Venus and the Traps

By Morgan James

Venus and the Traps is an East Valley band, growing rapidly in popularity throughout the Coachella Valley and spilling outside its borders. A roller-coaster of emotion spitting from the tongues and fingers of these passionate musicians while their enthusiastic fans sing along, consumed by each lyric. Venus and the Traps consists of lead singer/guitarist Perla Martinez, bassist James Montenegro, guitarist Eddy Lazcano, and drummer Moy Sanchez. I spoke with James on behalf of the band about their music, performances, and how they keep things fun for themselves and for their fans.

MJ: Explain how you write music as a band and what influences your songs?

JM: “Perla writes the lyrics to just about all our songs. We collaborate on the music. We are firm believers and practitioners of the ceremony known among musicians as the “jam session,” and while the backbone for the songs comes from a riff or progression invented by one of us, the music you end up hearing is the product of everyone chiming in and bringing their own herbs and spices to the plate at hand. The lyrics themselves tend to run on the abstract end of subjects, or if not, are purely lyrical in the confessional school of poet’s kind of way, and it’s all Perla. We are all inspired by emotion. That word alone can explain what our music is all about, just as director Samuel Fuller had used the very same word to describe cinema in that blown-up intellectual Godard’s accidental masterpiece “Pierrot le fou” (1965).

Musically, we are inspired by what we listen to, and we run an eclectic taste. The one consistent theme in our music is desire. We write songs about hopes, dreams, cravings, whether it be opiate addiction (Disguised Delights), unrequited love (Lush), fame (I Want to be in a Band), or just the simple need to be needed. We do have a singular artist in Perla- she’s the woman with the plan, our fearless leader, and she knows what she’s doing. People respond to it, and I think, while we don’t have that in mind when it comes down to creating a song, I think we are all aware that one of the primary motivations of music is to move people. We are not detached uber-cool poseurs who want to replicate Lou Reed’s absolutism in terms of denying audience’s expectations, and we’re not Jeffrey Lee Pierce either, we’re not overtly theatrical and riddled with enough symbols and attractions to give Joyce a run for his money. We’re in that happy medium.”

MJ: What is it like to experience a Venus and the Traps show as a performer and how does your audience respond back?

JM: “Seriously, we are a family, and I know many bands will lay claim to that, but we are almost cult status. Between us, The Kathys and Ritual Rastrero (two other superb East Valley bands), we’ve gone so far as to address each other as say, Brother Eddy, and Sister Perla, and the merch girls for our band in particular refer to Perla and myself as surrogate parents. While all of this is purely tongue-in-cheek, we do feel a sense of togetherness that is apparent in our performances. We will cut a set short if we know a performer isn’t feeling it, and when one of us is having a blast, we all enjoy our time. People sing to our songs, and I feel confident that we may be doing something right when I bear witness to that. You can expect us to give our all in a performance and look very emotionally spent by the end of our set. Afterwards, most or all of us are hanging out by our cars, just finished loading our equipment back in our trunks, cigarettes dangling from our mouths, thousand-yard stare, very much like we had just participated in a Pacific island battle during the bloody days of ’43. Remember those summers?”

MJ: Any stories about previous shows or other bands that you have played with?

JM: “We played a show at Dillon’s Burgers and Beer once, for the Shurptown Record Swap, and Moy was unable to make it due to work so we had Juan Gonzales of The Kathys perform for us. We had no idea whether or not he’d keep up with the changes in style and tempo, or if he’d even start and finish each song properly, but he did, we pulled it off. We kept our poker faces on that afternoon. The best venue we played was a basement in a gallery in Pomona. There was a lot of energy and excitement, considering we played to a crowd of ten people. They were the ten most passionate people in the entire Inland Empire. I wish I knew them. We have enjoyed playing shows with Slipping Into Darkness, Miss Chief, Shannon and the Clams, Mike Watt, The Kathys, Fight Like a Girl, The Hailstones, The Shady Francos, Pathos, Ritual Rastrero, Liquid, and I especially enjoyed playing with Bad Bikini, The Grinning Ghosts, and Moving Units… all wonderful acts.”

MJ: Where can readers find your music?

JM: “People have recorded us performing, and sometimes they post videos of us on YouTube. We have a couple of demo songs released as a digital single on Bandcamp, they were recorded at Blue Hill Records. We have an E.P. that was recorded at HercDog Records by Sunbaked’s Steve Merritt, and is currently being mixed by JaeJae of the Empire Records, and we are eternally grateful for this mixture of talent on these tracks. These two individuals alone understand what Venus and the Traps are saying, and they feel the music we’re playing. You can expect this release in the very near future.”

MJ: What does Venus and the Traps hope to accomplish moving forward?

JM: “We want to play music because we love to play music. Do we love each other or are we co-dependent because we’re all hooked on music and feed off each other? Do we want to quit our day jobs and make a living with our craft? Do we want people to be buying our shirts at Hot Topic? Maybe, yes, and no. It is what it is. For the time being, we really enjoy playing music, seeing people dance and sing along, and know that we’re the ones doing that. We have the finest artwork by Denisse Martinez, and we have a team of dedicated young men and women who promote us, help us move our equipment, rough up promoters who don’t want to book or pay us (just kidding), and will swear by Venus any day of the week. That’s our goal, we want to convert a new diehard fan of Venus every show we play. And that’s a doable goal. Do you know why? Because we’re doing it!