THE VENUS FLY TRAP – THE GREYS, BRIGHTON 17.2.24
Ever since my blooming appreciation for Gary Numan kicked off as a young child, I’ve always been fascinated by the multi-formed world of post-punk and all its shades of societies and cultures, from the gothic shades of The Cure and Siouxie & the Banshees and the no wave orientations of Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and Swans to the minimal synth perplexions of Suicide and Throbbing Gristle and the angular cutting edge of Gang of Four and Wire. Furthermore, in my experience, it’s always refreshing to come across a musical outfit from these stylings that remain under the conceptual radar, but still power through in their ethic and motivation; one band that comes to mind is The Venus Fly Trap. The brainchild of Alex Novak, The Venus Fly Trap have spent the best part of four decades quietly releasing album after album, each containing a concise world of gothic-tinged post-punk that hints back to the sounds of bands like Sisters of Mercy. The band was formed as an afterbirth of Novak’s previous outfit Religious Overdose, among other projects, and has featured an ever-rotating cast of up to 18 musicians under his helm across its 38-year tenure. Despite their lack of commercial attainment, The Venus Fly Trap have enjoyed supports with Spacemen 3 and Television’s Tom Verlaine as well as cult success with singles such as ‘Morphine’, as well as a notable cover of Suicide’s ‘Rocket USA’.
On Saturday 17th, Alex took his post-punk vehicle to the Greys Freehouse in Brighton, just up along Southover Street. Setting up shortly after 8pm, a good hour or so was spent spinning classic songs of the 70s and 80s new wave sphere that featured, including but not limited to: ‘Brass In Pocket’ (The Pretenders), ‘Making Plans For Nigel’ (XTC), ‘Being Boiled’ (The Human League), ‘Reward’ (The Teardrop Explodes), ‘The Killing Moon’ (Echo & The Bunnymen), and ‘Sound Of The Suburbs’ (The Members), among many others! With no warning, the pounding electro drum machine beats of the debut Venus Fly Trap single ‘Morphine’ open the set with Alex strutting in dark shades like a resurrected Roy Batty in a black trench coat with Andy Denton to his left on guitar providing an electrifying presence. The Sisters of Mercy sound certainly comes through, as well as Alex’s vocals reminding me of an odd fusion of the inflections of John Cooper Clarke and the warped machismo of Suicide’s Alan Vega. ‘Sabotage’ with its slightly slower rhythmic pace, sees the duo engage in hell bent momentum with Andy’s riffs stanced in a minimal, yet tight orientation, while Alex continues to display his angular karate moves in the middle of the pub. The song’s intense climax propels the set swiftly forward into ‘James Dean’ adorned with hyperactive drums and ghoulish references to the titular actor and his untimely crash.
High-frequency synths open up the song ‘Vitesse’ before the Venus Fly Trap duo embark on more motorik-rooted rhythms and guitar lines so sharp in tone, it could cut through the carnivorous namesake. The final original-penned song of the set, ‘Mercury’ employs a more scant and minimal drum machine arrangement alongside a monotonous synth bass line for some key-transcendent riffs to float across (let’s also not forget the intense bridge that Alex collapses onto the floor to belt out at full volume). Now, the final three songs of the set, all of which are covers, are certainly interesting points of interest for the night; not content with twisting their post-punk assemblage around these tracks, Alex sees fit to completely rip the lyrical structures for each song apart and rework it in his own fashion. Case and point the first of these three: Suicide’s ‘Rocket USA’, where the original two-note riff is non-existent, nor is its bluesy synth chimes, and instead lies a sleazy gothic industrial soundscape. Secondly, The Cramps’ ‘Human Fly’, works very well in its favour with an electro-blues distinction propelling the song into energetic apogee. Finally, following cries for an encore, a closing cover of The Stooges’ ‘1969’ contains the least synthetic arrangement of the entire night, leading to a strong backdrop of live-sounding drums and invigorating guitars for Alex to, yet again, tear apart the lyrics and whisk across the remains with no pause in power until the end of the set. I must say, this was quite an interesting night, one that definitely makes a change from the familiar venue-support-main formula that one is used to on a night out in Brighton; but with the Venus Fly Trap at the helm, it can be a guaranteed, yet unqualified, success.
The Venus Fly Trap:
Alex Novak – vocals
Andy Denton – guitar, backing vocals
The Venus Fly Trap setlist:
‘Morphine’
‘Sabotage’
‘James Dean’
‘Vitesse’
‘Mercury’
‘Rocket USA’ (Suicide cover)
‘Human Fly’ (The Cramps cover)
‘1969’ (The Stooges cover)
Find out more by visiting www.spiralarchive.com.
