Our Richard Gehring talks to Dima of Life on Venus about tunes and tunings, and dreams come true.
Life on Venus is a five-piece shoegaze and dream pop band based in Moscow, Russia. The band members are Dima (guitar, vocals), Lisa (vocals), Marat (bass), Ivan (guitar) and Gulya (drums). Life on Venus decided on the name because “life on Venus must be one of the most surreal and unbelievable things ever”.
In 2016, they self-released a two-track EP titled Distant Lights which gave the listener only a small taste of what was yet to come. In March of 2017, Life on Venus self-released the 10-track LP Encounters. The songs on this first LP flow together seamlessly and take the listener on a surreal journey. In August of 2017, they signed to Shelflife Records. Shelflife described Encounters as “the perfect blend of those noisy, a bit of psychedelic sounds and dreamy melodies topped with subtle vocals”. Encounters ranked #31 in the DKFM 2017 Shoegaze and Dream Pop Albums Poll as voted by listeners. The single “Around the Sun” hit #38 in the DKFM Top 60 Shoegaze and Dream Pop Tracks of 2017.
In March of 2018, Life on Venus released “Last Night” as part of Lovelife, A Homage To Lush by The Blog That Celebrates Itself Records. In December of 2018, they followed up with the dreamy-yet-epic single “For The Kill”, making waves on year-end charts. Now with Departure, two charting singles since its release attest to their staying power, and the love DKFM listeners have developed for this band.
Through our ambassador Richard Gehring, DKFM sat down with Dima of Life on Venus prior to their May show in Offenbach, Germany, on the occasion of their first tour outside Mother Russia.
DKFM: In April, Life on Venus released the four-track EP Departure on Shelflife Records. It’s an excellent blend of dream pop and shoegaze with subtle vocal lines. You recently described Departure as “An ode to our obscure past, our fear of the future and everlasting love and determination deep within us”. That is very evocative, can you expand on what influenced this EP?
Dima [guitar, vocals]: All of the members of the band have experienced a variety of issues and tough situations. The emotions that we experienced while dealing with these kinds of things made us realize that we have to be close and sincere to each other. We mostly stick to abstract lyrics and abstract music and therefore we want all of or listeners to find something personal.
DKFM: Who wrote Departure? And are you using any new equipment on this release?
Dima: Most of the songs were written by me but we finished them all together. We have been experimenting with a variety of things. First, the baritone guitars are tuned very low, all the way down to A. It helps us bring that dark and gloomy sound to our songs. We started producing more noisy sounds by using fuzzers and reverbs a lot more. It turned out to be very interesting for now and it expresses our ideas in the best way.
DKFM: Is there a full-length LP forthcoming?
Dima: It will be finished soon and it is coming out later this year.
DKFM: How are you gaining the international recognition you have? Definitely a long way from Moscow.
Dima: We gain international recognition by staying in touch with the people that listen to our music. We receive some great help from radio and Shelflife. Most everything happens because of them and we are very grateful.
DKFM: You are performing in twelve cities in seven European countries. What’s it like for Life on Venus to be on tour outside of Russia for the first time?
Dima: It’s a very special experience because we never could have imagined it. When we started out, we thought that we are going to do what we like, express ourselves, and play things that we love. When it came to the tour, it was just like a dream that came true. We are very pleased to meet new people and see people at our shows.
DKFM: Can we expect a wider tour in the future? A lot of fans are champing at the bit to see a live performance from Life on Venus.
Dima: We have some plans for a wider tour. We would like to visit the West and then the East in a year or two. It may appear to be a long time to wait but we are doing our best.
DKFM: Dima, thank you very much for your time and we wish Life on Venus continued international success.
And we thank Richard Gehring for getting these rare interviews for our readers! Follow Life on Venus on Bandcamp as well as VK (Russia).
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