Synth Palace

Peter Venuto is a musician, electronic artist and educator. After teaching himself guitar via Harvey Vinson’s Rhythm Guitar at 14 and going through David Bowie and Beatles songbooks, Venuto soon begins writing songs and once he buys a Tascam 244 4-track, there’s no turning back. Flash-forward to his first band, Trigger Happy Goldfish, showing Venuto’s psychedelic power-pop penchant, releasing 2 cassettes, working with Robi Banerji and Peter Hudson, respectively. Post-Goldfish, he changes his musical moniker to SLURP after a revelation at a 7-11. In 1991 Peter’s brother gives him a Korg Sigma that has been mysteriously abandoned by a metal band in their rehearsal space, and starts incorporating analog synth into his sound.

In 1993 SLURP releases the fuzzed out damaged pop record “Classic Rock” on Grass Records, to critical acclaim and finds musical kindred spirits with labelmates Brainiac. However, soon after the label gets taken over by a Hollywood mogul, drops the entire roster and unleashes the glory known as Creed upon an unsuspecting world. Venuto subsequently attends Ontario College of Art, studies digital electronics and sound exploration, and facilitates the art college’s sound lab. During this time, he works in tandem with art and music therapists, working with inner-city youth in Toronto and makes an inner decision to find a way one day to independently address the social need to communicate with sound. In 2005 he begins working on the Electric Rainbow Machine: a persistence of vision, audio-activated, logical ruleset-changing light-show, which he subsequently tours with Deerhoof and installs for SLURP’s videos and performances. In 2007, performing onstage with Deerhoof in NYC, Venuto and Deerhoof encounter David Bowie, the mastermind behind the festival and the initiative to re-green the Highline in Tribeca.

In 2008, Venuto begins volunteer teaching assisting for electronic artist and mentor Norman White at Ryerson University for two years, for his “Electronics for Artists” class. In 2010, Venuto embarks on a new venture: an underground event space called Rainbow Palace, which he operates for the next 5 years. Inspired by American philosopher Hakim Bey’s concept of the ’temporary autonomous zone’, Peter creates a space where faith in people’s ability to govern themselves is rewarded with 5 years of every conceivable event, from rockshows to freakshows. He throws a dark dance music monthly which brings in international artists to perform live including Martial Canterel, Marie Davidson, Ceephax Acid Crew and Boy Harsher. In 2015, Venuto relocates to Montreal and opens Synth Palace, in a bid to independently address the ongoing need for electronic music instrument access. Also in 2015, Venuto is included in Newark Museum’s “Festival of Color and Light” exhibition and invited to perform his piece, “The Muse and the Electric Rainbow Machine”.

In 2018, synth documentarian Alex Ball approaches Venuto about including SLURP’s music and videos in two excellent documentaries on Roland and ARP respectively. In 2019, Venuto begins research and development on an alternative electronic sequencer called Orpheus, currently under development. In 2021, Rainbow Palace is commemorated in Jubal Brown’s excellent ‘Die Scum: Sex & Drugs & Contemporary Art’. In addition to studying the drums with Blake Fleming (Dazzling Killmen, Laddio Bolocko, The Mars Volta) and spending time in Nature, Venuto continues to experiment with electronics and code, and performs, makes videos, and continues to release music as ADAM VIII.