radio, and not many magazines or papers write about them.  In spite of that, brothers Kipp and Pat Lennon and their cousins Michael and Mark (also brothers) will perform this Summer on the main stage of Pinkpop.

Just a few months after their last concerts over here, the band is back in Holland, where they became "World Famous" thanks to Jan Douwe Kroeske's 2 Meter Sessies.  They're back for more concerts, in bigger venues.  Oh yeah, Venice was also nominated for an Edison for "best new international band" while the band already exists for more than 20 years.

It can't be a coincidence that the sun starts to shine on the day that the Lennons from Venice Beach land in Amsterdam.  Last year, they told us that the Netherlands is their second home.  This sounds like a little bit exaggerated gesture to their loyal fans, but Venice has good reasons to cherish our little "Frogland."  Because in the US, they are not as popular as they are over here. "But America is such a huge country," says Kipp, almost apologizing.  In spite of that, it wasn't that hard to keep the band together, says Mark, the "Benjamin" of the band, "Because we're all family.  What we do is play, have fun and work hard.  And we see how it grows, and that keeps us going."

You can't underestimate the echo in the Netherlands.  "It gives us new power," says Mark.  Kipp continues: "That played a major part while we recorded our last CD, 'Spin Art.'  "We knew that on the other side of the ocean, there were people waiting for our music."

The CD "Spin Art" that was released last year, is more "electric," and more exuberant than "Born and Raised" from '97.

But with this more modest debut under the Vanguard label, something changed, acknowledge the Lennons, all of them around 40.  "People say that they get kind of a soundtrack for their lives.  It's actually our lives, but they seem to recognize things," says Kipp.

All of them were born and raised with music.  They come from large and musical families.  Kipp and Michael started the band in 1977.  After 10 years, their album "Do it yourself" was released.

Although "Venice" (1990) sounded a bit like Foreigner, the two "Garage Demos" from '95 (Slow Stuff and Fast Stuff) had a very different sound.  This makes it very difficult to put the band in a box, and that's almost a condition to be successful in the US.

Venice managed to create their own sound.  Comparisons with typical Westcoast-bands like The Eagles and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young form a pretty good picture of their last CDs, but on stage, they also play great soul covers.

Venice knows better than ever that their harmonies create the difference with other bands.  "But this doesn't say that all of our songs have harmonies in it.  That would be very boring" says Kipp.  "If we'd put all of our influences in our songs, nobody would recognize Venice.  We can play Funk if we want, but we try to concentrate on what we think we do best."  Michael points out the acoustic song "The Family Tree," the last song on "Spin Art."  He sees it as a personal way of dealing with the fact that you lose people you care about.  "People told us that they played the song when their grandfathers died.  That's a big compliment for us."

Every concert differs from the other, but in the end they all turn out in a huge party.  That's another explanation for their popularity.

Pat, the oldest at 49, gives a simple example.  "The day before flying over here, we had a concert.  I can't remember a time that I was so tired, but also happy.  Because when you go on stage, you forget everything.  It was one of our best concerts."  The others agree with him.

Pinkpop will be the biggest concert they've ever done.  "We once performed with Stevie Nicks and did "Landslide" together. There were more than 15,000 people.  It felt like playing in a baseball stadium. Great!!

So will this be the big turning-point?  The answer comes in harmony: "For sure!!"