VENNART
Forgiveness &The Grain VENNART.BANDCAMP.COM
Ex-Oceansize man brings the noise back on fourth solo album.
In the decade-plus since Oceansize sank beneath the waves, their former frontman Mike Vennart has kept himself pretty busy, either side of his day (and night) job as touring guitarist with Biffy Clyro.
Independence allows Vennart to follow his muse.
The pandemic didn’t do much to slow the pace of his productivity, with 2020’s In The Dead, Dead Wood followed by 2022’s live-in-the-studio recording CGI Metals OST. Then, the same year, while other musicians might have spent the long hours travelling across the US cultivating unhealthy extra-curricular habits, he took the opportunity on Biffy tours to record 2022’s improvised Backseat Hards on an electro-acoustic guitar. That was followed last year by Rivers Of Heresy, the debut release by Empire State Bastard, his extreme metal project with Biffy’s Simon Neil.