To celebrate 40 years of Glass Records, Venus Fly Trap (Andy Denton & Alex Novak) have covered a Religious Overdose song (“Control Addicts”) that was originally released as a 7″ single in 1980. Alex Novak is/was vocalist in both bands. The Glass Records compilation will be called “Glass: Remake/Re Model” and will be out later this year.

A video for “Control Addicts” was also produced by Graham Bentley (ex-Bauhaus manager/videomaker) while the single will be out on February 18th.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Post-punk, cold-wave, gothic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: The Venus Fly Trap is a British band that was originally set up by Alex Novak. The band is active since the late 80s and released multiple records. This album is a kind of ‘best of’, but also a look back to different side-projects Alex Novak has been involved with.

Content: Let’s begin with the 10 songs from The Venus Fly Trap. The sound belongs to the UK-80s scene revealing a cold-wave and somewhat post-punk approach. The raw guitar play and some melodic electronic arrangements are some of the main characteristics. Among the tracklist you’ll also discover cover versions from Suicide (cf. “Rocket USA”) and The Cramps (cf. “Human Fly”).   

The next part of the album brings us back to punk with Isaws, Religious Overdose, The Tempest, Attrition (Alex Novak contributed to the album “Smiling At the Hypogonder Club” (1985), Nova State Conspiracy, The Den and Spore.

+ + + : There’re always some cool songs featured at the The Venus Fly Trap albums so this ‘new’ compilation is for sure a good idea, but things are getting more interesting when getting back to the multiple side-projects and bands Alex Novak has been involved with. From the pretty cool punk formation Isaws to Religious Overdose and The Tempest this musician touched ground with different styles although all related genres. This album is an interesting discovery for 80s fans.

– – – : I’m not a huge fan of both aforementioned cover versions. I think these songs must be cool on stage, but can’t compete with the originals on CD.

Conclusion: This is an interesting retrospective from Alex Novak’s main band The Venus Fly Trap while the songs from the other bands he has been involved with is a cool bonus.

Best songs: “Achilles Heel”, “Morphine”, “Desolation Railway” + Isaws: “Standens” + Religious Overdose: “In This Century” + The Tempest: “Lady Left This”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.spiralarchive.com / www.facebook.com/thevenusflytrapuk

Label: www.facebook.com/glassrecordsoflondon

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Venus Fly Trap have released a taster track from the new album “Icon” (out later this year). The single, called “Vitesse”, is available now and was mixed by Martin Bowes (Attrition). You can listen to the single below.

Venus Fly Trap are plannning dates later this year including a performance at the “Have Guitars… Will Travel Festival” in June to coincide with the 3rd book of the same title being published. The book covers bands from the region between 1979-1987.

In related news, the band’s Alex Novak also appears on the re-issue of “The Tempest-5 Against The House” album (originally released on Anagram Records in 1984) to be available on limited colour vinyl and CD out soon via Optic Nerve. Alongside this release a best of Religious Overdose is being compiled, called “Strung Out On Heavens High (1980-82)” the CD will be released on Glass Redux.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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From time to time we at Side-Line want to know what goes on behind the scenes. So, this time we went to talk with the man behind the record shop Spiral Archive Records in Northampton (UK): Alex Novak which you might know as the man behind Venus Fly Trap. Novak set up his business at the end of 1999 as an alternative to the mainstream stores.

Spiral Archive Records is one of the few remaining independent record shops left in the area and can be found at 26 St.Michaels Road, Northampton (UK). It’s open Wednesday till Friday from 11 till 4PM and also on Saturday between 11 and 5PM. You can contact them by phone at +0044(0)7974-885450 or alternatively via their online mail order.

The shop stocks new and used CDs and records covering a lot of genres including indie, goth, electronic, industrial, punk and new wave, but also rock, metal, psychedelic, ska, mod, funk, soul, reggae, psychobilly, rock n roll, soundtracks, etc.. Alongside the shop Alex DJs at Voodoo Amplifier/Mix Tape/Revolver/Blitz/Alphabeat and has been involved in promoting at various Northampton venues including Soundhaus(RIP), Racehorse, Labour Club, Grinder (RIP), Roadmender, Monkeys Head (RIP), Bantam, Lamp Lighter, Bradlaugh, etc.. You can find an overview here.

SL: What drew you to the decision to set up a shop?

Alex Novak: I been involved in various bands over the years including Isaws, Religious Overdose, Tempest, Attrition and Venus Fly Trap alongside DJing and promoting. Part of the DIY ethic was to set up your own mail order distros and. So I started with selling my own bands material and then developed on from that moment, ending up opening a shop.

I have been involved in bands for many years and I have always had an interest in music. It was a way of making a living out of my interest, just relying on a band can be difficult.

SL: How do you try to stay different and keep your head above the water in the ‘hostile’ environment which the music business has become?

Alex Novak: The shop stocks mostly vinyl, so I do a lot of sales to collectors, but I also stock CDs although I concentrate on more specialist areas which you won’t find in more mainstream stores. Of course I sell online, usually rare, obscure or unusual items. Also I get material directly from bands, get them signed with posters and badges so I have something different alongside instore events.

Others are using the internet to their advantage where they can. Both Spiral Archive and Pied Piper are both expanding their sales online. But rather than selling downloads, they’re selling their usual stock to a wider, global audience.

SL: Vinyl is a big part of what you offer I see, is this a trend that will stay according to you or just one that is good for the second hand market?

Alex Novak: I’m starting to get more new vinyl releases as there are some nice items limited editions, colour vinyl with good packaging… Anything that has that little extra.

Below you can see a video for Venus Fly Trap’s “Human Fly” (a Cramps cover) which is taken from a Metamorphosis best of but which originally appeared on the album “Nemesis” (Big Blue Records).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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