Mike Vennart envisioned becoming a shredder – but instead he ended up in Oceansize, blending alt rock, space rock and post-rock. He doesn’t know how he got there. “It’s just music; it’s all music,” he says. “Being such a fan of Slayer and Pavement hasn’t necessarily done my career any favors. But what are you going to do?”
He does, however, appreciate the impact Oceansize had. “Sleep Token are big fans of what we did, and they’re the biggest fucking rock band in the world right now. That means a lot. But I don’t listen to Oceansize. I don’t listen to any of my stuff; I just make it.”
He continues: “I’ve made four records under my own name, and when I do look back on those, I’m often pleasantly surprised. I think In the Dead, Dead Wood is the most brutally honest record I’ve ever made. I wrote every fucking note – it’s my record.”
Vennart, touring guitarist with Biffy Clyro, released a heavy metal record in 2023 featuring former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo under the banner Empire State Bastard. The band supported Sleep Token in the US last year. Now he’s joined Cardiacs, his self-admitted “all-time favorite group.”
But he’s not their guitarist. Instead he’ll be the lead vocalist, replacing Tim Smith, who died in 2020. “It was never my dream to become the lead singer in Cardiacs,” Vennart says. “ Tim Smith is fucking Cardiacs. His songs are really good and they need to be sung. If it’s not me, then who, you know?”
You played Glastonbury with Biffy Clyro in June. What was your rig like?
“I ordinarily use a GT-1 by Matamp, a company most notable for the amps used on Dopesmoker by Sleep – an incendiary stoner rock odyssey. I love that record and I just wanted that sound. I used it on the Empire State Bastard record, too. It takes pedals like a champ, and I used a lot of pedals. And it’s loud as hell.”
Is there a through-line of your sound and style across Oceansize, Empire State Bastard and Biffy Clyro?
“I grew up as a sort of ’80s shredder; I’ve got a deep love for metal, but similarly, I’m a big fan of indie rock like Pavement and Sonic Youth. I can utilize the technicality of the shredder years with a pop edge or a dissonant edge, then turn my hand to dicking around with pedals. I get a lot of textures going.”
Would you say you have a true identity as a guitarist?
“I don’t know – that’s your job to decide, man! If anything, I think of myself as a psychedelic rock guitar player. For all my fireworks and Jedi tricks, all I really want to do is sit down and write a fucking good song with cowboy chords! But I’m not that songwriter.”
Does playing with Biffy Clyro scratch that itch to an extent?
When I’m with Biffy, nobody is really watching me, but I get to watch them. I get to look out and see the spectacle and feel the rapturous terror
“Playing for Biffy is the best of both worlds – I get to feel famous without actually being famous! I don’t envy anyone who has 100,000 eyes on them. When I’m with Biffy, nobody is really watching me, but I get to watch them. I get to look out and see the spectacle and feel the rapturous terror. I don’t worry about what people think of me. Nobody does think of me!”
You’re too modest. Underrated as it was at the time, Oceansize’s music impacted a lot of people.
“We really existed in a bubble; particularly in Manchester, which was kind of in a Britpop hangover. Everybody was still losing their shit over Oasis, but Oceansize did our own thing. We never got invited to the big parties like Glastonbury. We just fucking made our own party. And no-one came!”
What are your current favorite pedals?
“My get-out-of-jail-free thing is the ProCo Rat – you can do fucking anything with that: distortion, overdrive and fuzz. It’s really fucking wooly and crazy. You can go into full doom territory, so it’s really helpful. I also love an analog delay. I’ve been using a Strymon TimeLine, but only one voice.”
What’s the story behind your beloved Japanese Squier Strat?
“It’s the oldest guitar I still have. My mom gave it to me for Christmas in 1987. I’d had a couple of piece-of-shit things before that – one of which was right-handed, and I’m a left-handed player. Getting a good left-handed guitar in 1987 was quite tricky. But my mom could tell I was serious about playing, and so it was worth spending the money.
“It was about £250 [appox $400 at the time]. You can sometimes pick them up for around that price today. I bought another 15 years ago. They’re just fucking incredible guitars.”
How did you modify your 1987 Strat?
“I changed everything on it – the bridge, the pickups, and it’s had a refret. It’s a completely different animal now; but the heart of it is just a really fucking well-built Strat. I’ve recommended them to friends.
“I’ve got a DiMarzio Tone Zone pickup in the bridge, which was obviously big back in my shredder days. I love the Tone Zone; it’s got a sick amount of midrange and it’s just loud as fuck. I’ve got two pickups from an Ibanez Road Star II, which I accidentally broke when I was a kid.
“If the house was on fire, the Squier Strat would be the only guitar I’d try and save. I love it so much. I’ve tried to make other guitars work and sound like that one does, but nothing comes anywhere near it.”
Can you pinpoint what makes it so special?
“I don’t know… I’ve heard they’re the closest thing you can get to a real 1963 Fender Stratocaster. They’re just so well-made. I heard Leo Fender visited the Japanese Fender factory and burst into tears because of the quality they were pumping out.
Cardiacs is about as wild a situation as you could possibly imagine me being in
“If you get one of these guitars and put better pickups and tuners on it, you’ve got as good a Strat that’s possible to buy, as far as I’m concerned.”
But you don’t play it live anymore.
“I had to retire it. We were to play a gig in India supporting Metallica. It never happened because the security barrier broke. The next night I played it in Bangalore and it rained like a fucking Biblical downpour.
“I swore I’d never play that guitar again because I was worried about it getting ruined or burned to the ground in a fucking riot. I just thought, ‘You know, it’s not worth it. I’d rather have it for myself at home.’”
You’re joining Cardiacs, though you’re not playing guitar.
“Yes – I’ve been asked to sing lead vocals for my favorite band of all time. All the music was composed by Tim Smith, who left behind a lot of unfinished work. Under his guidance, just before he died, that work was completed by others.
“Now it’s about to be released, and because Tim was not able-bodied enough to sing the songs himself, they needed someone to come in and sing them for him, and that someone is me. That’s about as wild a situation as you could possibly imagine me being in!”
- Cardiacs will release their final album, LSD, on September 19.
