Leeds’ all girl rock group, VENUS GRRRLS are back with their riotous new offering, ‘Violet State of Mind’, the band’s first release since their 2021 EP Potions. The song and accompanying music video carry a dark aura with a piercing energy that’s both infectious and a whole lot of fun.

“’Violet State of Mind’ is the anthem to your hot girl summer, be it spending time with your best mates in the sun, or falling in love with yourself and/or someone else,” the band explain. “We want this song to be on your get ready playlists and allow you to reach into those inner deities that we know you are.”

With this new release, VENUS GRRRLS continue to cement their presence in the alt-rock scene, with ‘Violet State of Mind’ capturing the sounds of the delicious 90s Riot Grrrl era. The track’s opening bass line and heavy guitar riff wouldn’t sound out of place on an old L7, Bikini Kill, or Veruca Salt album, with powerful vocal performances and pounding drums that allow the group to pull off a nostalgic sound in their own fresh and exciting way.

In this interview spotlight, I chat with VENUS GRRRLS about dream collabs, musical memories and, of course, the latest project.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

What’s something you’d like readers to know about your latest project?

We wanted this release to focus around falling in love with yourself and/or someone else. It’s the anthem to your hot girl summer, promoting a sense of enjoyment and fun. 

How does this project compare with your other release(s)? Was there anything specific you were trying to accomplish?

We feel as though it’s consistent with our refined sonic signature post Goth Girl, which was released last year. We were going for a more polished sound that still had some grit and roughness to it, which has been greatly helped by our producers Sugar House Music. Albeit, with VSOM, we were also interested in amplifying the way in which we build in hooks and motifs into our compositions, and had the desire to create a bit of an ear worm with the ‘hey hey hey’ at the beginning of the chorus.

What motivates you to create music?

We try to write as often as we can, but oftentimes this can be sporadic as you can’t always force a song that isn’t there. But all or most of our songs come from direct experiences in our lives that have been generalised in an attempt to appeal to our audiences. The sole motivator would definitely be the desire to provide comfort to anyone who can relate to our music, as the thought of helping others is most definitely something that is important to us.

What’s one of your first or most powerful music memories? Did that play any role in driving you to create?

In the band we all have different icons and musicians that we look up to, so it’s hard to pin down to one, but for our lead singer it was listening to Gold Dust Woman by Fleetwood Mac. Hearing that and discovering Stevie Nicks for the first time was pretty pivotal for GK. It suddenly made everything clear that music was exactly what she wanted to do, and has never looked back since. 

If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why? If it’s an indie/DIY artist, please include a link so readers can check them out.

We absolutely love what Dream Wife and Nova Twins are doing at the moment, from their passion for community to making their own clothes, we would love the opportunity to work with them in some capacity, they are absolutely smashing it and deserve every success they’re getting!

What was the last song you listened to? And who is one of your favorite all-time bands/artists?

Fontaines D.C. are one of our favourite bands at the moment particularly their song from this years album In ár gCroíthe go deo. As a collective we have so many favourite artists but we are hugely influenced by the Riot Grrrl movement, something that’s still intrinsically involved in our musical stature today. This includes bands such as Bikini Kill, Brat Mobile, and L7. However, as spent more time writing together, we became more melodic and now fall more into the genre of Alt Rock. We would say bands such as Garbage, Wolf Alice, and Dream Wife are our biggest inspirations to date as we love how they navigate the industry and their approach to writing.

Where is the best place to find you and stay connected?

We are @venusgrrrls across all socials and you can find us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, Youtube and all streaming platforms where you can listen to our new single Violet State of Mind.