Ventrelles release Christmas single and video Happenstance for homeless charity Lifeshare

Ventrelles are back with the first new single since Gondola Wishes (reviewed here). It’s their spin on a ‘Christmas tune’ called Happenstance. It’s a heartwarming shining indie cracker that sparkles and it’s all for the good of Lifeshare says Wayne AF Carey…

Phil Knox is an interesting type of guy when you look back at his short history. Living in Chicago for a few years, coming up with a group name after a train ride, slumming it back to Manchester and starting his own thing after a few adventures on the road mixing with other groups on tour, then settling in with his own graft of writing songs that collide with the scouse sounds of Liverpool paired with his own vision of his own Manchester scene. I caught them live early this year and described them as ‘non indie landfill’ at the time as they totally surprised me with the way they look and the way they sound on stage. Pale Fountains are a noted interest as are other quality bands like The Bunnymen and a love for the strong songwriting melodies of Michael Head.

I’m still awaiting footage of the interview I did at the back of The Salty Dog where we hit it off like a couple of old school Northern Manc scallies. I also actually reviewed one of their singles back in 2019, Stop from The Shutters EP and my excuse is lockdown erased this from my memory. Bad times… Anyway their time is now and Ventrelles are ready to dust off Christmas with this infectious tune and playful video all in the aid of the homeless when they need it most. It’s fucking freezing and this will warm the cockles and hopefully put some warm food into the mouths of the people who need it most. Phil explains:

“Ventrelles are a self titled ‘Fleece Pop’ band from Manchester, England and we’ve been doing the rounds for a couple of years releasing a string of high melody, big sound numbers to a cult following which is organically growing slowly but surely.

We were set to drop the next single, the big hitting sun soaked All Your Dreams Fall as an autumn release, but as the country started to fall down a massive sewer pipe, we started to feel that releasing a bolshy tune and all the self promoting ‘buy this, stream that’ felt a little preposterous and out of touch so the lads regrouped and came up with a better idea.

We’d done a Lifeshare online showcase over the lockdown period and we felt we owed the charity something in return so we took an album only track, cut it down to pop song levels, and threw a bit of a Christmas vibe on it with glockenspiels and a load of your Nana’s Sherry and set it on fire in front of the turkey”

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Words by Wayne Carey, Reviews Editor for Louder Than War. His author profile is here