Behind the band with Flat Venus: A closer look at one of Norwich’s most exciting new acts
Formed just last year by friends Maisie and Zoe, Flat Venus has already built up a dedicated fanbase in their home town of Norwich with tracks inspired by 90’s dream-pop.
The two founders have since been joined by Acer, Alice, and Kian, and with each member bringing different experiences and influences to the table, have created a melodic and atmospheric project where each member is indispensable.
The band’s debut album, I’m Selfish and I’m Not was released on January 24th, following singles Rogue Pony, Dog With No Tail, and Wait. Featuring harmonic tunes, jangly guitar riffs and a wistful approach to lyricism, the album is sure to be loved by fans of Fleetwood Mac, The Cranberries and The Pixies.
In an exclusive interview with VoiceNoted, Flat Venus joined us to discuss friendship, collaborative songwriting and what it means to put everything you have into a project.
Zoe and Maisie, why did you initially decide to form Flat Venus, and were there any particular artists you were inspired by at the time?
Zoe: “When we started Flat Venus, we didn’t have a specific influence. We just seemed to be making a lot of stuff, and we needed somewhere to put it. It’s been a very organic process, where we’ve grabbed a bunch of friends who have really helped us hone our sound, kept on creating and wanting to show people what we’ve created, and it’s been very exciting and surprising that people have wanted to see it. So we just keep going from there.”
Maisie: “I think it’s fair to say that Zoe and I, compared to our other bandmates, have the least band experience. We’re so blessed to have very experienced, very skilled musicians playing with us in Flat Venus, and I’m so glad that we’ve been able to form a group of friends from that, because that’s really the core of our identity as a band. Flat Venus started with the humble beginnings of me playing guitar in my garden while I was at university. From there, we played a couple of open mics, had more people interested in joining us and it’s been amazing ever since.”
What drew the rest of the band into joining Flat Venus?
Acer: “I was the first one who got roped in, which makes it sound like a bit of a cult. I saw on Instagram that they were looking for a drummer, and even though I was already in three bands at the time, I figured that I might as well be in four. So I started rehearsing with them and one day Maisie said that they were looking for someone who could spice things up on lead guitar. Immediately, I thought of Alice.”
Alice: “I got a DM from Maisie, basically just saying that Acer was drumming for them and they’d seen me in another band and ‘please please please would I join them?’ I’d stayed in Norwich without really knowing what I wanted to do, and then this band came along - I guess it’s one of those circumstances where you’re just lucky enough to encounter people.”
Kian: “I’ve been playing in bands regularly for the last ten years or so. Maisie got in touch with me after I had recently quit my job because they were looking for a lead guitarist. I did a gig with them, which was the first time the five of us all played together. After that, they asked me if I wanted to join the band. I said yes as a joke - but the joke’s gone a bit far, and now we’re here.”
What did the songwriting process of working on your first album look like for you?
Zoe: “Maisie has this insane ability to just keep writing 24/7. They started to bring me excerpts of something they’d been working on - maybe one big verse, or just a chorus. I’d then work as an editor, filling in the gaps and rearranging what they’d written. It would end up pretty different, but also similar to their initial ideas.”
Kian: “Soon after I joined the band, we had an amazing opportunity to play at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. This was a three-hour slot, and we’d been a band all of five minutes. We’d only really experienced playing 20 minute sets before this, so we had to really drive through songwriting in a very short amount of time.
“Essentially, that’s what our first album is - a four week timestamp of our early songwriting. I would say that for the most part, we go and write separately, but we bring it all together as a band.”
Acer: “Alice and I write our parts for our respective instruments. It can be a real challenge because Maisie, Zoe, and Kian will bring us these fully formed songs but don’t often have an idea of what they want the drums to sound like. There’s often a lot of experimenting as I try to interpret words and turn them into noise.”
Alice: “I think what’s beautiful about guitar is that you get to emphasise feel and texture. I really like doing pretty things within a song, so when I get to bring that in it’s really exciting, but I also write based off of the feel of the song - so talking to the songwriter about their inspiration and then writing a part that captures the specific emotion.”
Zoe: “I recently wrote a song that involved quite a lot of heavy emotion, and I didn’t really know what I wanted it to do. Alongside writing a really amazing guitar section for it, Alice was very encouraging in getting me to ask myself what I wanted from the song.”
Maisie: “Everyone in the band writes music on some level. Even if they’re not writing lyrics, they’re writing drum parts, guitar parts, chords and harmonies, and it comes together in a very beautiful, very natural way. We all have equal credit on everything we write, because our songs would be fundamentally different if any one of us was missing.
I’m not a trained musician in any way, which really informs the way I write music. To me, it comes down to the experimental process of moving my hands up and down a guitar until I like the sound, and I like how it makes me feel. Nothing in my writing is technical - I write based on pure emotion, and pure feeling. It’s why Zoe and I work so well together. I would send them these long paragraphs of how I was feeling, and maybe some chords, and they would edit it with me to create a proper, formalised song.”
In October of last year, you released Rogue Pony as your lead single for this album - why this song specifically?
Maisie: “Rogue Pony stood out to us as a good song to release as the first single because it’s so collaborative. Everyone gets a part to sing that sings and everyone gets a part to play that plays. It’s the perfect song to show that we all have our equal parts to play.”
Kian: “This song is the best introduction to us as a band. We knew our first song had to be the song that described us best and would showcase all of the different talents we each bring to the table. That’s exactly what Rogue Pony does.”
Zoe: “I think another part of it was that we could attach a story to it. Maisie had a clear idea for the music video from the start, and it’s a song that, while being super personal, is also very fun and camp. If you’re running late for work, put it on and you’ll feel like you’re on a little quest.”
Alice: “I’m very proud of this song, musically. It’s super fun to play, and it sounds very satisfying to me. It’s very easy to come away wishing you’d done a bit more, but I think this song comes together so well as it is. I’m not even doing anything that complex, but it just feels like it fits.”
Maisie, you directed the music video for Rogue Pony. What was it like making your first music video together as a band?
Maisie: “I studied film at university, and ever since then I’ve been freelancing and playing around with it as part of my career. So when we were talking about the release of Rogue Pony, I really wanted it to have a video to go along with it that could showcase every single person in the band.
The music video for Rogue Pony follows the narrative of Zoe and I collecting all of our friends along the way, which is exactly how we got together. It includes our inside jokes and the characters we’ve created for ourselves, because we wanted to show off who we are as people outside of the music (really annoying and stupid). We had a couple of roadblocks during the shoot, but everyone trooped through and were so receptive to every idea I had. I’m very thankful that my friends wanted to be involved.”
Zoe: “We started shooting the day after I had surgery, which was a very stupid idea. I figured I would just take a bunch of painkillers and be fine, but I was not. Mostly because I was wearing a very tight corset, which wasn’t very fun. After the first day it did get easier, but I don’t recommend it. What Maisie won’t say is that they wrote, conceived of, shot and edited every part of this music video. They had some very minimal help from my brother, who is another film student, but other than that it was all them.”
Acer: “My experience of the shoot was that I had absolutely no idea what was going on until it was over. They had to pacify me by putting me near a church. That way I could see a pretty building, and I wouldn’t run away.”
Which song have you each been most excited to share from the album?
Acer: “For me, it’s Dog With No Tail. It’s our most intimate and deeply personal song, and I think it’s probably our most stripped back as well. There’s very minimal drums, it’s not heavy at all, and I think that’s because of the things it talks about. It’s just very personal to all of us, and I think it’s a very strong song as well.”
Alice: “Mine is also Dog With No Tail, for very similar reasons. I think it’s a moment in our set where we really get to show the breadth of our potential and who we authentically are. Also, I really enjoy playing it - it’s peaceful but emotive, and one of those songs where all of us bring something different to it. It’s not only emotionally thoughtful, but also very musically thoughtful.”
Zoe: “Dog With No Tail is a great song, but I think I was really excited for Wait to come out. It’s the second song I ever wrote, and it proved to me that I could sing, and I could write. It makes me so happy to sing it and I can’t wait for more people to hear it.”
Maisie: “Other than Dog With No Tail, which is a very vulnerable song that I wrote at a very vulnerable time in my life, I’ve been most excited for Fridays I’m in Love. It's the first song we ever learnt to play together as a band, and it tends to open a lot of our sets. It’s a little foreboding, a little scary, and I like that it has an edge to it.”
Kian: “Dog With No Tail is a fine answer, but mine has to be Wall Creepers. I wrote this song a couple of years ago, originally as a very quiet, acoustic song, but it’s turned into something I could not have predicted. I’d describe it as this slightly psychedelic mashup of 70s classic rock and classic pop, and we put so much effort into recording it. I fainted. Zoe lost her voice. Alice’s fingers were bleeding. There’s so much feeling that’s been put into that song and you can hear it through the recording. It is eight minutes long, but I think it’s a worthy eight minutes of the very best we can give.”
Now that your debut album is out, what do you think is next for the band?
Acer: “It’s difficult to predict, but I do believe there is a genuine future for Flat Venus. Kian and I have said it since we started, but we’ve seen interest sprout up very quickly around us, which is wonderful and we’re incredibly appreciative of it. It’s that trajectory that we want to keep growing.”
Alice: “I had originally only planned on staying in Norwich for another six months or so. When I joined this band I decided to stick around for a little bit and see where things went, but I didn’t expect to end up here and my plans are definitely changing. Ultimately, we’re just having fun and seeing where things are going.”
Zoe: “Maisie and I didn’t realise how much potential this band had at the start. But as Acer said, things have been changing. These guys really made us see that, but initially I was very resistant because I didn’t want to get my hopes up. It was much safer to think of ourselves as this tiny band that three people are going to come and see, but that’s not our reality anymore. We’ve had feedback from local musicians, people who I’ve been going to see for years, who have said it’s a bit weird how quickly things are happening for us. So, I’m slowly coming around to it. I think I can be my own worst critic, and I was trying to keep us grounded while also being ambitious. But as Alice said, we’re having fun, and I’m ultimately happy to have any opportunity to communicate with people, have fun, and keep writing.”
Maisie: “I think the next big thing for us is leaving Norwich and trying to find fans elsewhere. I’d really like to travel a bit more and see some new places, play in new venues, and meet new bands. It’s really beautiful that we’ve played with so many musicians, but I can’t wait to play alongside different people. Overall, we just want to keep writing and creating. We’re already writing our second album, which is just a testament to how much we love doing what we do, and we’re not going to stop any time soon.”
Kian: “I’ve played in a lot of bands over the years, but I’ve never seen a growth as sharp as what we’re experiencing now. I think a lot of it comes down to people sharing the excitement we have from it, as well as being incredibly fortunate to be in such a welcoming and strong music scene. Our plan for 2025 is to start gigging in London, and we were going to reach out to as many people as we could to try and put that into place. The day we released our first single, we were offered a whole list of gigs in London without even having to ask, which is crazy. We’re so lucky to be in the position that we are, but this is also proof to me that we’re doing things right. It feels like it can only go up from here, and I can’t imagine a future that doesn’t involve this band.”
We can’t wait to see what’s next for Flat Venus, and make sure to follow them on Instagram to stay in the loop of their upcoming music and performances.
To listen to their debut album, I’m Selfish and I’m Not, head to Spotify below: