We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ronan Wind a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ronan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

There have been several points and all were very gradual. Since I was a kid, I was always kind of an exhibitionist in that I would sit in front of my stereo and sing along to tapes that my parent had lying around; Queen and Aerosmith amongst them. It would invoke an energy that I couldn’t really explain and could not be replicated with anything else, until knowing the strength of performance when I was at a family function and singing these same songs, phonetically, that was on those tapes. Even hearing applause from family was enough to really start thinking about the possibility of doing something like this in the future. Cut to the later ’90s and early ’00s, I was introduced to harder music but with this, there was also a type of showmanship that astounded me. It was kind of like theater In that sense because I also grew up around broadway being played in the house. Sweeny Todd and Cabaret were the soundtracks that were the most played around the house. Later, I discovered the gothic and Visual Kei genres and gravitated toward them because they had that darker and somewhat strange quality, and they also had stunning outfits. I’ve tried and failed at relating to any of my peers when it came to playing music because at the time (the mid-2000s) trying to start a darker theatrical alt-metal band wasn’t exactly posssilbe because pop-punk and emo and some metalcore was all the rage at the time and for a while was just content on being in front of a stage as a fan. Also, the very idea of dressing up in make-up and costumes was completely out of the question. It didn’t take until later in the decade that I could possibly do all of this on my own. Since learning that were plenty of bands who got their start virtually from just one person who had a dream, I figured I would give it a go and I’m trying to reach the higher echlons of performance to this day. There have been varying degrees of success, but there is still a lot to shoot towards.

Ronan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Ronan. Stage name Synderella Nervosa. I am the sole Visionary of the Theatrical Alt-metal band, Venustra. I started the project in 2014 as a rebranding of sorts from a project I started in 2009. In a way I guess you can say that Venustra to me is what Nine Inch Nails is to Trent Reznor. I’m the one who comes up with the concepts, music and theatrical appearances. Though, to this day, a lot of it hasn’t really been all that fleshed out. It is definatly going to take some time to make all the gears fall into place, so to speak.

I’m generally self-taught. I’ve grown up learning the drums and bass guitar. Mostly the bass guitar where I would imitate, to the best of my ability, a lot of the funk/nu-metal bass players, which gave me a good sense of how much power you can have in that instrument. As long as the tention and realese is executed properly. With this and some basic understanding of how to play guitar and programming, I oversee virtually everything from recording to graphic design. Because, when I tend to work with others on a concept that I started, there is always someone who wants to take it over and throw in a, personally, unsatisfying direction. A lot of the marketing is a tough sell, especially in the metal landscape thes days.

I try to be as organic and personable as I possibly can. Be as artistic on a DIY scale because I’ve always found that, say, making little trinkets like decorating fake apples with vintage floor nails and having that apple appear as if it is bleeding red and gold glitter, can always attract someones eye with something that they have never seen before. Or at the very least, something that you could put your own spin on. There are endless amounts of things that you can do to make one-of-a-kind items that would strike a chord with your fans or potential fans.

Also, trying to be relatable or a the very least so left field that it would catch everybody’s attention. For example, how many metal bands do you know that just throw a ragtime bit in the middle of a song and then rage back to the harder point? Jarring, right? That is what makes me proud of my craft, just being out there I think fans can see that and that is what gets them invested. When it comes to live performances, I take extra care to make sure the show runs smoothly and not caught with dead-air. There is not a single thing so embarrassing than standing in front of a crowd like a fool with nothing to say and being careful not to say something cheesy. But, there is a way to be serious but not take yourself TOO seriously. I hope that makes sense.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Just having a chance for people to know your name and recognize the vision as viable. With Venustra in particular, it’s having the freedom to come up with concept and whatnot without comprimise. All other forms fo art, like painting for exaples automatically comes with that aspect already. Where in typical bands, there is always some type of sacrifice to a certain vision which could cause unwanted tension.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Expecting to automatically be known to venues without networking in person. I’m generally in a position where I don’t go out all that often. The most frustrating thing was having to find out who you can book through just a mere email. These generally get passed up pretty quickly if you are not known very well to the scene. But, can you blame the talent buyers? Not really. When first starting out, I had virtually no help and the gigs I did manage to get were out of sheer persistence and luck from a distance. Once again, it’s frustrating on my side of things but it can equally be frustrating if they’re taking a chance on someone they have never heard before to be put on the bill and hope they bring people in a not cause any issues for the venue.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.venustra.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venustraband/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/venustraofficial/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/VNUSTRAOFFICIAL
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCyIsWWHKYw-oEHy_zYgcHw
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Oz19ymwdKFUzcvC6oSbRk?si=qUIfmAd-SlWc-3vI4yAiIQ BandCamp: Venustra.Bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Dave Creany Chuck Stanley