WE SAT DOWN WITH // THE VELVETEINS

Words: Sharc Bolan / @sharcbolan

The psychedelic, surf rock ‘n’ roll sound of The Velveteins graced my ears long before I had the pleasure of knowing anyone here at What The Funk?. The first I heard of them was at a good old fashioned live show. This rare live sighting in the UK took place on a warm summer’s night in 2016, in the sweaty back room of The Islington (now known as Pin Ups) for Abbie McCarthy’s Good Karma Club shortly after the release of ‘A Hot Second with the Velveteins’. The group, consisting of Spencer Morphy (vocals / guitar), Addison Hillier (percussion) and Dean Kheroufi (bass) made a long lasting impression.

Now with a full length debut LP out and a handful of singles, we were very pleased to be able to catch-up with the band (virtually, of course) to ask a few questions…

Firstly, how are you doing today? Staying out of physical reach of society we hope…

We are cool! Literally cool. It’s freezing where we are in Canada. But we are safe and staying warm.

How have you been using your time apart from the World?

I’ve got heaps of recording and music gear at home so it’s just another day drinking coffee and recording songs. Pretty much as per usual, which is weird. Recording music is kinda self isolation anyways.

A surf trip in a camper van helped inspire the start of The Velveteins, if you could speed off during this time which three things would you need to take with you?

Depends where I’m going!!! Probably some books to start, and then like a whole collection of sweet sandwich supplies and last probably a little skateboard so I could ride it around and do ollies.

We’re big fans of the artwork on your releases, could you shed some light onto how these came to be?

We made them! Hot Second is a collage of photos I took when we were in Nashville, and Slow Wave is shots from a US tour we did! Then we mushed em all up to make them look nice.

It’s been almost a year since your last release, does this mean we’re in for a treat soon?

Definitely.

‘I’ll take a picture, and send it over to your sister’ – if you had to send the latest picture in your phone gallery to a relative, would it cause an awkward Christmas dinner?

No way it’s a picture of my green VW bus. I’m currently rebuilding it in my parents garage so it’s chill.

~Quick Fire Round~

Love in a Modern Age – dating apps yes or no?

No way! I prefer to meet my mysterious lovers in shitty Karaoke Bars.

Hanging From The Ceiling – ceiling fans or air con?

Air conditioners for real. Ever been to Las Vegas in the summertime? I think that city would die unless they had air con, it’s a sweet sweet blessing.

Don’t Ya Feel Better? – which one song can always make you feel better when you’re down?

Creed – Arms Wide Open

Thank you for your time today! Any last words for the people of the UK?

We love the UK and want to come back as soon as this crazy virus stuff is all over!!

And there we have it folks – look out for new music in the near future with livestreams to boot!