Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Recording Week 25
  • Music Gear Reviews
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Controllers
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Guitar Amps
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • As It Was preset
  • Don't Give Up
  • Ron Wood's drum secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Don't miss these
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 10: Birdy performs at the VIP Opening of the David Bowie Centre, V&A East Storehouse, on September 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse)
Singles And Albums Jeff Beck, Roxy Music and Miles Davis all make the list of David Bowie’s 15 favourite tracks
Clem Burke, Ancienne Belgique (AB), Brussels, Belgium, November 1998
Drummers Clem Burke's 10 essential drum albums
Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost plays his custom 7-string V live onstage with red and white stagelights behind him.
Artists Greg Mackintosh on the secrets behind the Paradise Lost sound and why he is still trying to learn Trouble’s tone tricks
Brent Hinds plays a bespoke ESP offset live in Mexico as he performs with Mastodon in 2022.
Artists “My mind’s the most cosmic place I could ever visit. All I have to do is zone out and play the guitar, and before you know it, I’ve visited places unheard of”: Remembering Brent Hinds, the maverick who trampled metal guitar underfoot with Mastodon
NEW YORK: Todd Rundgren posed at a studio mixing desk in New York in 1974 (Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns)
Artists “Sometimes it’s best not to meet your idols”: Todd Rundgren’s Top 5 favourite album productions
Miles Davis
Artists “Miles said, ‘Play it like you don’t know how to play the guitar!’”: John McLaughlin's baptism of fire with Miles Davis
Orbit Culture's guitarists
Electric Guitars Orbit Culture show us their ESP guitars – and tell us why the EverTune bridge is a game-changer
Zach Myers of Shinedown plays a hunter green PRS NF53 live onstage at Download Festival 2025.
Artists Zach Myers on Shinedown’s secret weapon, the limits of shred guitar, and getting schooled by BB King
Drummers Listen to 11 isolated drum tracks from rock's drumming legends
NEW YORK - JULY 11: Mark Ronson performs at the High Line Ballroom on July 11, 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Donna Ward/Getty Images)
Artists Mark Ronson on having to come to terms with the fact that he would never be a great guitar player
Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde tear it up onstage in 1989. Ozzy is shirtless. Wylde his shirtless, too – and he plays his bullseye graphic Les Paul.
Keyboards & Pianos “That actually came from me and Oz jamming on the piano in my apartment in North Hollywood”: From Ozzy Osbourne to Papa Roach, Fleetwood Mac to George Harrison, here's 5 career-defining songs you didn’t know were written on the piano
Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde tear it up onstage in 1989. Ozzy is shirtless. Wylde his shirtless, too – and he plays his bullseye graphic Les Paul.
Artists How a Mike Inez bassline kick-started Ozzy classic No More Tears – but he wasn't there to record it
black sabbath
Artists A music professor breaks down the theory behind Black Sabbath's Iron Man
Brandon Small of Metalocalypse fame in his studio with a black Ibanez Iceman – now fretless – that he is selling in his official Reverb store.
Artists Brendon Small of Dethklok is selling some crazy gear on Reverb – including a fretless Iceman
David Byrne in a red suit and shirt on a blue background
Singers & Songwriters “Buoyant instrumentals that will create a hopeful and joyous atmosphere”: Listen to David Byrne's wedding playlist
  1. Artists
  2. Singles And Albums

Mike Vennart: the 10 records that changed my life

News
By Michael Astley-Brown published 17 March 2016

Oceansize, British Theatre and Biffy Clyro guitarist counts down his top albums

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction: enter the Theatre

Introduction: enter the Theatre

Mike Vennart has never been an easy man to pin down. Where Oceansize dealt in progged-up riffs and krautrock-y hypnotic grooves, Vennart's recent solo material took a more accessible, hook-heavy path. Now, British Theatre - formed with fellow Oceansizer Richard 'Gambler' Ingram - sees his musical leanings veer off down another road entirely.

The project's electronic-heavy direction is one that the pair had been eager to take for some time, but was only realised following Oceansize's split in 2011.

“We got together straight off the back of Oceansize,” Mike recalls. “Often in Oceansize there were disagreements about direction: there was one camp that wanted the band to be strictly ‘heavy’ and another that was up for experimenting. We were both in the latter camp.

“It was obvious it was gonna happen 'cos we’ve been mates longer than we’ve been mates with anyone else.”

The pair are now readying debut album Mastery for release via Pledge Music, following the band's self-titled and Dyed In The Wool Ghost EPs. The LP, however, has been a long time coming.

“We started in January 2011 and had to bully ourselves into finishing three songs for an EP,” Mike explains.

“It’s been the same ever since: enforced deadlines make us get our shit together. As we both play for Biffy Clyro, we’re busy doing that most of the time, so for over two years during the Opposites tour we couldn’t really even think about British Theatre. That was fine with me 'cos I didn’t really have the confidence in myself or the music back then.

When we reconvened in 2015, we found that we didn’t like much of the material so started all over again

“When we reconvened in 2015, we found that we didn’t like much of the material so started all over again, but this time with a clear and terrifying deadline: the ArcTanGent Festival that August. I’m delighted to say it worked!”

Indeed it did. Yet, even for fans of the band's initial output, BT's new effort is a bold step. Mastery is an arresting listen, with guitar taking a backseat to angular electronic drums and flittering synth textures. Fortunately, the album is as triumphant as it is disquieting, and accordingly, recording the record's 11 tracks was a new experience for Mike.

“Vocally, yes, it was quite challenging,” he admits. “I can sometimes be a little set in my ways; I’ve got a couple of tricks I’m quite good at in terms of singing. But Gambler wrote some of the melodies, and with him not being a singer (hell, he seldom speaks!), he didn’t really know about what range I can pull off… So, stuff like Cross The Swords and The Cull were a little uneasy, but came off great.

“In terms of guitar, I tried to use only sounds which sounded nothing like guitar. So there’s some stuff buried in Dinosaur thanks to this spluttering, glitchy Dwarfcraft fuzz. Really horrible. There’s a lot of POG/synth-y guitar in Gold Bruise. Actually, Gambler plays quite a bit in Favour The Brave and some lapsteel in Mastery. There’s actually very little guitar on the whole record!”

In terms of guitar, I tried to use only sounds which sounded nothing like guitar

Don't get any ideas about hearing the new material live any time soon, though; Mike and Gambler have other engagements…

“There are no plans at this point,” Mike confirms, “primarily due to the fact that we’re gearing up for a busy summer with Biffy… which is nice!”

As Mike gears up for a summer of massive festival shows with Biffy across Europe – including a headline slot at Reading and Leeds, no less – he found time to let us in on the 10 albums that shaped him as a musician and music fan.

Mastery is set for release in April and available to preorder from Pledge Music.

Don't Miss

Mike Vennart talks debut solo album The Demon Joke

The 10 best prog guitarists in the world today

Page 1 of 11
Page 1 of 11
10. Pavement - Wowee Zowee (1995)

10. Pavement - Wowee Zowee (1995)

“I actually fell in love with Brighten The Corners first, and WZ was kind of a freakish curiosity, renowned for being the ‘difficult’ album of the catalogue. I listened to it a lot, but didn’t really appreciate its genius for many years.

“It’s a total scattergun approach. It sounds like much of it was written in the studio, everything being like an enforced first take. It has the curious quality of being at once sonically rich and yet totally shitty-sounding. The guitars are often shrill and brittle, not to mention quite out-of-tune.

“Nevertheless, the easy gems in there would be Grounded, which has had me in bits for 20 years now. Rattled By The Rush has similarly huge guitars which, in the pre-internet age, had me guessing exactly how they were achieved. Pavement really were one of America’s most interesting bands of all time.”

Page 2 of 11
Page 2 of 11
9. Faith No More - Angel Dust (1992)

9. Faith No More - Angel Dust (1992)

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s the album that hits you at age 16 that will more than likely be there for you your whole life. For me, Angel Dust is that album. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Faith No More were a hip band, but still swamped in the horrifically dated funk-metal thing that was huge in the early 90s. Angel Dust wiped the slate clean, shredded their popularity and left everyone wondering what the big joke was.

“I love that this album resolutely does not give a fuck. It’s progressive, schizophrenic, dark, melodic, and occasionally hilarious (RV, for one, is so brave that one struggles to imagine any other rock band on Earth trying something so daring.) It’s still very much the perfect album in my eyes.”

Page 3 of 11
Page 3 of 11
8. Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)

8. Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)

“I heard this when I was seven years old. I already enjoyed Ozzy’s solo stuff vicariously through my older brother, as anyone who appeared to be a werewolf who ate bats was of immediate interest of course… Anyway, it turned out he was in this other band. And holy fuck, it turns they were the best fucking band there has ever been.

“The chemistry between these four men has never been matched, in my opinion. The interplay between them in War Pigs, Iron Man, Fairies Wear Boots. Sheesh. Every song is an absolute classic, stripped of all pretension, effects and tricks. The album is bone dry.

“Bill Ward (my favourite drummer) is playing on the very edge of his capabilities. He sounds like he’s about to derail any minute. Geezer Butler doesn’t just double the monumental riffs, he plays around them. Just the other day, I was listening to this record for the 2,000th time, and I finally realised there are two bass solos underneath the two guitar solos in War Pigs. But it works.

“Iommi's sound is amazing, too. Not the saturated Mesa-style chug that so many nu-metal pansies insist on lazily and uniformly relying on, but just a Gibson SG into a cranked amp. It sounds HUGE.”

“Special mention goes also to Ozzy Osbourne who, whilst being the most famous singer in metal, is easily the most underrated. His voice on those first eight Sabbath albums is unique. Both terrifying and terrified. Evil and vulnerable. If you still think he’s shit, just try singing along with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and get back to me. He was incredible.”

Page 4 of 11
Page 4 of 11
7. St. Vincent - Actor (2009)

7. St. Vincent - Actor (2009)

“I’d never heard of Annie Clark until I saw her playing a solo show supporting Grizzly Bear. This record is almost like baroque pop, all flowery woodwind but with jittery funk and absolutely filthy guitar. She totally changed my mind about how pop really could be bent into any freaky shape you wanted it to be.

“Her autograph adorns the back of my Jazzmaster because she’s my favourite guitar player. Like a weird mash up of Fripp, Malkmus and Prince. She’s just the best.”

Annie Clark's signature adorns the back of Mike's Jazzmaster (Future/Joby Sessions)

Page 5 of 11
Page 5 of 11
6. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988)

6. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988)

“This isn’t necessarily Maiden’s finest hour, but it was The One that got me. It’s their prog-rock album, and it came out when I was 12 years old. I learned the whole thing front to back, and had a religious experience seeing them, with my ma, at Donington in 1988. To this day, one of the greatest experiences of my life.

“In 2009, Steve Harris happened to attend an Oceansize show in Paris. He was actually there for the support, but stuck around for us. After the show, he came up to me and asked if I liked prog-rock. Being a snotty, snobby little tyke, I scoffed and said absolutely not. It only took me a couple of years to realise that Maiden were my hugest influence as a kid, and their proggy leanings had informed my taste ever since. So, Steve Harris, if you’re reading this, THANK YOU for everything and I’m sorry I was such a dismissive little dick.

“By the way, the year after that Paris show, Iron Maiden released the Final Frontier album, which included a lyric using the word ‘Oceansize’. Bearing in mind that ‘Oceansize’ isn’t actually a fucking word. Whenever I think about that, I get a little shiver down my spine.”

Page 6 of 11
Page 6 of 11
5. Mogwai - Mogwai Young Team (1997)

5. Mogwai - Mogwai Young Team (1997)

“To be fair, it wasn’t really the record, more the experience of seeing Mogwai around the time this record came out. Young Team was the only thing we had to remind us of what was an absolutely breathtaking show. I think that was the last time I ever did acid. What a way to go out.

“So, yeah, Mogwai came onstage at Sankey’s Soap in Manchester, a four-pack of Stella each, all in matching Scotland football strips. They opened with Mogwai Fear Satan, which is basically two chords for about 20 minutes. It was the most brave, passionate and devastating thing I’d ever seen. It absolutely changed my mentality of what music was. It was minimalism, maximalism, texture, simplicity and pure SOUL.”

Page 7 of 11
Page 7 of 11
4. Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (1995)

4. Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (1995)

“Yes, another Patton album. I was already a fan of the debut - which I can no longer listen to - when this came out in 1995. Honestly, I just did not understand this record when I first heard it.

“They toured it, I saw them twice, and it was THE most subversive act I’ve ever witnessed. They didn’t play a single song from their first album. Most of the set was covers. They didn’t speak a word to the audience. At one point Mike Patton clucked into the microphone while Trey Spruance played a lazy rockabilly lick. For about 15 minutes. It was the most patience-testing and deliberately indulgent thing I’ve ever seen.

“This album is brutally uncompromising. Genre-hopping was always their thing, but this record is still up there with the most ‘far-out’ records I own.”

Page 8 of 11
Page 8 of 11
3. Biffy Clyro - The Vertigo Of Bliss (2003)

3. Biffy Clyro - The Vertigo Of Bliss (2003)

“We got handed a pre-release version of this while we were recording the first Oceansize album. We played it four times in a row. We thought we were absolutely fucked.

“This is pretty much the perfect album. It’s long and sprawling. It’s got all those fanciful, silly ticks and twitches which make Biffy so strange. This record gave me a new love for spidery, wiry clean guitar. Simon’s clean playing reminds me of Slint sometimes, all weird clusters and dissonant voicings. He’s a classic example of an entirely unschooled guitarist bringing something fresh to the table.

“Learning some of those old Biffy tunes is pretty hard, as they often don’t adhere to traditional chord structures or patterns. There’s some freaky shit in there, for sure.”

Page 9 of 11
Page 9 of 11
2. Silo - Alloy (2001)

2. Silo - Alloy (2001)

“Who the fuck are these guys? They’re a German band. I don’t know anything else about them. This record was pretty much the start of Oceansize’s love of freaky, repetitive grooves, and I still get a lot out of it to this day.

“It’s a minimalist approach, very loop-based, but it’s got a real sinister, pulsing, driving edge. Incredible stuff.”

Page 10 of 11
Page 10 of 11
1. Cardiacs - Sing To God (1996)

1. Cardiacs - Sing To God (1996)

“The greatest. Cardiacs are my favourite band, and this is their masterpiece. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but this is the work of a true compositional genius. You can hear the commitment, the self-amusement and the utter fucking belief in every note of this double album.

“It can be tender and sweet (Foundling) or it can sound like the end of the world (Dirty Boy). To me, this is Cardiacs at their most extreme, most agitated, more psychedelic, most pop, most thrash. It’s their most extreme album. I’ll never stop marvelling at how the fuck it was ever even dreamt up, never mind physically recorded.”

Don't Miss

Mike Vennart talks debut solo album The Demon Joke

The 10 best prog guitarists in the world today

Page 11 of 11
Page 11 of 11
Michael Astley-Brown
Michael Astley-Brown
Social Links Navigation

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.

Read more
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 10: Birdy performs at the VIP Opening of the David Bowie Centre, V&A East Storehouse, on September 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse)
Jeff Beck, Roxy Music and Miles Davis all make the list of David Bowie’s 15 favourite tracks
 
 
Clem Burke, Ancienne Belgique (AB), Brussels, Belgium, November 1998
Clem Burke's 10 essential drum albums
 
 
Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost plays his custom 7-string V live onstage with red and white stagelights behind him.
Greg Mackintosh on the secrets behind the Paradise Lost sound and why he is still trying to learn Trouble’s tone tricks
 
 
Brent Hinds plays a bespoke ESP offset live in Mexico as he performs with Mastodon in 2022.
“My mind’s the most cosmic place I could ever visit. All I have to do is zone out and play the guitar, and before you know it, I’ve visited places unheard of”: Remembering Brent Hinds, the maverick who trampled metal guitar underfoot with Mastodon
 
 
NEW YORK: Todd Rundgren posed at a studio mixing desk in New York in 1974 (Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns)
“Sometimes it’s best not to meet your idols”: Todd Rundgren’s Top 5 favourite album productions
 
 
Miles Davis
“Miles said, ‘Play it like you don’t know how to play the guitar!’”: John McLaughlin's baptism of fire with Miles Davis
 
 
Latest in Singles And Albums
Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones accept the award for Album Of The Year: Public Vote for their album 'Blue & Lonesome'
“He tried it when he came in and he said ‘I can’t do it as good as you, Ronnie. You get back on the drums.’”: When Charlie Watts ceded the drums to Ronnie Wood on a Stones track
 
 
Zach Bryan performs at MetLife Stadium on July 20, 2025
“We all say things that are misconstrued sometimes": Zach Bryan attempts to calm furore over Bad News
 
 
John Lennon performing live in his last public performance on the ABC tv special 'Salute to Sir Lew - The Master Showman' at the Grand Hilton Hotel
John Lennon originally wanted to “just throw away” Walls And Bridges and had to be persuaded to release it
 
 
PinkPantheress posing in front of her shadow
Kylie, Zara Larsson, Kaytranada and Sugababes all lined up for Pink Pantheress’s remix album, Fancy Some More?
 
 
Stone Roses single and cover
“Sounds like four lads trying to get out of Manchester”: The Stone Roses’ debut single to be reissued for charity
 
 
Richard Branson, 28 year old mastermind behind Virgin Music company. Seen here in his recording studio, The Townhouse in West London. In this set of 21 pictures , Richard is seen relaxing on his houseboat, going to work, in his recording studio The Townhouse in West London, and in the brand new Virgin Mega Store with some of the 3,000,000 worth of records and tapes in the background. Picture by Bill Rowntree, picture taken 4th July 1979. (Photo by Bill Rowntree/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Richard Branson says he was in the studio when Phil Collins was recording a legendary drum solo
 
 
Latest in News
Justice
"It saves us 900 hours digging through crates”: Justice on why they gave up sampling
 
 
spectrasonics
Spectrasonics announces Omnisphere 3, the "ultimate virtual instrument" that's been ten years in the making
 
 
A family photo of the newly refreshed Gretsch Streamliner and Electromatic Jet singlecut electric guitars, in various classic and bold finishes.
Gretsch relaunches the Jet in Streamliner and Electromatic series – and there is a single-pickup rock 'n' roll machine FTW
 
 
Charvel Limited Edition Sean Long Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HH HT M: the While She Sleeps guitarists artist model is now officially available in Neon Pink by popular demand.
By popular demand, Sean Long of While She Sleeps’ Charvel signature model now comes in Neon Pink
 
 
Apple M5 MacBook Pro 14-inch
Apple announces its new M5 chip and puts it in the MacBook Pro 14-inch, iPad Pro and Vision Pro headset
 
 
modx m
Yamaha's MODX M synth squeezes the power of the Montage M into a more affordable package
 
 

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...