Mark Vennis & Different Place
Goodbye To All That

Mark Vennis & Different Place has released their brand new album Goodbye To All That. It’s a twelve-track record that looks directly at the legacy of the British Empire and what it means to be British today. Rather than focusing on nostalgia or myth, the album moves through stories about soldiers, sailors, workers, merchants and others who lived through the consequences of empire.

The musical references are broad but clear. There are echoes of The Kinks’ Arthur, The Jam’s Setting Sons, and the late-70s albums of LKJ, alongside more recent points like PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake and the folk staple The Green Fields of France. It also draws from British cultural touchstones including Robert Graves, George Orwell, Powell and Pressburger, and writers such as R.F. Kuang and Sathnam Sanghera.

Stylistically, the album blends folk, blues and rock with a punk edge and a lot of guitars. It deals with the clash between public duty, tolerance and fair play on one side, and racism, inequality and militarism on the other. “It is an album about how we got here and what it means to be British,” Vennis says. There are definitely a great mix of influences and among those already mentioned, I was reminded of Dire Straits at the beginning of the album and a hint of Chris Rea at times. 

Closing the album with Requiem was the perfect choice. With gloriously chilled guitar work that gives the track real depth as Mark's distinctive vocals work in contrast lyrically and stylistically but it really does work. 

Goodbye To All That was produced, written and recorded by Mark Vennis & Different Place at Laundry Studios, and released on Laundry Records on vinyl and digital download. Find out more at www.markvennis.com