Venice Is Sinking Begins Residency at Flicker

Going Against the Grain of Conventional Touring Wisdom.

originally published March 19, 2008

If you thought Venice Is Sinking plays all the time in Athens, well, you were wrong, but, you'll soon be right.

“There was definitely a time when we were first starting that we were playing all the time, but you kinda have to do that when you’re starting out," explains singer and guitarist Daniel Lawson. However, the local favorites notable for Karolyn Troupe’s viola and Lawson’s hazy vocals actually had slowed down their performance schedule over the past several years since the release of the debut album Sorry About the Flowers.

That’s changing, though, as the band - Lawson, Troupe, drummer Lucas Jensen and keyboard player James Sewell - sets up shop at the Flicker Theatre & Bar for the next two months as part of a weekly residency of Wednesday shows. “It’s kinda funny that now we actually are playing every week,” says Lawson.

---

The deal is this: every Wednesday night, Venice Is Sinking will bring its well-regarded melodic tuneage to the stage as the house opening band. The shows kickoff somewhere around 9 p.m., give or take, and that’s indicative of Athens’ loose sense of schedule as much as it is the casual air the band is trying to create at these shows. Lawson stresses, though, that the shows should get going by 9:30 p.m., and he says he hopes that the earlier start time will draw out some potential show-goers not up for the usual late-night slog.

“It’s mostly about playing with friends and being comfortable than anything else,” he says. As to whether a weekly residency is viable, and if audiences won’t dwindle by the series’ end, Lawson says, plainly, “I don’t know. That’s part of the reason we chose Flicker, because it’s so comfortable there and easier to do shows. It’s not like the Caledonia, for instance, where people come to see a show and its primary function is as a venue… Flicker’s a bar first, so it’s a little more relaxed and there’s not as much pressure to get people in the door and make money.”

The residency started several weeks back when Venice Is Sinking paired with The Ginger Envelope to kick off the series. Lawson says the initial idea for the Flicker residency came from drummer Lucas Jensen, and evolved out of a long-held desire to break from the conventional wisdom of how, when and where a local band should play shows. “We’d always wanted to do a ‘tour of Athens,’ and play at venues that we wouldn’t normally play,” says Lawson, “all in one week. Like, Monday at Wild Wing, Tuesday at the Georgia Theatre, Wednesday at Last Call, or whatever that’s called now. We’ve talked about that for a couple years, but it hasn’t happened, so this is the next best thing.”

As for why Venice Is Sinking chose to set up shop now, Lawson says it was initially a way to force the band to practice for an upcoming tour of China, originally scheduled for May but postponed until October of this year. “The idea was to do this instead of having regular practice,” he says. “We just thought this would help us get ready better, because none of us have time to really play too many shows out of town or practice while we’re working and finishing the new record.”

---

If the first two installments of the residency are any indication of what’s to come, then audiences are in for older Venice Is Sinking tunes alongside tracks off the upcoming album AZAR. “We’re messing around with new arrangements for old songs. We’re playing some songs that maybe we haven’t played live before,” says Lawson, “or songs that maybe we shouldn’t play yet because they’re not ready.”

It’s a transitional time for the band, with songwriting duties shifting - Lawson says he’s been more open to collaboration recently, and that Jensen has been helping out on lyrics - and longtime bassist Stephen Miller is leaving the band to focus on his university studies and his other musical endeavors.

“Steve’s leaving the band, or has left the band, so we’re only going to do a few shows with him,” says Lawson. “Although he has had a few what we thought were ‘last shows,’ so he keeps popping up. But we’re pretty excited about trying to figure out how to play as a four-piece, or seeing if we need to bring someone into that slot.”

Guest musicians should factor into the residency shows as well. “We are planning on having a few guests join us on stage for some of the shows, people we've played with over the years,” says Lawson. “Jeremy Wheatley, Clint McElroy, etc. will probably turn up, as well as Colin Jones who played trumpet on the new record. Also, we plan on doing a song or two with Matias helping us out on guitar and vocals. The show we're playing with her is actually on her birthday, I think,  which should be fun.”

---

As for that new album AZAR, Lawson warns that although the recording and mixing has wrapped, Athens shouldn’t expect to see a completed product for a while, as no record label or distribution decisions have been made. Lawson and Jensen have been trekking up to the North Carolina studios of producer Scott Solter, who has helmed the production of albums for artists like Mountain Goats, Pattern Is Movement and Spoon, among many others.

“Scott’s been awesome to work with. The sounds you hear in your head that you don’t know how to execute, he knows how to make it happen. Lucas and I keep thinking that it’s a much better album with much better songs and much better productions, but that people will like it much less,” says Lawson, and laughs. “I guess we’ll see.”

Chris Hassiotis

WHO: Venice Is Sinking Weekly Residency
WHERE: Flicker Theatre & Bar
WHEN: Wednesdays through April; 9 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $5