Velveteen have been practising the art of shoegaze for a number of years now, releasing some stunning feedback tunes whilst touring the UK and further afield, with fans crossing continents to see them perform, it looks like their success will only keep on growing. Gigslutz spoke to Drew from the band who waxed lyrical about his upbringing, the bands internal workings and what they’re up to at present:

Can you please tell me some details about your upbringing?

I’m originally from Scotland and James is from Ireland. Both Dave and Patrick are from the south coast of England.

What was the first music you can remember hearing?

My dad also played in bands and was into late 60s and 70s rock, but also was quite keen on Celtic music, so it was probably a mixture of those things.

What music made you want to create music? When did you start playing an instrument / start singing?

I’m not sure there was a particular style of music that really made me want to play. That might be quite unusual, given that probably most people hear a band or whatever and that makes them really want to learn an instrument, but for me it was more about an instrument as a creative outlet and form of expression rather than anything else. There are a lot of other forms of artistic disciplines that coexist directly with music – visuals, creative writing in lyrics, storytelling, etc, and I’m equally into those things as inspirations.

Did you always find writing your own material a natural progression than playing covers?

Yes, definitely. We have never played a cover as Velveteen and get much more satisfaction from developing our own musical identity than covering another artist. There are some great interpretations out there, in terms of covers, but I think creating our own music is the more appealing and rewarding path for us.

Were you in any bands before Velveteen?

Yeah, we all played in other bands. Various alt-rock bands and Patrick played in a punk band in Australia for a short time too.

How did Velveteen form?

We had all just finished various projects with other bands and I had started writing some shoegaze influenced songs which kind of started to develop a cohesive identity that we were all into. We then refined those and came up with a very rough demo tape and things just kind of progressed from there and we started taking things more seriously.

Who were the bands musical influences when you first formed?

As a band, we have a really broad range of influences, but when this band formed we were kind of gravitating a bit towards the heavier, more abrasive side of shoegaze, in terms of sound. Bands like Medicine, Spacemen 3, and, of course, My Bloody Valentine were all on our radar, but we really listen to a lot of things and, as I’ve mentioned previously when speaking about the band, we take inspiration from lots of things outside of music too, like literature, art and life in general. There are times when we’re writing now and not taking direct inspiration from music at all.

Where did the band name come from?

I think it was a passage in a book where that word stuck out – may have been a Charles Dickens novel, if I recall correctly!

Did the band gig a lot before going into the studio?

I wouldn’t say a lot. We wanted to hone the songs and our sound before we gigged and we had “cut our teeth” playing live with other bands, so we were probably more focused on getting the songs right both at home and in the studio. Most people will probably never hear the band live, so it’s really important to get the recordings right. In that way, the band live and on record can be two quite distinct entities.

Does one specific person in the band write the songs, or are there elements of jamming behind any of the tracks you’ve released?

Mostly, I write the kernel ideas of the songs, but we also work things up together in rehearsal and everyone adds in their own ideas, so it is ultimately a collaborative approach.

Yours To Enjoy was the debut release by the band, what were the reasons for recording and releasing this material?

Yeah, we had this collection of songs that kind of felt like they belonged together and had a collective character of their own, so it felt like a natural decision to put them out as an EP and then just see how they were received. There are always song ideas that stand out as stronger ones than others, so out of the pretty rough demos we had, those were the 4 tracks that we chose to focus on. It’s always better to have more ideas than you actually go on to use.

Were all the songs on this record recorded and released as demos?

On the Yours To Enjoy tape? Yes. They were all home demos. We didn’t go into a proper studio for those and we didn’t at all mind the lo-fi nature of how those recordings were. We’re not into overly polishing things anyway.

Bluest Sunshine followed in 2020, there appears to be some My Bloody Valentine influence on the record, is that a fair comment?

I don’t think any shoegaze band can escape My Bloody Valentine comparisons. That band are so ubiquitous, being one of the defining progenitors of the scene, that they are kind of a benchmark for the shoegaze sound. In short, yeah, it is a fair comment, but we also had lots more to influence us when we were making that record.

Get Real, what was the writing process for this tune?

That song started with the synth line and bass which set the basis for this kind of quite hypnotic rhythm section. From then on, it was more about building some atmosphere with the reverbed guitars and some noisier textures for something that was a bit more challenging on the ear. I usually explore a few melody ideas when I’m writing a song and then write the actual lyrics last. When we have a good basis of a song, we usually take it to rehearsal and see how it’s working in a live context, so a song can continue to evolve for a while before we have a solid demo.

The bands debut album Empty Crush followed in 2022, what was the briefing when you went into the studio to record the album?

We’d been writing for a while at that point and had a fair few songs to pick from for an album, so it was more about what songs we thought were the strongest and which ones kind of felt like they belonged together in some way. We also knew we wanted to re-record the songs from the old demo tape and really do those justice in the studio. We tracked the drums and bass at Malthouse Studios in Bristol and also some of the guitars and then did subsequent recording sessions in London.

Have the band mainly played gigs in the London area?

We’ve done shows outside of London too and played a festival in New York, but it’s fair to say that the challenges we have faced as a band have meant that we haven’t played as many shows abroad as we would have liked. That is now changing, now that we are all fit and healthy and back on track.

Do the band mainly have a fan base in the UK

We’ve been lucky enough to have met fans of the band from all over. We released our LP on US label Shelflife and have a following in the United States and our vinyl re-release of BluestSunshine was pitched by an Asian distributor where we also have a decent following. At our show last week we met some really ace fans from China. Obviously the UK is where we are based and we have some following here too.

Do you have any memorable gigs you’ve played to date?

I think our most recent EP launch in London with sadplanet was really good fun. We had a good crowd down for that and we were really excited to play that gig the day before My Dreams Are Changing came out. Sadplanet were great and we had a few drinks after and stuff. Playing in the USA was also a great experience.

2026 has seen the band return with My Dreams Are Changing EP. Is there a reason for the band coming back to record together following brief hiatus throughout your career so far?

I got very ill in 2022 and it took me a good 18months to get back to 100%, so that’s the main reason for the hiatus. We’ve always had the passion to write more music and release more records, but that was just an unfortunate time.

Are you always looking for new sounds to produce from a guitar?

Yes, absolutely. We like experimenting a lot with pedals and rack units, but also a lot with the tone from the guitar itself. I think it’s easy to be drawn into shaping your guitar sound with pedals and effects and the first part of your signal chain can get overlooked sometimes. We certainly have a bit of a revolving door of effects we use and are always trying new things out.

Do you have any plans to release another album? Are the band playing any gigs in the future?

Yes, we will release a second album at some point next year and we have some gigs coming up with US band The Asteroid No.4 in London and Norwich. We’re hoping to play some gigs in Europe before the year is out, also. I expect we’ll start tracking the new LP around Christmas.

 

Velveteen can be found at their Instagram, Bandcamp and Facebook pages