VENICE:  VOCAL FAMILY
 
Text to photo:  Venice (2nd from left Michael, 2nd from right Kipp):  In America it's business, here it's about the music.
 
Venice can be seen coming week in De Vereeniging in Nijmegen (Monday 13); De Oosterpoort in Groningen (Wednesday 14); 013 in Tilburg (Thursday 16); Vredenburg in Utrecht (Saturday 18) and Fenix in Sittard (Sunday 19).
 
In the coming week, they are again in our country for five concerts:  The Californian group Venice.  The brothers Kipp and Paul Lennon and their cousins Michael and Mark Lennon keep returning to our small country because, so say Michael and Kipp at a table in a pub in Loosdrecht, ''We still consider the Netherlands to be the musical gateway to Europe.  That's why we're first trying to build up something here, before we continue with the rest."
 
That they are achieving that in spite of minimal radio-airplay is very good.  The foresome are making, together with their musicians, music in the style of the Eagles and CSN&Y, and are praised by numerous celebrities in their own country, especially for their vocal qualities.

Fans of this kind of music discovered them quite soon over here, after their first album "Born and Raised," and now Venice returns to promote their second album, "Spin Art," which was released last year.  This CD was recorded in the garage of Kipp's house, says Michael.  "After the experience we got from making 'Born and Raised,' for us, it was a matter of doing it the same way and tuning it all even better.  Just by producing it ourselves, we saved a lot of money, which we used to do the final mix in a large, nice studio with an excellent technician."
 
For "Spin Art," Kipp and Michael flew to Nashville for a few days to write some songs with others.  Kipp:  "That was pretty weird, and uncomfortable too.  We are so used to working together, and then suddenly you're separated to share your deepest feelings with a completely unknown Tin Pan Alley writer, who does nothing else all day but write songs for others."  Michael:  "The first morning, I yelled 'Have fun today at school' to Kipp.  But  when playing the ideas to each other that evening, it turned out to be great.  It was good for us to discover that we could match those Tin Pan Alley writers.  By the fourth day, it was like it always has been like that.  Three of the songs which are now on the record, we wrote in between those writing sessions.  That's how inspired we got."

The waiting is now for the great breakthrough, and it's on the way.  Kipp:  "David Crosby once said to us, 'All your songs are fantastic, but you never know which one it will be you'll score with.'  We're not retro, we don't copy Crosby, Stills and Nash.  We are much more.  We are proud to be compared with them, but we are Venice.  We know that a breakthrough takes time.  We are doing it gentle, we want it to go well."

That they are family is good to hear in the seamless matching of their voices, which creates perfect vocal harmonies.  "Family tree" on "Spin Art" is an expresion of that, says Kipp.  "It is, I think, our best song ever."  Michael: "I could play this song to simply everyone and say, 'I wrote that. That's how proud I am about it.'"

Michael:  "Especially over here, it's doing very well.  It's not just a down song, but also one of hope.  The other day at a concert, a lady came to us and told us that her husband's grandmother died.  He already had tickets to our show, but couldn't be there due to those family circumstances.  Could we write him a short note?  I then wrote down a line from this song
and let the guys sign it.  It made her cry, and she said that it would be a great support to him.  You could give me all the money in the world, really, but when you experience something like that, then that's what you did it for."
 
Kipp:  "There were a thousand people at our concert in Groningen, and they were singing along, every word!  It looks like we're just saying this for this interview, but it is really true.  We are fully amazed when standing on the stage.  That's why the Netherlands are so promising for us.  In America, it's a totally different story.  There it's business, here it's the music."