Pleasure Venom

Earlier this week, Popper Burns headed to Cheer Up Charlie’s to do a tape release party for their mind blowing self-titled LP, a work that we feel stands out as one of the defining statements of Austin’s current weirdo punk wave. This wasn’t any old party, though. Popper Burns brought along fellow sex punk agitators Critical Dad, whose EP New Parents we’ve also been enjoying, longstanding Ovrld faves SUPER THIEF and newcomers Pleasure Venom, whose darker post-punk material is very promising. Anyway, what we’re getting at is that there was no way in hell we wouldn’t be on hand to document this show. Our Senior Punk Reporter Ashley Bradley took some wild and woolly shots of the proceedings. A note: Ashley said that there are fewer pics of SUPER THIEF than normal because the boys were too tired from seeing Death Grips just beforehand, and knowing Jay and Cody of SUPER THIEF, that sounds 1000% accurate to me. - Ovrld

Oh, Get Up Kids. I knew you were going to kill, but you really slayed. Playing almost every song from Something To Write Home About, The Kids brought the rowdy, singing crowd to tears on Wednesday night at Mohawk where they ended their nationwide 20th Anniversary Tour. The show seemed passionate for the bands and crowd alike. After GUK was encored, commenting about how they’ll probably play past curfew but didn’t care, guitarist Jim Suptic thanked the audience for “still giving a shit after all these years.” I just wanna take this opportunity to speak for all of your fans everywhere and say that, in 20 more years, we’ll still give a shit about you, Get Up Kids. Keep playing. Forever.

The boys were joined by The Josh Berwanger Band (formerly of The Anniversary), The Hotelier (formerly The Hotel Year) and there was an after, late-night show inside with Rose Sélavy, Pleasure Venom and Diet Cig. I stuck around for it all, mainly because all the bands were great, but also because I didn’t want the night to end. - Ovrld

By Jake Navarro. Feb 2, 2015

Post-punk is a hard one to pull off, but, Austin band, Pleasure Venom recreates the genre in a way that makes you want to double-fist warm Lone Star tallboys and get in on the live action front row. In the world of punk, that definitely is a good thing.

The group invited MyCityATX to their humble abode to check out their new EP, Hunt, that drops Feb. 4, 2015 accompanied with a release party at Beerland on Red River. Pleasure Venom goes on at 10:30 p.m., so there's no reason why you can't stop by and jam out!

I didn't know what to expect knocking on the door of post-punk. As soon as, bassist, Trevor Mason offered me a warm Lonestar and apologized about the Christmas tree still being up, I knew it was going to be fun evening (My Christmas tree was still up, too).

We get to talking about how Pleasure Venom's sound came to be.

"We just wanted to do something that was different than what we all did before," Vocalist and songwriter, Audrey Campbell starts, "We didn't go into this project saying, "Hey! This is going to be a punk band!" It just is what it is."

"It almost was an electronic-laptop band," Trevor laughs.

When it comes to their live presence, Pleasure Venom is fun, rambunctious and indefinitely feeds off their crowd's energy. Anna Charlock, guitarist, zones in to elaborate:

"The crowd isn't always going to understand the words we're singing or saying live on stage, but they get the energy."

"They receive the emotion aesthetically," Austin Reynolds, on guitar, finishes.

As a theater major, front-woman, Audrey, gives us some insight on PV's stage performance.

"I have to keep telling my mom it's art and interpretation when she sees some of the pictures of us on stage. You can't fake it. When I'm getting really into it and rolling around, the emotion has to be real," Audrey explains.

Anna is quick to expand on that idea, "My dad asks me if the lead singer has any dance moves that aren't obscene. He's seen a lot of photos of us and is scandalized."

The group laughs, recollects and hears from, drummer, Thomas Valles.

"My dad is really religious. It's odd how supportive he is of us. It's the opposite of his thing."

Austin shares some of his on-stage feelings as its his first band to be a part of.

"I get so nervous. Everyone is looking at me and right before I play the first note of the first song, I think, "WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!" I'm working on it," he jokes.

It's apparent quite quickly, as band, that they're a creative family that loves to have fun. It's always a pleasure to see a tight-knit group create art and their own lane in the city.

In their post-punk rage, I ask who they would like to collaborate with here in town.

"I really do enjoy Sailor Poon a lot. I'd love to go on a mini-tour with them," Trevor starts.

Audrey finishes his sentence--"They've helped us a lot with our own projects. They're pals. I love them."

"We try to be as honest and raw as possible, and we want to play music with bands that think the same way," Thomas chimes in.

As we get to goals and aspirations for where Pleasure Venom see themselves going, it's almost unanimous.
If people outside out Austin knew of us, and made plans to see us—to excite the idea of “Pleasure Venom is in town! What are you doing tonight?!”—that would make me happy
— Austin Reynolds, Pleasure Venom


Trevor continues, "That's the thing--we're huge fans of other bands and we get that giddiness of, "Oh, shit! They're coming to town?!" We would love to be on the other end of that."

It's always a pleasure to see a tight-knit group create art and their own lane in the city. These punks dudes and dudettes are ones to check out if you're wanting to jam out, forget your problems for the evening and have a good time.

Be ready to see Pleasure Venom ripping up stages around town. They're definitely the next post-punk band on the rise in the city.

"This is probably the best band experience I've been apart of," Anna mentions to me as the group chats amongst themselves and interview comes to an end.

Make sure to check out Pleasure Venom on Thursday, Feb. 4th at Beerland for their Debut EP Release Party.

You can follow at www.pleasurevenom.com and like their page on Facebook to support some Austin post-punk! - My City ATX

If you’ve not been exposed to Pleasure Venom yet, allow me to introduce you: hailing from our fair city of Austin, the band is composed of Audrey Campbell on vocals, Anna Charlock on guitar and vocals, Austin Reynolds on guitar, Trevor Mason on bass, and Thomas Valles on drums. The group’s sound is centered around the energy that is Campbell’s vocals, an energy which is heavily brought at live shows, but with a variety of Punk, Garage, and even ‘60s-sounding influences composing the vehicle that is this band. Their debut EP Hunt allows us a window into their world as their initial endeavor into the recording realm.



What becomes readily apparent to me about these guys is the obvious Post-Punk backbone to a lot of this music. It’s easy to fit into a title like “Post” Punk, as most things post the seventies could be this, but you can hear a lot of bands like Wire and Gang of Four creeping in with the jagged tempos of songs like the title track. Guitars have that subdued buzz to them that is so familiar with this genre, while drums are simplistic, but calculated, all around Campbell’s signature vocals, border-lining Soul, but ending up in screeches and wild pitch fluctuations.

It would behoove me to not pigeonhole these guys, or anyone for that matter, however, as there is so much else that goes on here. Songs like “Telekinetic” have a bounce and bass groove that remind me of early ‘60s Pop and Garage groups, but with an obvious distortion taking place. Besides the vocals, guitar melodies have this uncertainty and deviancy to them, and everything will break down into a cruising, groovy stampede of Punk noise, along with eerie background vocal coos and screeches. It’s a really cool fusion sound.



Where the band really excels for me, however, is in these songs like “Lemon Drop” that have a jam element to them, and seem to encapsulate several things at once. “Lemon Drop” starts with this kind of circus-y waltz around which the band dances to set the stage for what’s to come. Fuzz and jangles then collide in a quick chorus that plows along, taking everything with it in this blaze of Pop before suddenly coming to a halt. The phrasing of this chorus is then used as the basis for the next verse, adding great cohesion to the song before closing with a return to the circus as the band shows us out from probably my favorite song of theirs.



The only thing I can say is missing from this EP is the energy the band exudes at live shows, which, as many bands who have come before will indicate to you, obviously comes with the territory of doing a professional recording. Campbell does bring the noise with her vocals, which gives listeners an idea of what this band’s presence is like, along with these Punk breaks that shatter everything with volume and tenacity. But nothing can match what one will experience at PV’s live shows, and perhaps this is better as it gives the listener a reason to actually go out and see these guys, and allows their stage performance to define them.

Hunt is a great initial release from these guys as it shows off all the band’s talents while tapping into a core of a lot of what this band’s sound is. With it, Pleasure Venom give us one more reason to challenge what we think Punk is, which I always think is a good thing, and is indicative of a pretty cool band. The album simultaneously makes you want to move your hips and punch a hole in the wall, making it classic sounding in two styles, and another great release from another great band out of Austin.

Their EP Release show is next Thursday, Feb. 4 at Beerland with Popper Burns, Milezo and Pollen Rx. - Ovrld