Make Way For Venice

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"There's pockets of people," says Mike. "There are people that hold us up as high as U2, because we made that one connection with them." Kipp and Mike began playing as teens in 1977. Mark joined the following year. They came from Venice – it's been the family's home base since 1917 – so they naturally enough picked the name Venice. At first, they were a cover band playing four sets a night in Los Angeles at the start.

"You try on those songs to see if you're the type that can write like that," says Kipp. "We liked those cover songs; it's the greatest education. You learn about songs, try on personas, what makes a crowd react. There's something cool about being in the trenches, throwing out chords at 4 in the morning. You earn your stripes more when you muster up enthusiasm for playing a wedding reception."

He says they were like the Rolling Stones, which played roughed-up American blues and R&B, until producer Andrew Loog Oldham forced them into the studio to write their own tunes. Venice still play covers, usually as encores and include songs by Steely Dan, Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Sly and the Family Stone, among many others. Bits of the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil" and U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" sometimes enter into Venice's own songs.

Pat became part of Venice in 1980. The four Lennons are sometimes joined by three other musicians for the full "rock" version of Venice. (Those players have varied during the years.) There have been nine albums - self-released, on indy labels or on overseas divisions of majors like Sony and Universal. It's the latter which their latest - two versions (acoustic and electric) of "Amsterdam."

"I think we've written some great stuff and some cringe-able stuff," says Kipp. " But we haven't hit that song yet."

They've played on "The Jerry Lewis Telethon," "Entertainment Tonight," "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" and in front of festival crowds of 50,000 with other bands. But they haven't broken through in the Untied States, and in fact, do not have a record deal here.

Their 2004 concert DVD, "Live at the Royal Carre Theatre," starts with the song "We're Still Here" and features the refrain "Here's to us/Because we're still here." It's about raising a glass to Venice, and to their audience. It's a sincere pat on the back to both.

Still, how frustrating is it to be part of the game, but watch fame parade past them? "Watching American Idol and going to myspace.com and seeing (untalented) people, that can be frustrating,'' says Mike, who's also the band's keyboardist, producer and manager. "But I don't feel it's right to point a finger. It's about timing, having the right tune, and it gets harder every year we get older." The music business, of course, is very youth-oriented, perhaps more now so than at any other point.

To that end, Venice has become Internet-savvy and built an audience through Venicecentral.com and myspace.com/Venicecentralspace. The comprehensive Venicecentral.com is a fan-run site, peopled by volunteers and helmed by Matt Levitz.

"It's becoming more and more important to our success," says Mike, "using the Internet to our advantage, reaching the people. Because we're not on pop radio."

Venice has had a substantial audience in Holland for seven years. (On Venicecentral.com, under the "live" section, there are two divisions: One for the US, which is mostly California, and the other Holland.) Thus it made sense to Venice to record last year's "Amsterdam" disc in that said city, in a church. They relished its airy, open space and resonant sound.

How did the Venice -Holland connection happen? "A Dutch DJ/TV host found our 'Born and Raised' album," says Kipp, "and we got a call and were told we sold 3000 records in Holland. In 1999, we did a Dutch TV show, 'Two Mitre Sessions.'" Things exploded, in a manner of speaking. "I wouldn't say we're super-famous over there, but there's a level of recognition that makes us part of the industry there. It's nice in our own world, a small version of what it'd be like to be a famous band. We play thousand-seat theaters for 35 nights."

The Lennons know many people's first take on the band is that they're mellow, cheerful and uplifting. That's not an incorrect impression, but it's not complete and it rankles them, slightly. "This has always been a funny subject with us," says Kipp. "A lot of the songs we write, we like to leave on one level people can identify with, like 'The Man You Think I Am' is about when my first son was born – he expects me to be a dad. But if you listen to it you might think it's about a girl. In the same way, a lot of these songs are about deep tragedies in our lives but people don't realize it – like the one about our cousin dying of AIDS, or the one about the murder." (Kipp and Pat's dad was murdered by a deranged Lennon Sisters fan.)

"There's the Leonard Cohen school which I happen to admire, but our songs run deeper than people realize. We have a running joke. People say we're so uplifting. We're not all happy-go-lucky/life-is-grand. But I think the glass half-full. As people, that's how our family was raised. We lean toward 'Let's be hopeful, rather than not.'

"Its about sincerity and being true to who you are," continues Kipp. "Some music feels insincere and fake, like pro wrestling or American Idol. My problem is, I don't want people throwing us into that group – just because we sing well and we're not mad about the cool things."