Mama No Likey Turn Venice Beach Into a Feeling on “Venice Soul” ft. Maddi Lasker
The Los Angeles duo of drummer William Haupricht and guitarist Troy Gale release “Venice Soul” featuring Maddi Lasker, a sun-soaked pop-rock anthem built for boardwalk afternoons. Spirited guitars, a funk-flavored groove and a party-starting horn section carry the song from the shoreline to something much bigger than a beach. At its center sits the chorus hook “feelin’ Venice High,” followed by a brass-driven post-chorus that lifts the whole track skyward. Behind the summer shine is a message about living on your own terms and moving to your own beat. Mama No Likey prove that Venice is less a destination than a state of mind.
Mama No Likey are heading to the beach, and they are bringing a full horn section along for the ride. The Los Angeles project of drummer and songwriter William Haupricht and guitarist and songwriter Troy Gale released “Venice Soul” featuring Maddi Lasker on October 16th, and the result is a pop-rock celebration that sounds exactly like the place that inspired it. From the first bars, the track captures the sensation of stepping onto the sand at Venice Beach, where salt air, street performers, skaters, surfers and sunburned dreamers all share the same stretch of California coastline.
The arrangement does much of the storytelling before a single lyric lands. A loose, infectious groove anchors the song, with Haupricht‘s drumming giving it a relaxed but confident swing, while Gale‘s guitars shimmer and bite in equal measure. Melodies arrive easily and stay put, the kind that follow you out of the car and down the street. Then come the horns, which do more than decorate. They burst in right after the chorus like a crowd spilling onto the promenade, turning an already warm song into a full-blown block party. The funk-flavored rhythms underneath nod to the classic-rock roots the duo have always worn proudly, filtered through a modern pop-rock polish that keeps everything bright and immediate.
Lyrically, “Venice Soul” begins with the scenery. The opening imagery paints the ocean, the surfers and the summer sunshine in broad, inviting strokes, setting the scene the way a postcard might. But the writing refuses to stay on the surface for long. As the verses unfold, the focus shifts from what Venice looks like to what it makes a person feel. The beach becomes a backdrop for release, a place where the pressure to fit in simply evaporates and the only rule is to move however the rhythm tells you to. It is a subtle but effective pivot, and it gives the song an emotional weight that sets it apart from the usual seaside postcard.
The chorus is where that idea crystallizes. The hook, “feelin’ Venice High,” works on two levels at once. On the surface it is a playful, sticky phrase that sounds great shouted back at a live crowd. Underneath, it describes a natural kind of elevation, the buzz that comes from being surrounded by people who are unapologetically themselves. Nothing in the line is about escape through excess. The high here comes from belonging, from standing in a place where eccentricity is the norm and no one asks you to tone it down. Maddi Lasker‘s presence adds another layer of color to that exchange, her voice weaving through the song and widening its sense of community, as if the beach were answering back.
The post-chorus then delivers the thesis in plain, joyful terms. Its call to feel the beat, lose control and stand on top of the world turns the track into an invitation rather than a statement. Losing control, in this context, is not reckless. It is liberating, a permission slip to drop the guard, shake off the week and let the music do the steering. The line that names the song itself lands like a mantra, and with the horns blazing behind it, the effect is pure uplift. It is the moment the song reveals what it has been building toward all along: Venice is not just a location on a map, it is a feeling, a vibe and a state of mind that anyone can carry with them.
That philosophy fits neatly into the larger story of Mama No Likey. The duo, who work with producer Philip Paulsen, debuted in April 2025 with “Mrs. Davis” and have since gathered more than 470,000 Spotify streams across nine releases, among them “Slow and Steady”, “Brightstar”, “Alive” and “Light Up The Night”. Each of those songs approaches the same central goal from a different angle. “Slow and Steady” celebrates resilience, “Brightstar” leans into compassion and hope, and now “Venice Soul” champions freedom and individuality. Taken together, they form a catalog devoted to dreamers, fighters and anyone still searching for their place in the world.
The band’s origin story explains the warmth. What began as a chance meeting in a rehearsal studio grew into a songwriting and production partnership driven by one refreshingly simple aim: make music fun. Haupricht, who hails from the Detroit Metro area, and Gale, who comes from Australia’s Central Coast, bring together two very different corners of the world and a shared love of artists as varied as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, AC/DC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice in Chains, Oasis and The Beatles. That broad palette shows up in the music, where rock muscle, bluesy feel and pop melody coexist without friction.
What makes “Venice Soul” such an appealing addition to their growing body of work is its sincerity. It never tries to be cooler than the place it celebrates. Instead, it leans into the good-natured spirit of the boardwalk, where being different is simply the price of admission and everyone is welcome to join in. The song feels built for open windows, summer playlists and live stages, a track designed to leave listeners a little lighter than they were before pressing play, which happens to be exactly what the band hopes for.
“Venice Soul” ft. Maddi Lasker is available now, and it is an easy invitation to accept. Press play, feel the beat and let Mama No Likey take you to the shore.
OFFICIAL LINKS: SPOTIFY – INSTAGRAM – AMAZON – APPLE MUSIC
