Violent Femmes have unleashed upon the world, via Soundcloud, the new song “Love Love Love Love Love.” Apart from a charmingly odd cover, in 2008, of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” this is the first new release from the band since the 2000 LP Freak Magnet. “Love…” is itself a cover, of a song by a Los Angeles musician named Jake Brebes, but it heralds a new Femmes E.P., Happy New Year, due out next month. There’s good news and bad news. The good news is, while it’s no return to the band’s original, amazing form, “Love…” is quite good, and sets high hopes for the rest of the E.P. The bad news is it’s a goddamn Record Store Day exclusive, so if you want one, you’ll have to stand in line and possibly get into a physical altercation with an eBay-flipper scumbag to get one.
Formed in 1980 as a coffeehouse/streetcorner trio, Violent Femmes were famously discovered busking by the Pretenders in 1981, and became instant and permanent cult figures with the release of their impossibly angsty and indisputably classic self-titled debut LP in 1983. They followed that up with two more must-haves, 1984’s Southern-Gothic stunner Hallowed Ground, which is definitely the band’s masterpiece and easily one of the best rock albums of the ‘80s, and 1986’s excellent The Blind Leading The Naked. The band long outlived that initial burst of inspiration, declining into mediocrity even while experiencing better album sales during the weirdo-indulgent period of the early ‘90s.
The band made some unfortunate waves in 2007, when their vegetarian singer Gordon Gano bafflingly sold the band’s signature song “Blister in the Sun” for commercial use to the hamburger chain Wendy’s, prompting bassist Brian Ritchie (whose solo albums should be items of interest to people who like good records) to sue him, precipitating a breakup, and not their first. They clearly reconciled by 2013, re-forming the band, but replacing original drummer Victor DeLorenzo with the Dresden Dolls’ Brian Viglione. There’s also more good news and more bad news. The good news is that the revitalized Violent Femmes will be touring this summer. The bad news is they’‘ll be opening for the goddamn Barenaked Ladies, so if you want to catch them, it’ll cost a fortune to see them play for 25 minutes, and you’ll have to endure an ocean of people who like Barenaked Ladies. Here they are during their peak, in a 1985 appearance on the marvelous Spanish music TV show La Edad de Oro.
Previously on Dangerous Minds
Violent Femmes live at the Hacienda, 1983 and 1984