Interview: Mike Vennart of Oceansize

The absolute top-best thing about being a music writer is getting the occasional chance to quiz musicians you really admire. This will be the third time I’ve chatted with members of Oceansize (though the first time for TDP), and the novelty still hasn’t worn off… though it’s not quite so thrilling doing it by email, to be fair. Nonetheless, Oceansize frontman Mike Vennart was good enough to type out some answers to questions about the band’s new material, and about their place on the broader musical landascape. Read on!

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TDP: Where are you right now, and what are you all up to?

Mike Vennart: I’m in my living room. One of the lights doesn’t work so it’s a bit dark. Some loving soul decided it would be prudent to give us 5 days off in the middle of our tour. Brilliance. It really breaks up the constant drink-fuelled sleeplessness, the incessant fart-inhaling and crap-DVD watching. All of which makes it sound like I hate being on tour, which is incorrect – I love it.

TDP: What’s the worst thing about the touring experience for Oceansize (besides being pestered with questions via email from webzine writers)?

MV: The only discernible downer is being constantly knackered. We’ve been lucky on the European leg – we were in a little sleeper bus. Personally I find it pretty tricky to sleep in a moving vehicle unless I’ve had a vatful of red wine. Touring in a little van you might not get home until 5am, then back out at 10. Adds up after a while. The only other thing I could do without is soundchecking. So boring: Hit the snare. Again. And again. Can you keep hitting the snare? Right, vocals. One two. One two. One two. One two. One two. One two. Are you getting them? No. Keep going. One two. Repeat until dead. With a hangover it’s deathly boring.

TDP: What about the best thing – what makes all the misery worthwhile?

MV: The gig. We play to great audiences most nights. Paris in particular was an almost hysterical welcome, but they stood in hushed awe between songs, totally silent and attentive. Weird. So yeah, I think after all these years of touring the shithouses, we’ve built up a really devoted crowd who know our material inside out.

TDP: So, you’ve got a new EP out (titled Home & Minor), featuring “some of the band’s more settled numbers”. Tell us a bit more about this dimorphism in your sound – when did it first become apparent to you, and why have you waited until now to bring it out?

MV: We thought of it years ago. I guess, as I said in the press release, it’s just our own version of all those cheesy Heavy Metal bands doing their acoustic albums. We love making ambient music, we love texture and on much of this record there’s not as much “darkness”. The “concept” came about after we wrote “Legal Teens” which we were planning on releasing as a stop-gap single. The record company, in characteristically trusting form, told us, “OK just do 2 lead tracks and fill the rest up with whatever the fuck you want”. We loved that, so we became a little less precious about cramming in loads of different styles and decided to make the ambient project we’d been on about for years.

TDP: Did you consider the “side project” route instead? Was there any fear that you might (if you’ll excuse me slipping into corporate speak) “dilute the Oceansize brand” by doing a mellower record?

MV: I’m sure there are those in the band who were concerned about this. I am none of them.

TDP: How much of the new EP are you playing at the live shows? How are people responding to it?

MV: We’re playing two of the songs, they seem to go down really well. Particularly, “Home & Minor”, which has a real hypnotic, star-gazing quality after the lullaby part. That tends to have people closing their eyes, hopefully not nodding off with boredom!

TDP: You’re touring with some interesting acts; I’ve been lucky enough to see (and even share a stage with) both Brontide and And So I Watch You From Afar, but not everyone will have heard of them, and Vessels aren’t familiar to me at all – tell us a little bit about what you like about them, be it as people or bands or both.

MV: They’re energetic. They rock. They’re clever. They’re gonna make us work harder.

TDP: There seems to be, at least on the small-venue circuit in the UK, quite an upsurge of interesting progressive/instrumental/post-rock-metal-gaze/whatever-the-hell-it-is bands at the moment – if I was to suggest (in classic NME Pundit style) that “OMFGZ 2010 will be the year of Post-Prog!!1”, how large, heavy and hard-skinned would be the sort of vegetables you’d throw at me?

MV: A marrow, probably. We gave up wondering about all that stuff a long time ago. We’ve never fitted in anywhere, I don’t see that changing any time soon.

TDP: More seriously, do you see the musical climate in the UK becoming more friendly and open to the Oceansize aesthetic, and (if so) what d’you think has brought it around?

MV: Dunno. Certainly, we’re slowly getting more popular. It can only be down to word-of-mouth, as much of the weekly press or popular online press hate us. What’s brought it round? Maybe people are more willing to pay attention to a band that’s been touring for 11 years, I really don’t know. Obviously, we’re good now, but we’ve always at least tried to be good.

TDP: What about our European brethren – how do they respond differently to you guys compared to audiences back in Blighty?

MV: Usually much more fun. More accepting. Except Switzerland, who come in droves and stand there not knowing if they’re allowed to cheer. Germany, Holland and Paris in particular are ridiculously optimistic crowds. We played our first show in Spain this year, it was absurdly exciting. We felt like a band of Michael Jacksons (circa- 1987).

TDP: Have you seen any interesting bands on your travels that you think Oceansize aficionados (or just people in general) should be keeping their ears open for?

MV: Depends – I dunno what our audience likes. Personally, I’m listening a lot to St Vincent, Grizzly Bear, Youthmovies, Zu, Part Chimp, Future Of The Left, Earth, Do Make Say Think….

TDP: D’you think it’s getting any easier for bands to promote themselves without chasing after deals with record labels? Have you been tempted by the high road of total independence, or are you happy working with the Superball gang? What makes them a good label for you guys to be signed to?

MV: Well as I said before, the arrangement with Superball is as free as can be. They give us cash, we make the record that we want to make. The idea of independence is less terrifying since we built a decent recording studio. If you can record your own albums, and make money from gigs then sure it’s easier to be independent that if you didn’t. But only to a point – someone needs to pay for adverts, marketing, maybe a little tour support. Also, we require someone to mix our records. Financially, it all adds up.

TDP: And finally, a philosophical conundrum: you’re on a leaking life-raft in the middle of the Pacific, accompanied by David Blaine, Al Gore, the UnaBomber, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Una Stubbs and a retired guide-dog for the blind. Who becomes your closest ally, and who do you plan to eat first?

MV: I’d almost certainly take an unhealthy interest in the dog. I’d befriend him then eat Una Stubbs – I think Aunt Sally was my first crush.

TDP: Thanks for your time, and good luck!