Ventrelles – County Lines
Ventrelles are a Manchester-based quartet headed by Phil Knox, fusing the styles of 80’s guitar groups such as Pale Fountains and Echo and the Bunnymen and sometimes darker tinged edges of The Chameleons and The Jesus and Mary Chain with a punchy delivery, sun-soaked guitars, energetic rhythms, life-affirming vocals, and soulful bass lines.
Beginning as the pet project of songwriter Phil on his return home from living in Chicago, the initial experimental kick about project line up included
Joe Kondras ( The Heartbreaks), Christopher Deakin ( The Heartbreaks, By The Sea), Ben Parsons (Cherry Ghost/Miles Kane) Jason Goodwin (The Delaplains), and George Moran (Miles Kane/Mabel Love/ Last Shadow Puppets)
“I wanted to see what I could do with all the bits I’d accrued over the last few years whilst living abroad and just to have a laugh with mates after a particularly hard time, in an environment I knew and loved to be in. I felt I’d hit on something stylistically and soulfully that wasn’t necessarily happening on the radio at the moment, after the initial year of recording with friends just having a kick around, I decided to take things a step further and brought in Connor, G-lo and Winny as a full-time band”
Since the solid line up came together Ventrelles has been going from strength to strength, early releases ‘Stop’ and ‘Shutters’ caught the attention of Manchester imprint Black Bleach Records and the band went on to prove themselves as a standout live outfit on both the small and big stage. Unfortunately, this year’s pandemic made the band re-think the way things were going and decided to hunker down in a studio and create more of the wonderfully scenic and magnetically attractive shimmer guitar Pop they were getting a name for on the live circuit.
Now with the aid of producer Dean Glover ( Twisted Wheel/Shotty Horrah) the band is set to make big waves in 2021.
Jump in, strap yourself in.