The Ghost of Venus Ray

But it is not always negative, neither. As these 4 brilliant young men lurched between torpor and insomnia via a succession of medical emergencies, a 2" magnetic tape clicked into Capture Mode deep inside a haunted rural farmhouse and a suburban basement. As they approached the city' the machine tripped the Mix Down switch.

Listen very, very closely. It is as if the spirit of these places: the ghosts; the space; the leisureliness; the loneliness; the power; the speed; the money; the claustrophobia; the muscular excellence; the drive to win, passed over these guys completely. The world outside could have disintegrated around them and they probably wouldn't have noticed, providing the electricity, tape-echoes, depths, tones and swoops kept flowing. If, when their job was done, they had opened the studio door to find the outside world gone, I'm sure they would have been heartbroken to discover their entire potential audience was dead.

But then, with nothing else to do, they would have gone back inside and listened to a play-back. And they would have had the consolation of knowing that, at last, this tiny point in the Milky Way was as beautiful and perfect as it had ever had the potential to get. A world without Venus Ray is not a place I would choose to live. And, if the world was gone and I had to live nowhere, I'd like Venus Ray to be there with me. And everything would be ok.

Danny Penniman An Outer Spiral Arm, 2000.





Venus Ray are:

Diggory Kenrick: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Percussion

Barney Oliver: Piano, Organ, Synth, Bass, Electronics, Guitar, Vocals, Percussion

Robert Coyne: Guitar, Synth, Bass, Vocals, Drums, Percussion

Tony Thewlis: Bass, Vocals, Guitar, Percussion

Steve Smith: Drums, Percussion, Vocals


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