Mit ihrer neuen EP „To Die as Lovers May“ entführen uns VENUS GRRRLS in ein düsteres, filmreifes Universum irgendwo zwischen 19.-Jahrhundert-Schauerliteratur, geisterhaften Streicherklängen und wuchtigen Industrial-Riffs. Das Quartett aus dem Norden Englands gilt längst nicht mehr nur als Geheimtipp, sondern als mitreißender Alt-Rock-Act, der auf der Bühne Ethereal-Goth mit purem Grunge und weiblicher Empowerment-Energie verschmelzen lässt. Kurz vor ihrer großen UK-Headlinertour und nach einem vollgepackten Festival-Sommer haben wir mit Gitarristin Eliza Lee gesprochen. Ein ehrlicher Talk über Mary Shelleys Grab-Mythen, die heilende Wirkung von Barden-Musik im Tourbus und die Frage, warum echte Menschlichkeit in der Musik wichtiger ist als jeder Algorithmus.
Frontstage Magazine: You describe your new EP „To Die as Lovers May“ as an ode to the darker corners of human existence, inspired by dark romance and 19th-century literature. Was there a specific book, poem, or legend that served as the initial spark for this grim, cinematic universe?
Eliza Lee: It was a culmination of works, but notably, the lyrics for „Mother Knows“ came from an urban legend concerning Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) allegedly losing her virginity on her mother’s grave. The sapphic vampire novel „Carmilla“ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, which pre-dates Dracula, of course was the inspiration behind our song „Carmilla“. Again those themes of sex, death, and viscera are so prevalent in 19th century gothic literature in a way that just provides seemingly endless inspiration. Really it was about crafting music that lives in a similarly dark and melodramatic sphere.
Frontstage Magazine: In tracks like „Mother Knows“, you used a violin bow on an electric guitar to create a ghostly graveyard atmosphere, while „Eve“ combines influences from Nine Inch Nails and Fleetwood Mac. How easy or difficult is it for you to bring together such extreme contrasts—from delicate 80s goth to heavy industrial grunge—during the songwriting process?
Eliza Lee: It’s very easy because it not necessarily a very deliberate choice, more of a natural consequence of having such diverse influences both as individuals and as a group. Although the references come up in the writing room i.e. maybe one of us might say ‘okay what if we did a bit of a Lindsey Buckingham guitar thing at the end here?’, typically this is very in the moment and gut instinct led. I can’t say we ever set out with the idea of deliberately fusing contrasting genres. It was a real pleasure to get to explore more of the scope of those influences in writing this EP actually, getting to explore the light and shade of what we can do.
Frontstage Magazine: The 5 tracks feel like a cohesive dramaturgical journey—from the powerful opener „Eve“ through the mystical „Carmilla“ to the final outburst in „Wormfood“. Was it clear to you from the start what story the EP should tell, or did the tracklist and sequence only emerge during the recording sessions?
Eliza Lee: It was a little bit of both really. „Eve“ existed quite a bit before the other songs but it felt right to include because that was a single that really felt like we’d found a sonic direction we were interested in pursuing. It was written around the same time as the seeds of these other ideas were occurring but it just happened to come to fruition first. Then the EP itself was a bit of a surprise, our label asked if we fancied doing one and as we’d been keen to do more of a body of work for a while we leapt at the chance. We had a listen through all the bits of demos we had and sort of chose from there the ones we thought would have the most cohesion. The story of the EP then came through on its own a little and we worked on all the songs and realised what they had thematically in common. It’s really a representation of where we’re at creatively at the moment.
Frontstage Magazine: Your persona is often described as a „Northern English alt-rock coven“, and your shows have a very ethereal, conjuring quality to them. What does this witch/coven motif mean to you personally and to the band dynamic?
Eliza Lee: In our personal lives, we’re all practitioners and lovers of witchcraft in various incarnations and to varying degrees. So again it just felt natural to bring that into the shows. Magick is the lens through which we see the world as people and that’s so holistic that it makes sense to use that as the vehicle for communication in everything we do. There’s also an element of feminine power we derive from the coven idea, making music together as women feels very much like a kind of magick sisterhood anyway. It’s also great to be able to invite our fans in in that way. They’re part of the coven, of the bond we all share.
Frontstage Magazine: This year has been an absolute whirlwind for you—from the big SXSW stage and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend to tours with Nova Twins and Witch Fever. Is there a specific moment or lesson from this intense year of touring that has particularly shaped you as a band?
Eliza Lee: Well we’ve certainly learned the true meaning of ‘the show must go on’ – and that we’re always learning. Mistakes and setbacks are part of a creative life (and of any life for that matter) so it’s being able to keep our heads up and keep going even when things go awry or turn out in a way we didn’t expect. Perhaps more positively as well we’ve definitely learned to trust ourselves more as writers and performers. We’ve really had a chance to make music more authentically than ever and really follow our instincts musically and it seems like that’s resonating with our audience better than ever before.
Frontstage Magazine: Right in time for the EP release in October, you’re embarking on your own UK headline tour. How do you plan to translate the dense, multilayered studio atmosphere of the new songs to the stage? Can fans look forward to any special visual or conceptual elements?
Eliza Lee: A lot of communicating an EP like this is about making sure we craft all on the tones right in terms of the bass and guitars, and make some pretty calculated decisions about which parts to pick out and play. We’ve also been enjoying building some new ambient soundscape elements for during the show. The audience can expect the next evolution in our usual brand of dark and witchy staging!
Frontstage Magazine: Despite your dark, aesthetic sound, you are completely down to earth and heavily involved with organizations like the Teenage Cancer Trust and the stem cell register Anthony Nolan. How important is it to you to use your growing reach for such passion projects?
Eliza Lee: It’s incredibly important to us. The band is able to exist at all because of the incredible dedication of some important charities and so it’s essential to us that we give back. Especially in the current music industry climate of chasing numbers and algorithms, it can be easy to lose sight sometimes of any impact you can really make as an artist. So it serves as an important reminder that we can use our music to make the change we want to see in the world, in a way that matters, that doesn’t depend on any kind of fickle data set. We will always use the voice we have to champion those causes that are so dear to us.
Frontstage Magazine: As an all-female band in the alt-rock/goth-grunge genre, you not only make a strong musical statement, but you also break with outdated scene clichés. What changes are you currently noticing in rock music, and what role do you want VENUS GRRRLS to play for the next generation of female musicians?
Eliza Lee: Well there are certainly more women in bands than there were at one stage, though we’d love to see even more. It’s certainly more normalised but there’s still plenty of work to do as we can tell from the very fact we’re still talking about it. I think just being women, visibly, loudly, unapologetically and working hard to make art we can be proud of is the best thing we can do to set the scene for the next generation of female artists to have an even better platform.
Frontstage Magazine: If you could look 100 years into the future: What feeling or legacy should the music of VENUS GRRRLS leave behind in people’s minds?
Eliza Lee: With technology advancing the way it is, we hope that the legacy of our music is one that’s deeply human, a reminder of passion, sometimes morbidity, but certainly an emotional experience either way.
Frontstage Magazine: If you had to choose a soundtrack for those endless hours on the tour bus that all four of you could enjoy without anyone throwing a tantrum: Which record is on a loop when you’re traveling across the UK between shows?
Eliza Lee: We listen to a lot of goth music together (Sisters of Mercy, Type O Negative etc.), plenty of metal, and as a reward to the nervous system we always put on some medieval tavern ambient at the end of particularly long night so bard music and lutes is always a hit.
Frontstage Magazine: What is the absolute most important, completely unglamorous item that must be within arm’s reach in your suitcase or backstage area?
Eliza Lee: Probably some kind of cold or flu remedy, if there’s one thing that touring is great for it’s picking up a sniffle so we pretty much live and breathe Vicks First Defence.
Fotocredit: Albumcover / Artwork
