Venini were a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

artrock band, featuring members of

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

and

Ladytron Ladytron are a largely British electronic band formed in Liverpool in 1999. The group consists of Helen Marnie (lead vocals, synthesizers), Mira Aroyo (vocals, synthesizers), Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals), and Reuben Wu (synthesize ...

, who were active between the years 1998 and 2001.

History

Guitarist and violinist

Russell Senior Russell Senior (born 18 May 1961) is a British musician and the former guitarist and violinist of the band Pulp. Senior was born and grew up in Sheffield. Whilst at University in Bath, he formed the Dada Society (also known as the New Wave Soc ...

left

in 1997 and began writing and demoing songs with vocalist/lyricist Debbie Lime (real name Debbie Russell-Williams) in the Spring of 1998 Through what Senior described as "bizarre coincidences" they were able to recruit

Daniel Hunt Daniel Hunt (born 25 July 1974) is an English musician, songwriter and producer. He is a founding member, principal songwriter and producer of the electronic band Ladytron. Biography Hunt met Reuben Wu in Liverpool in 1995 and formed Ladytro ...

on keyboards, Nick Eastwood on bass, and Rob Barton on drums over the following months. Charlie Collins of

Clock DVA Clock DVA are a musical group from Sheffield, England, whose style has touched on industrial, post-punk, and EBM. They formed in 1978 by Adolphus "Adi" Newton and Steven "Judd" Turner. Along with contemporaries Heaven 17, Clock DVA's name wa ...

was also a part-time member on woodwind. The group took their name from a

Venetian glass Venetian glass () is glassware made in Venice, typically on the island of Murano near the city. Traditionally it is made with a soda–lime "metal" and is typically elaborately decorated, with various "hot" glass-forming techniques, as well as ...

manufacturer. Their first public performance was supporting

Rialto The Rialto is a central area of Venice, Italy, in the ''sestiere'' of San Polo. It is, and has been for many centuries, the financial and commercial heart of the city. Rialto is known for its prominent markets as well as for the monumental Rialto ...

at a Warwick University Freshers’ Ball and they went on to play a number of other gigs around the UK, including

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

and

Reading & Leeds The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

festivals. Gaining a fair amount of attention in the media, the band's awkward, experimental brand of artpop was lauded by some but received a lukewarm or outright hostile reception in the music press. The group's image also drew a great deal of attention, with Lime dressing entirely in leather on stage. They released just three singles during their lifetime - ''Mon Camion'', (1999) ''Carnival Star'' (1999) (both on the band's own Bikini Records) - both of which entered the indie top 30 - and the ''Unshaker EP'' (2000), which was available only via mail order from the band's website. An album was recorded in 1999, but never released. Hunt's involvement in the group ceased when his other band

began to release records, and he was replaced by Michael Ash. Senior himself left towards the end of the band's life, planning to take a more managerial role, and was replaced with guitarist Nic Burke, but this new line up never came to anything and the band announced their split in 2001.

After split

Lime and Ash formed a short-lived new band called Tokyo Lucky Hole after Venini's demise. Ash now works as a sound engineer in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, and continues to work in experimental music. Lime went on to form KCasino, and now runs an experimental theatre company together called Labrat in London. Nick Eastwood formed

Hiem Hiem are an electronic dance duo from Sheffield, England, consisting of Nick "Nico" Eastwood and David "Bozz" Boswell. Career Hiem's music mixes dance, electronica, and pop. When the duo plays live, the full band includes Andrew Stenton on drums ...

with former

All Seeing I The All Seeing I were a British electronic music group from Sheffield, England, comprising Dean Honer, Jason Buckle and DJ Parrot (real name Richard Barratt). Biography The band released their first single "I Walk" in 1997, but it was not unt ...

singer Bozz, and they have since released a number of well-received singles. Barton and Burke both play in

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

's live band. Hunt continues to record with Ladytron, in addition to work as a DJ and a club owner. Russell Senior announced before Venini's split that he was quitting music to open an antique shop, but in recent years he has played guest violin with

The Long Blondes The Long Blondes are an English indie rock band formed in Sheffield in 2003 by Dorian Cox (lead guitar and keyboards), Reenie Hollis (real name Kathryn Hollis) (bass guitar and backing vocals), Emma Chaplin (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing ...

and joined Pulp for several of their reunion shows in 2011.

Discography

* Mon Camion/St. Tropez (21 June 1999), Bikini Records * Carnival Star/Carnival Star (Version II) (1 November 1999), Bikini Records * Postcard (free mp3 download, official website) (July 2000) * Unshaker/Exotic Night/Hoboken (29 September 2000), Bikini Records

References

External links

Web site (archived version)

Venini at Pulpwiki
{{Authority control Musical groups from Sheffield Musical groups established in 1998 English art rock groups