www.venusbogardus.com We are pleased to announce that our new album 'Spitting at the Glass' is in production right now, for its Dec 12th release! The CD comes in a beautiful 4 panel digipack with fabulous photographs by Michele Maier, a face on the 70s and 80s feminist art scene, photographer and assistant to feminist artist Judy Chicago. 'Spitting at the Glass' was recorded by Venus Bogardus at Warehouse 21, Santa Fe, NM and we have no doubt that it is our finest work to date. You can pre-order a signed copy right here (this really does help bands with their expenses, so please consider it!) and we hope that you love the album as much as we do. **NEW ALBUM 'SPITTING AT THE GLASS' RELEASED DEC.12TH 2009. PRE-ORDER A SIGNED COPY FOR $10 (FREE SHIPPING, ANYWHERE)** click the sleeve!




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Phillip Boa just wrote a blog about meeting and not meeting his heroes, and I thought it was interesting. It's the kind of thing that provokes interminable existential turmoil, despite being a pretty meaningless proposition.
Like Boa, I've had the chance to meet a few of my heroes, and like him, I've found it alternately great, weird, or even fraught. Unlike Boa, I'm hardly famous, though have now had enough of the experience of having genuine, die-hard fans do a little fawning that I do know something about how it feels to be on the receiving end.

I try to apply the golden rule bullshit, you know, in life. The whole neighbor-self nonsense. But in the category of superficial social interaction, this is tricky territory, because no one is like yourself, and so you never know who would like or not like something that you don't like, or like. As to mega-celebrities having a different experience and being assholes or the like, that's all slightly irrelevant to me, because most of my heroes just don't sit at that level of fame.

And with any of them, I think of them first as people and strangers. If a person and a stranger does something I think is terrific, brilliant, amazing, whatever - my instinct is to want to tell them about it, and if possible, become friends with them. The latter is obviously assinine, but it's the simple fact that the people I want to go out of my way to become friends with are people who impress me, move me, make me laugh. Obviously, talent can often go hand in hand with assholishness, so it's not a rule - it's just a first attractor.

Furthermore, in my mind, I'm an artist and writer, and I see other artists and writers as my peers. I see them as more or less commercially successful, and a very scant handful I see as people who manage to do things I still feel I'm aspiring to, or always will aspire to. In music, this is less the case than in writing. Once you know the basics, and if you have instincts that you yourself like, music is much easier than writing. Musicians just have a heap of other crap attached which, for good or ill, has to do with public image and the fact that everything is loud, public and so often aspirational to celebrity, rather than to the artistic end, so it seems more impressive.

I like it when people come up to me, especially strangers, after a show, and are breathless, and tell me that they've never seen anything like what we've done, or that I've inspired them to go play guitar, or some other piece of hyperbole. I like it when people who have been to see us over and over still dance to our music and sing it, and tell me it just gets better every time. I like it when some of these people are seriously admirable artists/musicians/writers/thinkers themselves. I like mutual congratulatory situations. I think what we do is terrific, as a band, but I never assume that people are going to adore it/me/us/whatever, and it's a fresh pleasure every time.

I can imagine having a higher profile than we do now, and getting swamped with fan praise. I can imagine what it would be like to get approached backstage by unknown fans telling me hyperbolic things - in fact, I HAVE been, and probably all good bands who do much gigging at all have been - but I can imagine what this would be like in a bigger context. And while it can be awkward, I still feel that I'd be glad to hear it, a little curious to know what that particular fan connected with (always more interested in the people who get the lyrics and stuff, versus those who just get high on distortion and chicks on bass, for instance), and maybe even interested in who they are/what they do, depending.

I won't write about the people I've had occasion to meet specifically, but I will say that in any case, I am instantly turned off by any 'hero' who then acts cagey. It should also be said that I've certainly met plenty of bands with higher profile than ours, and don't even talk to me about attitude... A great attitude can make me like and dance to a band I'd have found mediocre, while a shitty, holier-than-thou attitude (and in this case, I will name names, because The Bishops were such aloof, snotty fuckers that I certainly never would want to be associated with them again) can make me absolutely despise mediocre music I might have otherwise tolerated or even come to enjoy a bit. The long and short is, yeah, I can be a wide-eyed fangirl, but to any hero of any renown or none, and the fact is, I want to talk about what they're DOING, what I'm DOING, what people are saying, and how they're making my life more wonderful. I am not at all enticed by the glamour of someone's fame, and I'm sorry for people who've had lots of negative experience with fans. But ultimately, I just want to keep being authentic and I'm only interested in what's authentic in someone else - and I respect people who don't want to talk to strangers, but not people who instantly assume that everyone wants a piece of them and can't at least be polite. Fans or fame or attention are all things we sign on for when we make the public entertainment happen, so I've got no sympathy for an inability to be civil in this sort of circumstance.

Hey kids, watch this space for news of a change of record label for Venus Bogardus. It's still under wraps, and we can't tell you the name of the label yet, but they're based in New York and it will be happening in the next few weeks. No, it's not a multi-million dollar corporate rock thing. We're excited to be moving our act to a new label, and are tremendously grateful to our friends at Pretty Mouth (LA) for their work with the band. We love you! We'll be basing out of NM for the foreseeable future, but we intend to go EVERYWHERE. There, that's the preview. Stay tuned...

WHAT I DID LAST SATURDAY NIGHT

Last Saturday, I played a show with Mike Watt & the Missingmen at Launchpad, in Albuquerque. James and I drove back from Austin the day before, two days early, to be there in time. We drove through blinding blinding rain on the way out of Austin, and blinding blinding maddening snow on the last 50 miles into Cerrillos. We listened to more music and more CDs from the audiobook of When You Are Engulfed In Flames, which is wonderful. It took 14 hours, but we got here.

Here are the things I think were noteworthy about the night, and that you might be vaguely interested in, too:
1. It was the first US show (of 18 we've played in New Mexico, New York City, Boston, and Austin, since November 20th, 2008, when we landed here) at which we've had the pleasure of a SOUND CHECK. And, it was a long one. We're plenty used to playing on the fly, adjusting, coping with whatever the situation is, even when we can't hear ourselves, but we do LIKE a sound check, and it is much more commonplace in Britain. So that was awful nice. Jason, the soundman, was a complete sweetheart who did not act like he was doing us a massive favor by doing the sound and did not act like he was desperate to get away for a burger or whatever. AND we got a long set (everyone did), which, if you know our band, is a good thing, since we always have too many songs to weed through... Good thing we're only on two guitars at the mo, tho I am missing Motorman stuff!
2. Mike Watt & the Missingmen were fantastic on the second night of their tour. They are a fantastic band. Original material was blastingly good. Covers (Funhouse, the encore of Little Johnny Jewel, stand out, among others...) were terrific. They didn't seem to have a crash pad arranged and so I want to suggest that any fans of Watt's who might be reading this and planning to get to one of the tour dates think about whether you can offer these three charming guys a comfortable place to sleep. We actually couldn't, but I know there were people there who could. I bought a teeshirt, and the illustrations sort of scared my mom, but she thought it was funny. In the t-shirt melee, a girl managed to steal one of our CDs, too.
3. Catfish Hunter were good, and super nice fellows - another good introduction to ABQ scene stuff - I'd look forward to playing with them again some time.
4. People actually bought 5 of our CDs that night. We thought this was very good, considering the comparative renown of the headline act. They came and said they were excited to have got there early enough to catch our set, and other nice things. During the show, the applause sounded more than convincing, and we truly enjoyed playing. We met some nifty folks in addition to the other bands, and it's the kind of gig you'd go and replay if you could.

Well, those are the four points I thought I'd share. I hope you found them a little bit diverting.

From the front,
VB

"It's easy to praise Venus Bogardus for being choc-a-bloc of Beat spirit and No Wave winks, but Tourist will happily wipe the floor with the overwhelming majority of bands on anyone's terms." (extracts from the album review by Colin Clements)

"The eloquence and snotty playfulness is a real joy throughout...heightened by abstract descriptions alongside stark and realistic imagery. The result is simultaneously familiar and surreal, an new slant on the known, in short, the way art works.

"The unyeilding confidence and positivity of the musicianship proves delightfully treacherous to the idea that this band doesn't know what they're doing. Venus Bogardus have an abundance of intent and the ability to articulate this faultlessly though pen or plectrum. James Reich's guitar playing is awkward to hum but dextrously seductive...Hannah Levbarg's bass offers sanctuary and torment for multiple layers of defined and demented guitar ooze...this is fantasy and kitchen sink road music, this is optimism, and this is real charm.

"There is liberated brio adorning every riff and melody. 'Tourist' drives faster and looser...away from feelings of attachment and responsibility wherever it decides to go, defiant like Bonnie and Clyde.

"It's easy to praise Venus Bogardus for being choc-a-bloc of Beat spirit and No Wave winks, but Tourist will happily wipe the floor with the overwhelming majority of bands on anyone's terms. Not to acknowledge just how thrilling these songs are on an instant, primal, nod-your-head-and-shake-your-hips level is to do great disservice to what is infinitely more than a Trojan horse."

Venus Bogardus have been invited by fashion/music retailer HOT TOPIC to play a series of in-store shows. So, we'll be "rocking the mall" at Santa Fe Place on 26th March, and we hope to be able to tell you about other dates in New Mexico soon after...Hot Topic have 10 stores in the area and we hope to hit them all during the summer. This is going to be fun! xxx

www.hottopic.com

FROM: WIG WAM BAM zine - fine reading from Albuquerque...

Not sure what anyone has against the moniker Venus Bogardus since I heard two snipes at it tonight but a rose by any other name and all that jazz. If bandnames get in the way of your enjoyment of the music you don’t know fuck-all. Venus Bogardus’ music speaks for itself and had an awful lot to say tonight. They pulled out some new material which is impressive since they’ve recently moved here from abroad and I’d guess have enough to deal with already. That’s going above and beyond.

Its no overstatement to say they’re the best band in years--maybe forever-- based in Satan Fe and already towards the top of my local favorites on the strength of two shows I’ve witnessed to date. It was a hot set, a more urgent Prids (minus the snyth) versus the Pretenders circa 1981.

New drummer (as of a few weeks ago!) Luke ruthlessly whips the band on from behind while Hannah’s bass holds rhythm & melody together in thrall. James’ guitar packs a powerful punch --sans useless wanking -- with beautiful but deadly turns like those of founding Pretender James Honeyman Scott-- whose untimely junkie death is still mourned by Chrissie Hynde and, if you’re in the know, you too.

I’m ancient enough to remember that rock n’ roll is supposed to make you move your body, not just jump up and down and hit people. Venus Bogardus won’t let me stand still and best of all also moves my mind.

JUDICIARY OF MEXICO FILES SUIT AGAINST ROCK BAND GENESIS

Mexico City, 15th January.

After decades of bitter judicial dispute, the Supreme Court of Mexico has filed suit against British rock band Genesis. Presiding Judge Miguel Santiago explained:

“While this institution recognizes that the Genesis song ‘Illegal Alien’ is to many listeners an ironic anthem that permitted Genesis to, as it were, cross borders and achieve mainstream success in many countries of the world, we cannot countenance the caricature ‘Mexican’ accent adopted by singer Phil Collins, nor the portrayal of our people in the lyrics of the song and accompanying promotional video, as distributed by MTV, one of many broadcasters that are also named in the suit, along with record labels Charisma and Virgin.”

The Court detailed the many offences against Mexico alleged in the lyrics and video presentation of ‘Illegal Alien’ as “a litany of bribery, alcoholism, prostitution, illiteracy, lassitude and corruption.”

The formal statement issued by Santiago went on:

“Unfortunately, despite the truth of the central tenet of the song that ‘It’s no fun being an illegal alien,’ and the professionalism inherent in the melody and performance, acknowledged by this Court, we regard the material as exploitative. The action that we have been forced to take against Banks, Collins and Rutherford is regrettable, since many of us have been fans of their music.

"It is important to understand that we do not hold the public school system of England, and specifically Charterhouse Public School where Genesis began, as responsible for any of the charges of defamation that the band, their record label and promoters may face in court. We are aware that Collins, whose offences are the greater, was the one member who did not have such an education.”

The unprecedented case against Genesis is expected to encourage many more to follow suit, including the country of Jamaica versus rock band 10cc whose song ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ portrays the people of Jamaica as shallow lascivious thieves.

-Translated from El Heraldo de Mexico.

The ‘Heart of Darkness’ of Pop Music – Trouble for 10cc
-extracted from The Kingston Times.

January 16th, Jamaica. Following the high profile suit filed by the Miguel Santiago and representatives of the Supreme Court of Mexico against British rock band Genesis, multi-platinum adult-oriented-rock artists 10cc are facing a similar suit, The Kingston Times exclusively reports. The legal action, brought about by Jamaican, Commonwealth and UK lawyers, is thought to be “one of the most inflammatory and expensive of its kind,” according to cultural advocate Isaac Eden, QC, who also took on heavy metal progenitors Led Zeppelin over false claims of ‘reggae’ on ‘D’yer Maker’ which led to an “impressive out-of-court settlement”.

As previously reported, 10cc writers Godley and Cream are charged with earning millions of dollars based on the “racial slurs” contained in their hit ‘Dreadlock Holiday’ and now, the Jamaican Tourist Board is demanding compensation for the band’s deliberate fabrication of a culture of “Conradian malevolence, vice and danger.”

Isaac Eden blasted: “One can only assume that the personnel of 10cc had been up all night drinking rum before they sat down to write such a wilful piece of, well, how shall we say it: elitist colonial filth? In their song Dreadlock Holiday a white man visits Jamaica and, while 'truckin' (a mock walk that he assumes will render him authentic or perhaps funky) is harassed by large black men with deep voices who intimidate and rob him, before he returns to his hotel and is seduced by a lascivious black woman who offers him a thinly veiled cocktail of sex and marijuana.”

The accusations continued and were quantified.

“Furthermore, the song alleges that anyone from the West Indies is quickly appeased by appeals to the -white elitist- camaraderie of ‘cricket’. It is one of the worst cases I have seen since the Eagles sang ‘Welcome to dee Hotel California,’ to that false reggae groove or the Beatles sang ‘Desmond has a barrel in dee market pleece’ in the colonial hate song ‘Oh-bla-di, Oh-bla-da.’ The people of Jamaica are not to be exploited in this way.”

This latest lawsuit sent shockwaves through the rock world.

Members of 10cc declined to comment on the case.

However, ex-Police front-person ‘Sting’ (nee Gordon Sumner) is said to have expressed his concern that “White people must be free to embarrass themselves in relation to other cultures by their failure to grasp musical idioms and their propensity to ‘borrow’ the accents and diction of people in countries where rich bands tour and record extensively.” Months of work as a secondary school teacher are said to have given Sting’s words a gravitas rarely discovered in analyses from his New Wave peers. “When I sing like this: eee-yyoooo (demonstrates), I experience black ancestral voices directly.”

Uncut footage of the controversial video can be seen here: