Venaculas

"Under The Radar"

"Kornish Nebraskan nu-metaliods Venaculas dominate the No.1 postition at Homer's (Omaha, Ne.) this week. The group also landed Homer's No.7 position with Archive, a studio and live recording compilation. A&R types look out: Venaculas is still only a CD Baby band, and they're ranking higher than Bright Eyes in Conor's home market! Contact Homer's Mike Fratt at mfratt@homersmusic.com to reach the band, and tell them CMJ sent ya. Current Top 100 Chart Position: 82."
Kory Grow - CMJ - CMJ Alert Issue 900 2/21/05

Venaculas
14 Below
Santa Monica

Contact:J&W Management, 402-306-0688

Web: www.venaculas.com

The Players: Phil Anson, lead vocals; Jason Hynek, guitar; Chad Riche, guitar, vocals; Eric Whitney, bass, vocals; Dave Hynek, drums.

Material: Like Linkin Park and System of a Down, Venaculas toe the line of aggro long enough to make the melodic sections sound really good and powerful. The groups backup vocals are reminiscent of 311, but the music is much heavier.

Musicianship: Venaculas are as tight as they are loud. Hyneks and Riches guitars are precision weapons of metal destruction. Whitneys bass thumps like an electrical charge and Hyneks drumming is frantic, but in time to the fast-paced sprint of this musical riot. The vocals are simply out of body. In fact, Ansons voice is commanding and as big as his physical stature.

Performance: Venaculas did their best to blow the roof off the venue. Their set was too loud to comprehend much of what was being sung, but the hooks were infectious. While Ansons voice is top-notch, Hynek, Riche and Whitney could all front bands with their vocal abilities. Venaculas ability to play, scream and sing when needed was the groups strongest link. These players are well practiced and seasoned on the stage and able to give 110 percent to the music.

Summary: Venaculas perform ear-crushing aggro-melodicore cultivated in the bands hometown of Omaha, NE. Despite being musically aggressive, this acts message is positive and provides cathartic therapy in the form of screaming, head banging and moshing by both the band and their fans. This is Family Values speed metal, most likely the result of growing up on metal. Venaculas have all the right tools to blow out any teenagers speakers. If youre beyond adolescence, though, be sure to wear some earplugs.

Forrest Reda (MUSIC CONNECTION MAGAZINE)
- Music Connection Magazine

Friday night was the Venaculas CD release party at Sokol Underground. The place filled up pretty quick-and Illicit took to the stage at about 9PM. The band flew through a quick half-hour set of heavy rock-looking a bit uncomfortable at first-but they quickly got into a groove-presumably because of the energy coming from the audience. They were also playing with a last minute replacement on drums. Illicit is a good young band-with a lot of potential-some more shows and experience should find these guys moving up the ranks of the local music scene quickly. Kind of like Trippin’ Default. This band I only end up catching every few months-but damn every time I do see them-they have made huge strides in improvement. This band is pretty damn close to the 100% level right now. Excellent stage presence, energy, tight musicianship, fun songs-but most importantly they reel the audience in-and have an excellent interaction with them. They also have a really cool banner. Venaculas was who we were here to celebrate this evening-and the mood that hung in the air tonight was definitely one of celebration. The lights went out-a strobe light hanging from the ceiling flashed-right as drummer Dave Hyneck pounded through an opening drum solo-and then the whole band kicked in with a big rock groove-and strobe lights went off all around the stage for a majority of the song. It was one of the coolest openings from a local band that I have witnessed-a great effect. Throughout the evening the band displayed a large amount of intensity and energy-and the crowd gave it back to them in spades. Singer Phil Anson is a natural front man, and the whole show just seemed to work. At one point those of us standing in the “old people contingent” looked at each other-and just nodded our heads-we couldn’t say anything over the obviously loud music-but I assume we were all thinking, “believe the hype”-I know I was. - SLAM Omaha

Hey MavRadio listeners! Get an early taste of Mavstock by checking out our headliner, Venaculas, when they play an all ages show at the Roxbury at 108th and Q.

The show is $10 if you buy tickets before August 20th, but $12 at the door if you wait until the day of the show.
- Maverick Radio

Omaha’s very own Venaculas, which has become a major local success over the past two years, will be celebrating their major label signing to Random Records by throwing down a set at Club Roxbury this Saturday night.
Venaculas is known for its heavy guitar riffs, in-your-face vocals and high energy live show. That high energy promises to be on full blast for their signing party.
Previous singles receiving heavy rotation on 89.7 “The River” were “Fly” and “Decisions.” Their latest single, “Out of Time,” was rated as the 18th best song of 2005 on 89.7’s “Top 89 of 2005” countdown.
The recently revamped quintet consists of Phil Anson on lead vocals, Eric Whitney on bass and vocals, Chad Riche on lead guitar, Jason Hynek on guitar and Davey Hynek on drums.
Davey Hynek has stepped in for his father, Dave Hynek, who manned the drums on all of Venaculas’ previous five albums. Hynek Sr. is taking the opportunity to focus the development and pursuit of his other musical interests.
Davey was previously the drummer for local band Dialated.
Doors at Club Roxbury open at 7 p.m. with the music kicking off at 8 p.m. The gig will also feature opening acts Index Case, from Des Moines, and Logic, from St. Louis and costs $12 at the door. Advance tickets can be purchased at Club Roxbury for $10.
Jason and Dave Hynek Sr. founded the band six years ago when Jason was in high school. With the exception of the father-son switch behind the drums, the original line-up remains in tact. They began their journey to Random Records with a show at Sokol Auditorium four months after they started playing together and developing their original brand of hard rock.
They recently released a 10-track CD with a 60-minute DVD titled “Therapy.” The band hopes the CD/DVD combo will continue assist in building its fanbase on a national level.
“Therapy” is available on CDBaby.com and RandomRecordsInc.com.
The band spent a bulk of the fall touring the Midwest and is currently in the early stages of recording an album for its first national release.
The name of the band comes from an episode of “The Three Stooges” in which Curley is on the witness stand and the judge orders him to “stop the vernacular.”
- City Weekly

Omaha is a great city for live music. This was the band's third time in the past year to head to the Cornhusker State, and the crowd seemed ready for Smilin’ Liar. Nearly 15 people approached members of the band with compliments on the new album or just to let them know they were excited about seeing them again. I didn’t really get to see any of the opening acts because I was busy freezing by the merch table in the lobby of the Ranch Bowl. I did get to see the first 3 songs of Smilin Liars set during which, as they always do, they tore up the stage (there actually was one to tear up at this place). I heard the rest of the set from the sub-zero lobby and the sound seemed to be just as tight as it had the night before and the one before that.

The hometown heroes in Venaculas were the headliners for the night and from what I could hear, they had the crowd going pretty crazy. Jon, the Vocalist of Smilin Liar accompanied Venaculas on one of their songs and I hear it was rippin. By the end of the song all the members of “Liar” were either on stage or had stage dived. They told me it was awesome and that they had fun. When the show was over and everything was packed up, we went to a party. Between actually selling things, being absolutely insane, and seeing friends we had met on earlier trips to the city, the night was a huge success.
- INtune Magazine

"Nu Metal" Kids on the Block


While Bright Eyes and Criteria may be getting national praise and selling tickets for shows halfway across the world, there are a crop of new acts who have managed to show the musical community that there is an Omaha fan base for harder and more uncompromising rock and, apparently, have managed to beat the rest of the country to the punch on what could be the dubbed the new "Omaha sound."

The first release of this new sound was from Venaculas, a band that had been around for several years, but really hit it big with their January 2005 CD/DVD release entitled Therapy. Venaculas began to get heavy play on local stations like MavRadio and The River, eventually amassing a continually expanding fan base that followed them like gypsies to each and every one of their live shows.

The first single from Therapy was the catchy, upbeat and rhythmic "Out of Time" followed quickly by the band's biggest hit to date, "Fly" which takes the best parts of "Out of Time" and magnifies them into a huge crowd favorite. Both songs were played in heavy rotation on the radio and propelled the band into a nearly non-stop eight-month tour of the Midwest and a reputation that now proceeds them as they take the next step forward, having recently signed a record deal with Random Records.
- MavRadio

SIDELINE
BIG IN ‘05

Local Love
What were the best-selling locally produced CDs of 2005? We checked in with Homer’s Records stores to see how the locals did this year.
1. Venaculas, “Therapy”
2. Emphatic, “Emphatic”
3. Sarah Benck & the Robbers, “Suicide Doublewide”
4. Dielated, “No Regrets”
5. Grasshopper Takeover, “See No Evil” (likely to move up a slot or two before end of year)
6. Venaculas, “Archives”
7. Straight Outta Junior High, “Mongoloid Monarchy”
8. Anchondo, “Audience Is Waiting”
9. Adam Derry, “Greyhound Sessions”
10. Grasshopper Takeover, “Elephant Dreams”
Some other strong local sellers in 2005:
Eyes Catch Fire, Buck Bowen, Pomeroy, JV All Stars, Stigmata, Toot, Breathless, Lovetap, Blue House, Scrybe, Chris Saub and Dirtfedd. - Omaha City Weekly

Google Venaculas and enjoy all the reviews and articles....all 15,000 or so. - Google