skandinavian_Artists > Veto

Between fishing trips, napping and cooking, ideas have collectively been refined and condensed. “Crushing Digits” is therefore the sound of five individuals united in a creative ping pong-process where everything is up for negotiation. VETO is very much a plenum-band! The democratic collectivism is the quintet’s ultimate force. It is that force which releases a unique energy when Troels, Jens, David, Mads and Mark become VETO:

On “Crushing Digits” the music has taken its own direction. With VETO as coaches naturally. Jens elaborates:

-“We have been in the rehearsal room for many hours without coming up with anything constructive but when we isolate ourselves intensely for a period of time, it’s like the music appears out of nowhere. Little individual contributions transform in the community and become coherent compositions. All kinds of ownership are lifted. Everything becomes VETO when we are together.”

Also the lyrics emerge “on location” in the middle of the collective creation process. Troels, who is the man behind the lyrics, is not the type of guy who reworks his lyrical fables. Like the music they are expressions of a specific imagery created in that situation.

VETO’s collectivism is even more pronounced and refined than on their debut album “There’s A Beat In All Machines” which had both buyers and reviewers jumping for joy.
Since they got together in 2004 the band has had a collective cohesion.

In the beginning of 2004 Troels was recruited as lead singer and all material was discarded in preparation for building something brand new up together. The idiomatic and effective name VETO was attached and the band we know today was a reality. From the beginning the collective songwriting was in focus and VETO experimented determined to gather material to a full length album while they tuned into each others similarities and differences.

The first EP “I Will Not Listen” had like the following debut LP the track “You Are A Knife” on the track list. This track created strong attention towards the quintet living in Aarhus. TABU Records, which is owned by Suspekt and normally deals with hip hop, couldn’t resist the edgy rhythmic, the cracking guitar riffs and especially Troels’ vocals, which a lot of critics quickly proclaimed to be one of the most significant voices on the Danish rock scene.
VETO’s debut album “There’s A Beat In All Machines” was released in February 2006 and contains, besides the P3- and Det Elektriske Barometer-darling “You Are A Knife”, tracks like “We Are Not Your Friends” and “Cannibal”. The last-mentioned has gotten a life of it’s own in the hands of L.O.C, who on the track “Følg Mig Nu” from his current album “Melankolia/XxxCouture”, makes VETO’s significant guitar riff his own.

“There’s A Beat In All Machines” was recorded on a laptop in VETO’s own band room and is produced by the band itself. The result triggered several producer- and remix-jobs for Troels, who take’s credit for the expression of sound from bands like The Floor Is Made Of Lava and As I RebekkaMaria.

Self-determination and willfulness has gone up a notch. On “Crushing Digits” the band acts as record company with the formation of their own company Reset08. VETO has ownership over their rights. But as something new VETO has let an extern producer in, Carsten Heller, who with great success has produced for Nephew, Spleen United, Henrik Hall among others, though with heightened willfulness.
Troels explains on the cooperation with Carsten Heller:

- “It was with a certain amount of hesitation that we decided to involve an extern producer. We are used to doing everything by ourselves. But it was a really wise decision because Carsten is amazing at catching the essence of our music and accentuates the unique qualities of the tracks.”

While VETO’s collective features and do it yourself mentality has gathered strength, then “Crushing Digits” is more radical than its predecessor. The extremes are expressed more. The distance between A and B are longer as the band expresses it. The hectic stumbling “Shake”, the club-rooted “You Say Yes, I Say Yes” and “Duck, Hush And Be Still” who represents the albums more subdued expression illustrates quite differently that VETO’s expression has become more manifold – which is expressed through the band’s love of preprogrammed electronic rhythm and unrestrained rock energy.

“Crushing Digits” is released the 5th of May.

VETO is:

Troels Abrahamsen: Vocal, synth
Jens Skov Thomsen: Bass and backing vocals
David Krogh Andersen: Guitar
Mads Hasager: Drums
Mark Lee: Guitar, synth and backing vocals.

Relevant links:

www.myspace.com/vetosite
www.vetonet.dk