Details:
genre:
location:
Sydney NSW, Australia
bio:
"Basically a guy recording music in his bedroom."
Venus Trapeze is not as its name suggests (a space-faring circus act); it is in fact, a one-man band whose unique style of infectious boom explores all parameters of music, both modern and retro. Self described as an electric hybrid of Blues, Bubblegum Pop, Trip-hop and Classical, Venus Trapeze is an exploration of everything those ingredients offer plus anything else in between. Venus Trapeze is carefully piloted by one Jamie-leigh Smith; who writes, arranges, performs, and produces all of the material in the only way a one-man band should ? on his own.
?Originally I starting off playing snare drum for the school band,? Smith recalls of his foray into music. ?But I wanted to play on kit more. After a couple of years I finally worked up the nerve to ask the teachers again and they said ?Oh, we didn?t know you wanted to play the drums!?? I was a pretty shy kid.? After receiving his first drum kit as a gift from his parents at age 10, he started his first rock band. ?When I was 13 we played ?Seasons In The Abyss? by Slayer at a year three disco,? he remembers with a laugh. ?Let?s just say little-lunch was a bit different from then on. ?
After years of drumming in Metal, Rock and Jazz acts it was time to advance his budding ember of song-writing and musicianship into an all-engulfing inferno. ?Money was not an option for me, so acquiring a guitar wasn?t easy,? Smith says. ?I?ve always had to kinda swindle my instruments away, so I can upgrade to something else, you know? It?s like a dance. So far I think I?ve made the right moves at the right time and met the right people. The last thing I got was a beautiful old violin this guy traded me for these terrible shorts I wore onstage once. Luck favours the prepared.? After a three year hiatus due to battling a near-fatal brain tumour in late 2008, Smith has returned with a strong sense of self and clear new goal in a variety of unpredictable directions. Seeing 2010 as a fresh new chapter in a life he was almost denied, Smith is crafting musical tangents and combinations without abandon and not a single breath of which is left to waste.
On top of Venus Trapeze, he is also masterminding a solo Thrash Metal project named MALLORY-WEISS (http://www.myspace.com/mallory-weiss) and fronting Rock/Metal act Lo! (http://www.myspace.com/lookandbehold).
website:
http://www.myspace.com/venustrapeze