“I would say that this album is a little bit more vulnerable. I wrote about some more personal things and allowed myself to speak about them more openly,” says Demi Demitro, frontwoman of Colorado rockers The Velveteers – who have been known to regularly open mega-stages for the likes of The Black Keys and Greta Van Fleet – of the trio’s sophomore full-length, A Million Knives, which dropped this Valentine’s Day. And the band’s connection to The Black Keys runs a lot deeper than simply being the act that often precedes them onstage. Black Keys’ vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach produced A Million Knives, in addition to The Velveteers’ 2021 debut LP, Nightmare Daydream, and released each album on his own Easy Eye Sound. And Demi tells me, during a recent phone chat, Dan has played an integral role in The Velveteers’ recording process.
“Most of the songs were done in one take… Dan is really good at knowing when to stop. He definitely brings a different perspective. If it was up to me, I could sit in the studio all day [laughs], but he’ll be like, ‘That was the right take! We’ll use that one!’ or, ‘Let’s add a piano here!” or ‘Take this out!’ He’ll often lend his ear and hear something that we don’t.”
The Velveteers’ sound would seem to blend the aggression of punk (with an emphasis on garage and riot grrrl), the swagger of ‘70s glam, and the pomp of arena rock, but their Spotify playlists also boast phriends of PHILTHY of far more recent eras, like Zella Day, Deap Vally, Noga Erez, Lowertown, and Sunflower Bean. Although, when I ask Demitro if there was anything she was listening to a lot of when writing and recording A Million Knives, she tells me, “During that year, I was listening to a lot of Nick Drake, a ton of folk music,” before clarifying that she actually tends to make a point to not listen to a ton of music when she’s working on her own: “I wasn’t listening to too much music, but when I was, that was what I was listening to [laughs].”
Demitro and bandmates Baby Pottersmith and Jonny Figg have spent a decent chunk of the year playing headlining shows behind A Million Knives, and she tells me that the responses to the album, and its vulnerability, have been great: “I think one of my favorite reactions is when we meet fans at the merch table. We’ve got a lot of fans that have told us the album helped them get through a hard time or they related to it in a lot of ways.” But she also clarifies that the shows themselves have been a more rock n’ roll affair than that might imply: “It’s been really fun playing all of these new songs for our fans. Since these songs have come out, it’s been really good energy… For ‘Take It From The Top’ people always jump up and down and scream all the words!”
Following a July 25th appearance at Denver’s The Underground Music Showcase, early August sees The Velveteers embarking on the Moonchild Tour, featuring dates opening for The Black Keys in Atlantic City and Bethlehem, in addition to half-a-dozen headlining shows, including an August 7th stop at our very own MilkBoy. I’m curious how the band likes playing classic barrooms like MilkBoy, when they’re not opening massive stages, and Demi admits that they appreciate the balance: “We like them equally, they’re both so much fun. There’s something magical about playing an arena, but I really love playing clubs when it’s sweaty and packed and you can really feel the energy… In an arena or stadium, we’re further away from everyone.” Although she tells me that the setting doesn’t impact the band’s performance in the slightest: “We always just like to give everything when we’re onstage.”
In a piece prior to their September 2022 headlining stop at Warehouse On Watts, I proclaimed, “Colorado trio The Velveteers look like an entity straight out of Todd Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine.” And when I ask Demitro about the group’s sartorial style, I find out that I’m not far off: “We take a lot of inspiration from anything that’s glam and kinda sparkly. I’ve always been obsessed with David Bowie and T. Rex [whose Electric Warrior Demi admits is her own, personal favorite sophomore LP]. I always like anything that’s overexaggerated and fun.” She also tells me that she and the band really enjoy when fans get dolled up just for them: “I love it when our fans will dress in certain themes of our songs… With our new album, we’ve seen a lot of fans decked out in knives… not real knives, but like knife jewelry, just to clarify [laughs].”
This coming Friday, July 18th from 9-11pm ET on Y-Not Radio, I’ll be spinning Velveteers classic “Choking” (off of Nightmare Daydream) on the latest edition of Philthy Radio. And just last month the band actually released an official music video for a live recording of the song, so I’m inclined to ask Demi if she remembers how the track first came about: “I remember I had the lyrics for a while (“Well, it’s in your voice, and you’re ch-ch-ch-choking…”) and I kinda loved it. And when we went to do our first album, it just felt really angsty and fun and something we wanted to do.” However, she also admits that the recent music video almost never saw the light of day: “Last year we went into the middle of nowhere and filmed that video that we just released. It was so cold we couldn’t feel our fingers, but we really wanted to do it… But it almost never got released!”
*Get your tickets here.
**Listen for “Choking” by The Velveteers on the next edition of Philthy Radio, 7/18 (9-11pm ET) on Y-Not Radio.
