What is the bands policy on trading bootleg recordings?
The band’s official position on bootlegs is determined by Michael Lennon, who is a complete perfectionist when it comes to his own work. Unless a recording is perfectly mixed, showcasing the band as they actually sound when they perform, then he doesn’t want it out there for people to hear. Quality control is extremely important to him. And most bootlegs, even soundboard recordings, make him cringe, because the mix for the board is different from the mix for the room, and it never sounds like it’s supposed to, and never accurately represents how the music sounded in the room at the time. So he doesn’t want those recordings to be traded and distributed. Not because he doesn’t want the fans to have live shows, or because he feels like he’s losing money, it’s simply because when people listen to any Venice music, he wants it to sound absolutely perfect. And bootlegs are most definitely not perfect.
