Venice Christmas Show, Dec 14! Click "CONCERT TICKETS"
Stained Glass CD & Vinyl Double Album - Available NOW!
We’re so excited to announce our NEW ALBUM, Stained Glass!
Yes, something good has come from the Covid 19 pandemic.
Available now on all streaming platforms!
Bonus Track “Wallbender’s Lament” on CD ONLY!
Double Album Vinyl and CD’s available at all live shows.
If you’re a true collector of all things Venice, the double album vinyl is a stunning package and worth having, even if you don’t have a record player. Andre Kemp’s design is a true work of ART!
After the world was turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic, most people’s perspective on life and what’s important really changed.
Although it felt like the world had stopped spinning, at times, it was during these days, months, and years of uncertainty that many of Venice’s “Stained Glass” songs were conceived. Each member of Venice was quietly and privately cataloguing their artistic interpretation of this new reality and uncertainty by recording or writing down little snippets of ideas, like guitar riffs, melodies, or lyrics…all of these came about while looking at life through a new lens.
“Once it was safe for us to gather, we brought the band back together to begin working through the collection of ideas we had stored away during our individual isolations”, says the album’s producer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist, Michael Lennon. “We set up a simple multi-track studio on my back patio in Los Angeles, California”. Surrounded by colorful hanging Tahitian pareos to brighten the room and block the direct sunlight, the band gathered in a circle, facing each other. The backyard's screened patio allowed for an open, outdoor feel with Venice Beach breezes, and provided shelter from any unwelcomed weather. “There was an openness and freedom that we felt by being outdoors and not being confined to the traditional, stuffy, windowless studio environment”, says Pat Lennon, Venice’s guitarist and vocalist, and cousin to Michael.
“The beauty of this approach on Stained Glass was that one person’s idea would be presented to the other 5 musicians and each guy added a different color to that idea”, says Michael. “Whether it was an unexpected drum beat, or a moving guitar line, those simple ideas turned into pieces of art, colored by the different musical and lyrical contributions. That only happens when you are working that idea out, together, and playing as one unit”.
That was the main inspiration for the album title; like a kaleidoscope, each guy's experience and taste in music was bringing a different color to the songs, but together their contributions made one piece of art, one song. Michael concludes, “if you zoom out, each song becomes its own color and all those songs or colors come together to form one big piece of art, one big piece of ‘Stained Glass’”.
New Venice Album - Jacaranda Street
In July of 2018 Venice returned to their roots in Venice beach California to write and record their latest album, Jacaranda Street. With a portable studio set up in the living room of the house that Marky and Michael grew up in, the band enlisted Dutch drummer, Andre Kemp and long time Venice bassist, Mark Harris, to help them create what many fans say is one of their "best albums to date".
The official release date is April 12, 2019, but you can preorder the album HERE....and on iTunes....and listen to the 2 singles, "My Love Waits For Me" & "27th Avenue", NOW on Apple Music and Spotify.
If you're a true Venetian, this is one album you need to have in your collection.
Wanna prepare for summer early?
Jacaranda Street IS summer in Venice
10 years after the release of our first holiday album "Christmas with Venice", we've released a new acoustic Christmas album, "Waves of Christmas". All your favorite holiday songs performed as only Venice can perform them. Winter Classics kissed by the California sun. Harmonies, which at times are reminiscent of classic Beach Boys. If you liked the first Venice Christmas album...you're sure to LOVE the new one. Happy Holidays! Venice
Southern California Band Venice Uses
Obama's Future Palm Springs Neighborhood
as Inspiration for New Album, "Into the Morning Blue"
“No, we didn’t actually stay at his house,” clarifies Venice’s guitarist/vocalist, and the album’s producer, Michael Lennon. “But it was pretty cool to be in the same gated community where the 44th president of the United States will be walking his dog in the near future.”
Nestled on the side of the mountains, in a friend’s house, with panoramic views of the desert palm trees below, the four Lennons kept things within the family while writing songs for their upcoming release. Kipp Lennon explains, “Usually we collaborate a bit more with outside writers, but this time, in the midst of the divided and uncertain state of our country, we reached inward and wrote 90% of all the new songs ourselves.”
On the heels of their critically acclaimed covers album, “Brunch Buffet,” Venice was ready to speak from their own hearts again. This is most evident in the two songs they wrote about the bittersweet experience of losing their fathers. The title track, “Into the Morning Blue,” recalls the day that brothers Mark and Michael Lennon lost their father. Mark recalls, “It was a surreal, beautiful fall morning in Venice, California, that brought some of the darkest news any child can hear: Our Dad was gone.” Mark and Michael’s cousins, Kipp and Pat Lennon (who are brothers to each other), shared a similar experience. As Pat explains, “and ‘Sunrise (August of ’69)’ is about the day after we lost OUR father, and the weeks and months of family healing that followed.”
But the album also shows the brighter side of Venice, with songs like, “A Dance by the River,” which tells the story of a night on the town in Budapest during the world tour of Roger Waters’ “The Wall,” a tour that Venice members proudly lent their vocal harmonies to. And “A Wealthy Man,” which speaks of the riches of real love with a spouse or with family members. The first single, “Doesn't Get Any Better Than This,” is an uplifting anthem (with a hint of irony) about staying in the moment, and it was the first of all the new songs to be written.
One thing is for sure, that this new album is quintessential Venice, with their signature vocal harmonies layered over soulful tracks that seem to ooze Southern California sunshine. If you’re in need of some of that sunshine, then you owe it to yourself to check out “Into the Morning Blue,” on Lennon Records/M.A.R.S. Worldwide, when it’s released on April 14, 2017.
VENICE - “Brunch Buffet - Tasty Covers” (Lennon Records 2016)
Over the years, when people have asked the members of Venice who their musical influences are, they’ve felt funny merely stating the obvious few -- CSNY, The Eagles, The Beach Boys, etc. -- because sometimes it might have only been one song from an artist that moved them or flipped a switch in their creative brains, but not necessarily the entire catalogue. That’s how Venice’s new CD, “Brunch Buffet” came about, as a great way to answer that question once and for all, with a cover album revealing the diversity of their musical influences. “Yes, those West Coast vocal harmony bands obviously helped shape our sound,” says vocalist Mark Lennon, “but this album isn’t only about the classic rock or California coast influences. It’s also everything from music of our parents’ generation to singer/songwriters like Shawn Colvin. We cover Keane on this album, and they’re a British band from the 2000's. It's all the same to us, because our music is not only about the 60’s and 70’s, it's about great songs and artists from any time or place.” And while many older artists helped build Venice’s foundation, newer artists along the way have naturally influenced their journey forward, resulting in a familiar but ever evolving Venice sound. “Ultimately, 'Brunch Buffet' only includes SOME of our favorite songs by SOME of our favorite artists,” guitarist/producer Michael Lennon adds. “In putting together an album of what we considered 'Tasty Covers,' we realized that no matter what songs end up in this collection, we’ll always have second thoughts that we didn’t do song X or Y by artist Z. So I guess we’ll just have to record another album so that we can visit those there! ‘Supper Smorgasbord - Tasty Covers Part 2!’ “
