Venus Furs: New Inspiration video + Interview

Venus Furs

New Inspiration

Single/Video and Interview

Anyone who acquainted themselves with Canadian shoegazer Venus Furs excellent debut album last year knows what to expect from them by now – swooping soundscapes, a modern take on shoegaze, rich with velvet warmth. New single New Inspiration represents the album perfectly, a shifting and smouldering slice of indie carried by rich vocals emerging from one of those evocative soundscapes. There’s a terrific video to accompany it all too – a dream-like series of images juxtaposition the lunar with the abstract which channels classic Luis Bunuel.

I spoke to Paul Kasner, the man behind Venus Furs,  about it – and other musical matters – here

LTW: If you could name three influences or recommendations – one national, one international, one local – who would they be?

VF: “Local would be Sam Roberts Band. I discovered them towards the end of High School with the single Brother Down and have been a fan since. He’s a great songwriter and lyricist. In terms of national, most of my influences have been from the UK and US, but there are a lot of cool artists in Canada. Mothland is a local label/booking agency/festival organiser that work with a lot of great bands, and there are a lot of great Canadian artists including Beams, Thanya Iyer, Gulfer, and Wine Lips among others.

It’s very hard to limit International to one, but Oasis have been one of my biggest influences, especially the first two albums. That said, artists like TV On The Radio, The Velvet Underground, and The Kinks have also been extremely influential, amongst many others. I’ve also been strongly influenced by comedy and would strongly recommend Dave Attell’s Skanks For The Memories, Mitch Hedberg’s albums, Bert Kreischer’s specials, and two recent specials on YouTube – Joe List’s I Hate Myself, and Sam Morrill’s Up On The Roof.”

LTW: That video is perfect for the song! Who is behind it and how much input did you have into it?

VF: “The video was made my Justis Krar (IMMV Productions). He collaborated with a lot of artists including Zoon, Mundy’s Bay and Sleep Decay (Mundy’s Bay side-project) and I became a fan of his work through those collaborations. I’m very grateful that he was willing to work with me as well! We had a couple of discussions about the overall vibe and feel of the video and then from there I mostly left it for him to become inspired and put together his own version of the video. There were only a couple of minor tweaks I suggested beyond that.”

LTW: How would you sum up Venus Furs to a new listener? 

VF: “Alternative indie/rock with psych, shoegaze and Post-punk influences. I’ve previously (jokingly) described it as the alternative to psychedelicsurfpunkpop. One review of the album from a local publication called Bad Feeling Magazine described it as “like a mixtape you’ve never heard from your favourite bands” which I think sums it up nicely.”

LTW: What can we expect from a second Venus Furs album? 

VF: “I’m currently working on it. I suspect that the final result will be musically similar (to the debut) as I’m writing and navigating based on similar influences, tastes, interests and dislikes, but I hope it will be different enough not to feel more of the same or boring.”

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Many thanks to Paul Kasner. The video for New Inspiration is available to watch now for those seeking a little dreamlike hypnosis.

More from Venus Furs can be found via their Facebook 

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Interview by Amy Britton – find more at her author’s archive

Source: louderthanwar.com