Grindpunk heroes Venomous Concept have had a busy 2020. Back in August, they released their rockling fourth LP, Politics Verses the Erection, before commemorating the 10th anniversary of our Decibel Flexi Series with the timely “Vote Clown Party” flexi single earlier this month. Somewhere in between, prolific bassist/guitarist Shane Embury, guitarist John Cooke and vocalist Kevin Sharp managed to record a fifth Venomous Concept LP (which you won’t lay ears on that until next year). What you will hear now is the debut of an extension of Venomous called Visceral Collapse, which functions as the group’s vehicle for material outside the Venomous Concept “comfort zone,” if such a thing were to actually exists. We’ll let Sharp break down the genesis of their sprawling 25-minute Knowle Rd release from here.
“Shane and I got to talking about records we wanted to do — I guess the older you get, the more curious you become. Records we only talked of doing but never got around to, but then COVID came and gave us two things: crisis and time on our hands. I sort of feel I have created deconstructed music in multitudes of methodology and melody might be an unexplored extreme.
So Shane wrote some songs for the next Venomous Concept album; more uptempo high-paced rock ‘n’ roll punk mixed in with a Hüsker Dü melodic ’80s hardcore punk feel. It goes this way then that way and an album forms. Anyway, you will hear more about that album next year once we roll into 2021!
The idea was for me to fly to Birmingham/Cambridge and record for my birthday back in September. I arrived three days early to work on last-minute ideas for the record we had written. Not being capable of following a plan, we went in and immediately recorded an emotional avalanche titled Knowle Rd. This may not be for everyone. That said, this record was Johnny, Shane and myself, so in an effort to direct the ear, we are using a different acronym for this VC record: This part of our hard drive will be called Visceral Collapse, which, if you think about it, defines 2020. If in the future “Venomous Concepts” exceed perceived content, we will probably come up with another acronym… but Ook will always be VC!
So if you enjoy placing your head in an oven, I encourage you to get in your special place. and set your head to broil. Knowle Rd is the 2020 lease-breaker everyone felt this year.”