From heartrending country to analog techno and a singing chair: for Woody Veneman it’s all part of the journey.
Eindhoven-based Woody Veneman is a composer and singer-songwriter, creator of analog techno, visual designer and gallery owner. He travelled to New York as a singing chair, played with Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies and was praised by Nick Cave for his version of ‘No Pussy Blues’. Veneman is remarkably prolific and driven by an incontrollable urge to create and innovate: “There’s always something you haven’t made yet.”
It’s the early 90s
When his father puts on a Bob Dylan record in the living room of their home in the Eindhoven working class neighborhood Woensel West. The young Woody is mesmerized by this voice and decides he has to learn everything he can about this musician. He is ten years old when he sees Dylan perform live and becomes even more fascinated by the power of the man and his instrument. That same year, he is gifted his first guitar. He has not stopped playing it since.
As a teenager, he learns Dylan’s songs by heart, sings them phonetically, and records his best imitations on innumerable cassette tapes. When puberty hits and grunge music enters the scene, Veneman dedicates himself to his new electric guitar and, for a while, bids his acoustic one goodbye.
Woody & Paul, 2007
One of Veneman’s first bands is rock trio Phantom Engineer. Then, in 2004, during the heydays of Eindhoven Rock City and its louder-is-better creed, he and Paul van Hulten form the duo Woody & Paul. It’s a return to his first true love: acoustic folk and country. After six albums, countless national and international shows and a tour with all-star ensemble Beukorkest, the two decide to break up the band in 2012. The urge to create and reinvent is more powerful than ever and Veneman transforms himself into an increasingly versatile artist, all the while adding to his expanding discography.
With S.T. Cordell, Veneman successfully tries to rid himself of his aversion of electronic music. With their vigorous, avant-gardist and entirely analog techno, this six-piece band turns audiences at festivals such as Rewire and Welcome To The Village into ecstatically dancing crowds.
S.T. Cordell, 2016 / Oscar Anjewierden
Merging his music with his design background, Veneman develops The Singing Chair in collaboration with Lucas Maassen. The prestigious Museum of Modern Art in New York takes notice of the project and exhibits it there in 2011. Veneman also builds The Human Jukebox: an installation that houses him and his guitar and from which he, for a small payment, performs songs selected by the audience.
While working as a composer and musician with theatre company Afslag Eindhoven, Veneman meets actress Sanne Samina Hanssen. The two bond over their mutual love for smouldering country music and form the tragi-romantic duo Polly & Bruce, which releases their debut album in 2020.
Woody Sings, 2019 / Johan Horst
All these divergent strands come together in his solo performance Woody Sings. What started out as an exclusive residency at Eindhoven venue De Rozenknop has grown into a traveling, evening-long programme in which Veneman, following a different theme each time, performs original works and songs by his musical heroes: the man and his guitar.
This is just a selection of projects initiated or collaborated on by Veneman. His seemingly endless creative capacity stems from what he describes as a ceaseless flow of energy: “Getting inspired and inspiring others, that’s what life is all about.”
Lisa Gritter, 2020