Venice, I shamefully had to admit, I had never heard of them! In dismay, Frank Winter, a reader from Capelle, calls me. He cannot imagine that a band of this caliber has escaped my attention. Venice belongs in the same category as The Beach Boys CSN&Y, The Eagles and the likes of them. It is a mix of unique harmonies, creative acoustic guitar solos, alternated with an electric Stratocaster or a Gibson. A sound most guitar players can appreciate. But the American band Venice, it did not ring a bell. Reason enough for Frank to arrange an interview for me. Two days later I met Michael, Pat and Pete.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Venice comes from the equally named Los Angeles neighborhood,
Venice city, not far from Venice Beach. Kipp and Mark Lennon
sing, while Pat and Michael Lennon play guitar. Yes, they
are all called Lennon but do not come from Liverpool. Mark
and Michael are brothers, Pat and Kipp are brothers and they are
each other's cousins. Get it? Don't worry.
It took me an hour! In any case, they are related but none
of them looks like any of the others. The Lennon family
was famous in America for years. One of America's best watched
shows, The Laurence Welk Show, featured the Lennon sisters, Kipp
and Pat's older sisters.
In America, Venice is a cult band, an unknown identity. Pat about this: "We are too old for most record labels. In 1990, we released our first CD, on Atlantic. It was actually a small Stevie Nicks label. At the time, Michael played in her band and it seemed a good moment to release an album. Of course, we had to go to the Atlantic offices in New York. After we introduced ourselves to sixteen secretaries, we were finally ushered into a product manager's office. Our product was at the bottom of a stack of CD's and we immediately knew how this was going to end. In disillusion, we decided to release our own CD's from then on: Garage Demos! The first one was called 'Slow,' the second one 'Fast.' Both CD's were a compilation of demo recordings and live recordings. To me, these albums still sound great! Our music was finally released on the Vanguard label. This label specializes in re-releases of Bob Dylan, Pete Seger and Joan Baez. Our album 'Born and Raised' was seen as a discount release. Later, a shorter version of this album would reach Jan Douwe Kroeske. That is how we ended up in Holland in the Twee Meter Sessies show." Kipp and Michael started Venice in 1977. During this period, they were accompanied by different local musicians. Mark joined the band in 1978 and from that moment on, they concentrated on three-voiced harmonies. When Pat arrived in 1980, this became quadri-voiced. The harmonies came natural, a result of their childhood. Michael remembers how his father would teach him pieces of music for church. "We all got the text for a hymn and he sang everyone's part so we formed a choir in church together."
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