Venus Astra

I like talking to bands right when they start picking up speed. There’s still no mythology, no epic stories about the old days. I’m curious: do you feel Venus Astra is still an experiment… or is there a moment where you say “okay, this is already our life”?

Hi! At the beginning we did feel like it was an experiment. The four of us come from years of fighting our own musical battles and this was like a crucible where we poured everything we had in our heads. The first record can be considered an artistic vomit in the good sense — letting ideas flow freely. But with this second one we’ve had things much clearer, that “okay, this is already our life” feeling. Everything is starting to take shape and make even more sense.

Listening to Sin que el universo se inmute gave me a strange feeling, as if many of the songs came from a kind of internal pressure. Tell me if I’m wrong: is music for you a way to let things out from inside… or are you cooler in the studio, more about building a song like assembling a mechanism?

You might be onto something. Sin que el universo se inmute was the first Venus Astra song ever built. It was like the breeding ground for everything that came after — a fresh, direct song. Music as we conceive it is the escape valve, the therapy, the shelter. We love creating songs and in many of them expressing what we feel, although it’s true that some stories are not about us. In the studio both times we went in with things very clear. Maybe on the first record we left a little to chance, but the second album was fully prepared — the first record was literally recorded in four days, and so was the second.

Let me get specific. Which was the song that gave you the most trouble? The one that seemed finished, then wasn’t… you reopen it, change half the track, and then — suddenly — it works.

From the first record, none of them gave much trouble, maybe Asor a little because of the structure. There’s one from the second album that definitely caused a lot of headaches — you’ll hear it soon, it’s called La Eternidad. There’s also a track that was going to be on the first album but got left out among 5 or 6 songs that didn’t make it, and now — almost as a joke — we’ll release it as a single from what will be the second album.

With songs like Pánico or Asor… I kept thinking about something. Is it very personal material, or do you sometimes exaggerate the drama on purpose, because a song needs that edge?

Pánico describes the deepest thing you can feel when you like someone — the idealized moment — but yes, it’s like you multiply the feeling. Asor talks about the beginning of a relationship, the nerves, feeling like you’re floating just by being close. The chorus is basically what can happen: things work out or they fall apart… The story of Asor, which spelled backwards is Rosa, a great friend.

Between the first album and more recent things like Amanecer there’s a different confidence. I don’t know if it’s maturity or simply less fear. What really changed in these years?

Amanecer came right after Asor — it’s like we felt we’d found something. Immediately after creating the last chord for the first album, this song appeared. Maturity? Maybe. Fear? No, not at all. We’ve never had that axe hanging over us when creating. If we like the song, we go ahead. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense to create — you don’t feel it as real or as free, right?

Now the industry seems to work like this: you release a single, it lives for a week, algorithm, playlist… and that’s it. Do you resign yourselves to playing that game, or do you still believe in songs that can stay with someone much longer?

There are songs on the album that could be considered more user-friendly in terms of length and all that nonsense, but there are several where we’ve really created atmospheres that can’t be considered mainstream at all — the compositions, structures and everything. Do you have to play the game? Unfortunately yes. Music is barely consumed as full albums anymore; you have to be a real fan to put on the whole record. But we think there are songs on this album that aren’t singles and need more than one listen to hit you — but once they get in, they don’t leave. At least that’s what we think.

Another thing — Spain right now has quite a full indie scene. So many bands, festivals, noise… Do you feel you’re part of a new wave, or is each group on its own little island?

Honestly, the whole scene thing… we don’t really pay attention to it. We just release our songs and keep moving forward, whatever happens. We’ve known from day one that what gives us life is making songs and sharing them, and that’s how we’ll keep going. Everything else around it is… noise.

Tell me about a very early moment for the band — maybe something small — when you thought: “wait… maybe this is actually happening”.

I think when we played our first concert having 4 or 5 songs written, and we saw the faces of the people listening to the tracks — very raw ones too. That’s probably when it became clearest.

Let me ask this directly: do you have a song or idea you still don’t dare to release? Something too strange, too naked… whatever.

Not at all — the song was Gloria, which will come out soon. The lyrics are very personal and at first, singing it felt like those strange dreams where you’re speaking in public and suddenly you look down and you’re naked. But the song came out so well that…

Strange things happen with fans sometimes. Has anyone ever explained the meaning of one of your songs to you… and you thought: “okay, we’d never seen it that way”?

God, yes! hahaha, but I think that always happens. When they explain it you think, I have no idea how, but they’ve turned it completely upside down. And of course you’ll never tell them what it’s really about — we think that would ruin the magic.

I’ve been thinking about AI in music for a while. Imagine that tomorrow an artificial intelligence composes a song that sounds better than any of yours. Would that make you angry… or curious?

I’m sure in time AI will make songs better than the original band’s. The way things are going, I have no certainties but no doubts either. But there’s one thing — the personal touch, the interpretation — that I think no AI can replace. At least not for now.

Your songs have something quite cinematic. While listening to some of them, very clear images came to me, almost like scenes. When you think about music videos or photos… are you thinking like musicians or already like directors of your own film?

Thank you!!! Songs are always like a little story, a film, a script with its introduction, body and ending. When writing lyrics you always try to take the listener somewhere. We think the lyrics are very visceral, very internal, very everyday — talking about what anyone can feel. And yes, many times when composing a song you can already see the cover or the video, and that’s honestly cool.

And to close — thanks for the conversation, genuinely. Imagine that in ten years someone stumbles upon a Venus Astra song by chance, maybe at three in the morning, maybe in old headphones… What feeling would you want floating in the air when the last chord ends?

That they’ve listened to something made with heart, and that it’s worth going back and listening to that song again and again! Thank you all, big hug!!

Interview: Andrei Lukovnikov