Violent Femmes

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Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes (2006)
Violent Femmes (2006)
General information
origin Milwaukee , United States
Genre (s) Folk punk
founding 1981
Website www.vfemmes.com
Founding members
Gordon Gano
Brian Ritchie
Victor DeLorenzo
Current occupation
Vocals, guitar
 Gordon Gano
bass
 Brian Ritchie
Drums
 John Sparrow
former members
Drums
 Victor DeLorenzo (until 1993, 2005-2013)
Drums
 Guy Hoffman (1994-2002)
Drums
 Brian Viglione (2013-2015)

Violent Femmes is an American folk-punk band from Milwaukee that has existed since the early 1980s with a few interruptions . Her music mixes elements of American roots music , blues , jazz and rock music , her lyrics sarcasm and spiritual . Its permanent members are singer and guitarist Gordon Gano and bassist Brian Ritchie.

Band history

The band was formed in 1981 by Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar, banjo ), Brian Ritchie (vocals, acoustic and electric bass guitar) and Victor DeLorenzo (drums) in Milwaukee. Ritchie played in a band called Ruthless Acoustics , who had previously been a member of DeLorenzo and about whom Ritchie, as a music journalist, had found very good words. They finally met in a bar called Harp and discovered common musical preferences. Together they played in bands called The Rhomboids , Hitler's Missing Teste and Trance and Dance and in pairs under the name Violent Femmes .

The contradicting band name arose from an idea by Ritchie: violent , an English adjective for "brutal" and the term femme (French for "woman"), which in Milwaukee jargon meant "wimp". Ritchie Gano was recommended by a theater owner, "an under-sized Lou Reed impersonator." They met at each other's performances and played spontaneously, improvising their first concert together as Gordon Gano and the Violent Femmes plus Curtis . Chrissie Hynde and James Honeyman-Scott of the Pretenders discovered the band at a street concert in front of the Milwaukee Oriental Theater and spontaneously invited them to support their sold-out concert.

Violent Femmes at the Sydney Opera House in 1990

Violent Femmes signed to Slash Records and released their 1983 debut autonymes, a folk punk - album whose bitter sound reached especially teenagers. After eight years, the album finally achieved platinum status; it is now called "historic" ( landmark debut ) and Rolling Stone ranks 22nd among the best debut albums of all time. In his second album Hallowed Ground , released in 1984, Gano processed his strictly Baptist upbringing to more traditional folk and country music . In 1986, with their third album, The Blind Leading the Naked , produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads , they approached mass taste in terms of sound, reached number 84 on the Billboard charts, and landed with the T. Rex cover Children of the Revolution even had a small hit.

The band then split for some time, Gano recorded an album named after himself with his gospel side project The Mercy Seat , and Ritchie also released a number of albums. In 1989 they released another album together with 3 , which reached number 93 in the charts. After the publication of the compilation Add It Up (1981-1993) DeLorenzo Violent Femmes left to devote himself to his solo career and was replaced in 1994 for the New Times by Guy Hoffman, who had previously played for BoDeans . The New Times reached number 90 on the Billboard chart. More albums followed. In 2001 one that they released digitally for the first time, with covers, live acoustic recordings, alternative compositions and demos. In 1997 they also had a musical appearance in the series Sabrina - Totally Verhext! .

In 2006, they began a New Years show that featured all three original members and Hoffman together. In 2007, Ritchie filed a lawsuit against Gano over payment of royalties , lack of songwriting credits, and his unauthorized use of Blister in the Sun - a song believed to be about masturbation - in a television commercial for the Wendy's fast food chain . While the proceedings were still in progress, Violent Femmes released a cover of the successful Gnarls Barkley single Crazy , which had previously released a soul version of Violent Femmes' Gone Daddy Gone . They finally split in 2009 because of the ongoing tension. In 2012, Gano and Ritchie reached an out-of-court settlement and in 2013 the comeback followed . De Lorenzo left the band disappointed after two months and was replaced by Brian Viglione from the Dresden Dolls .

In 2015 Violent Femmes released an EP , a teaser for the album We Can Do Anything , which was released on March 4, 2016.

Band members

  • Gordon Gano

  • Brian Ritchie

  • Victor De Lorenzo

  • Gordon Gano, 2006

  • Brian Ritchie, 2006

Discography

  • Violent Femmes (Slash, 1983)
  • Hallowed Ground (Slash, 1984)
  • The Blind Leading the Naked (Slash, 1986)
  • 3 (Slash, 1989)
  • Debacle: The First Decade (Liberation, 1990)
  • Why Do Birds Sing? (Slash, 1991)
  • Add It Up (1981-1993) (Slash, 1993)
  • New Times (Elektra, 1994)
  • Skirt!!!!! (Mushroom, 1995)
  • Viva! Wisconsin (Beyond, 1999)
  • Freak Magnet (Beyond, 2000)
  • Something's Wrong (MP3, 2001)
  • We Can Do Anything (Pias, 2016)
  • 2 Mics & The Truth: Unplugged & Unhinged In America (Pias, 2017)
  • Hotel Last Resort (Pias / Rough Trade 2019)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Bio on vfemmes.com (English). Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Band biography on Billboard.com (English). Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b Rayanna Barker: A Conversation With Brian Ritchie on RockZone.com (English). Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  4. ↑ The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time on RollingStone .com (English). Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  5. ↑ a b c chart successes on Billboard.com (English). Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  6. ↑ Diana Cook: 6 Hit Songs That Destroyed the Bands They Made Famous on Cracked.com (English). Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  7. ↑ Patrick Flanary: Violent Femmes to Play Debut Album in Central Park on RollingStones.com (English). Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  8. ↑ Violent Femmes perform 'Memory' on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert (YouTube video, English). Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  9. ↑ André Bosse: Reviews Violent Femmes: Hotel Last Resort , review in Musikexpress from July 25, 2019, accessed August 5, 2019