Melbourne rock band The Vendettas will launch their new single at an iconic Ocean Grove live-music venue on Saturday May 21.
The band will play at the Piping Hot Chicken and Burger Grill and launch ‘6FT Under’ at the same time and lead singer Steve Redden can’t wait to head to Chicken Shop again.
“We played there last year and it was awesome actually,” he says.
“We still talk about it being one of the best nights. It’s an awesome little venue.
“I’d come down every month if I could.
“Some people rocked up early last time while we were doing sound check. “Usually that’s when people say ‘can you make a bit less noisy’ but they gave us a standing ovation for our sound check.
“I’ve told so many bands to go check it out.”
The single is the first the band has recorded by themselves.
“We bought some new mikes and got the kit all miked up and gave it a crack,” Redden says.
“Over the last two years we wrote about 50 songs together. This song was one of the first songs we did.
“We have a whole back catalogue of songs.
“We recorded quite some time ago but we did two albums before that and put them out independently.”
The band’s latest album – ‘The Vendettas III’ – was released in 2021 via Golden Robot Records.
For now, the band is happy to be back playing live after a successful gig in Fitzroy last weekend.
Redden says people are slowly starting to embrace live music after multiple lockdowns although there is still some hesitation to plan in advance.
“There’s definitely a slight hesitancy in buying tickets because anything can happen right up until the final hour,” he says.
“Once we get through winter, by next summer, hopefully the government helps us out and puts on more festivals and funding for more gigs.
While The Vendettas are known as a rock band, Redden says the members have mellowed, but can still ramp it up when they need to.
“When we started off we were pretty much punk rock than what we are now,” he says.
“But we’ve really harnessed songwriting over the last five years. It’s about being able to hear the clarity. Less is more.
“We can go hard if required but it’s about getting that connection with the audience.
“We’re in a great space. We’re all seasoned pros now. We can just get down to business. We rehearse, we write and we’re on the same page.”
Where: Piping Hot Chicken & Burger Grill, The Terrace, Ocean Grove
When: Saturday May 21, 7.40pm
Tickets: trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=898999&
