violent femmes Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Violent Femmes “The Blind Leading the Naked”

sfilzen — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 23:19:50 +0000

Violent Femmes “The Blind Leading the Naked” released 35 years ago today, February 6th, 1986. (At least I’m pretty sure it was Feb. 6th, internet is murky but that date was a Thursday and back in the 80′s most new releases came out on Thursdays). Slash Records. The LP was the Femmes third album and it charted at #84 in the US and #81 in the UK, which is odd to me because their first album, Violent Femmes (1983), is much better and has held up as a classic almost 40 years later – though I admit to being a bit biased about that statement as the Femmes are sort of “hometown heroes” from Milwaukee and almost all punk/alternative teens loved that record in the 80′s (“well you can all just kiss off into the air”). Though I do remember The Blind Leading the Naked was displayed prominently at every Wisconsin record store I went to in the 80′s so maybe we all just bought a lot of copies. Anyway, The Blind Leading the Naked was produced by the Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison and the backing band, The Horns of Dilemma, is a who’s who of Milwaukee/Wisconsin musicians, many of whom are still active today like Sigmund Snopek III and Jim Liban (both Gordon Gano or Brian Ritchie no longer live in Wisconsin but Victor De Lorenzo is still around – I think, it’s been awhile since there’s been any live music). Overall the album is punchy and quirky with a few good rockers like “No Killing,” “Special,” “Heartache,” and their cover of T. Rex’s 1972 hit “Children of the Revolution.” The tracks I don’t care for are the twangy country-gospel infused “Faith,” “Breakin’ Hearts” and “Cold Canyon.”

The post Violent Femmes “The Blind Leading the Naked” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Violent Femmes live on 88.9

sfilzen — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 00:43:25 +0000

The entire Violent Femmes in-studio performance at 88.9 Radio Milwaukee from last Friday July 21st is now available online.

The post Violent Femmes live on 88.9 appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Violent Femmes “Violent Femmes”

sfilzen — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 21:01:52 +0000

Violent Femmes “Violent Femmes” 1983. Slash Records. Yesterday we got to see a small acoustic set by the Violent Femmes here in their hometown at 88.9 Radio Milwaukee prior to their big concert with Echo and the Bunnymen. In an intimate setting, maybe 75-100 people, with only custom 360 mikes to amplify Gordon Gano’s guitar and vocals, Brian Ritchie’s acoustic bass and (newish) drummer, John Sparrow – who actually did not play the drums but rather bashed on a tricked-out Weber grill with brushes.

Sparrow is one of many replacement drummers over the years; the original drummer Victor De Lorenzo is still around, playing out here and there with various other musicians in Milwaukee. We got to see him back in August 2013 at an even more intimate venue: a rooftop sculpture garden concert on the MSOE campus hosted by WMSE with about 40-50 people in attendance. (In the photo below De Lorenzo is on the left.)

During the show at 88.9, the Violent Femmes played three songs, one from their debut album Violent Femmes – “To The Kill,” a song that Gano introduced as probably the only song that wasn’t popular from the LP. He also told a hilarious story about playing it solo while still in high school (or soon after) at a local disco for a battle of the bands concert. It won second place but he was puzzled why no one thought it was a dance song. (It’s not) Their acoustic rendition of “To The Kill” was powerful, amazing. It literally brought tears to Joe’s eyes (he gave me permission to write that).

If you grew up in the 80′s in Wisconsin and were even remotely interested in punk or offbeat music (check, check and check) it was a given – you listened to the Violent Femmes. Violent Femmes was THE soundtrack to every Wisco alt-teen experience. Punk-folk songs with a sound unlike anything you’d ever heard: “Blister in the Sun,” “Kiss Off,” “Prove My Love,” “Gone Daddy Gone” and of course “Add It Up” (oh how we loved screaming along “Why can’t I get just one fuck?!”) are etched into our collective memories. For me, Violent Femmes provided part of my soundtrack to the the summer of ‘86 (an epic summer that has popped up in many of my posts); I went on a canoe trip to the Manitowish chain of lakes in northern Wisconsin for a week with my Girl Scout camp (I was telling this story to Joe yesterday on our way home from the Violent Femmes show and he commented that canoeing seems to be another running theme here; summer camp was a big part of my youth I guess). One of the camp counselors smuggled along a portable cassette deck and one tape – Violent Femmes. So that’s what we listened to for the entirety of the trip. And it was amazing.

The post Violent Femmes “Violent Femmes” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.