The Violets
Encyclopedia
The Violets are a post punk/indie/pop
band from the New Cross
area of London
. Formed initially as a bassless garage punk trio, The Violets early gigs saw them playing stark, spiky and minimalist punk that evoked early art-school punk bands such as Delta 5
, Prag Vec, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as more contemporary acts such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs
.
The band formed when guitarist Joe met vocalist Alexis in a tea room in Pinner
, a suburb in North West London, and the pair discovered a shared affinity with emotive, brash and confrontational music. The pair soon wrote a song 'Laxteen', which was recorded in a studio owned by Scott Rosenthal in New York. Scott also played drums on the track. Upon returning to London Wolfe Riddims was recruited as drummer and the trio played their debut at Brixton Windmill.
Around the same time as the band was formed, guitarist Joe founded the record label Angular Recording Corporation
having been inspired by Bill Drummond
's book 45
and the film 24 Hour Party People
. The song 'Laxteen' appeared on Angular Records first release, a compilation entitled The New Cross :An Angular Sampler.
At the start of 2007 The Violets released their most acclaimed and successful single to date, 'Foreo'. This song was inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock
film Marnie
, which featured a horse named Foreo. The band supported this release by touring with The Gossip
in February, including a show at the London Astoria
as part of the NME Awards
Shows.
In March and April 2007 the band recorded their debut album, which was released in November 2007 on Angular
In August 2007, guitarist Joe joined Klaxons
as bass player for the summer whilst Jamie Reynolds recovered from a broken ankle.
In late 2007 ex-Lost Penguin member Matt Gilbert joined the band on Bass Guitar. The quartet toured Germany and Italy in early 2008, splitting up afterwards. Alexis went on to do solo projects.
and Siouxsie Sioux
(she rejected such claims in an interview with Maps Magazine, and their guitarist said it was lazy journalism), and she has cited the same influences they had, such as Nico
, David Bowie
and Diamanda Galás
. However, also Allmusic noted an "uncanny" vocal similarity to Siouxsie Sioux. Alexis's vocals are made all the more powerful by Joe's angular guitar playing technique, where he seems to play two guitar lines simultaneously. The lack of a bass player has been cited by some critics as accentuating the minimalistic, menacing qualities of their music.
The Violets' lyrics are often cryptic and abstract, laden with ambiguity and multiple meanings. In one interview with the South London Press
(and reproduced on their website), Alexis replied to the interviewer on where the inspiration for the songs originates:
webzine wrote that Alexis is tipped to become a "future underground icon, and critics have been very favourable about their 7" singles.
Magazine named 'The Lost pages' the 15th best album of 2007 and the single 'Foreo' the 17th best single of 2007.
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
band from the New Cross
New Cross
New Cross is a district and ward of the London Borough of Lewisham, England. It is situated 4 miles south-east of Charing Cross. The ward covered by London post town and the SE 14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich...
area of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Formed initially as a bassless garage punk trio, The Violets early gigs saw them playing stark, spiky and minimalist punk that evoked early art-school punk bands such as Delta 5
Delta 5
-Career:The original members of Delta 5, Julz Sale , Ros Allen and Bethan Peters , formed the band "on a lark", but soon became a part of the thriving Leeds post-punk scene, and later added Kelvin Knight on drums and Alan Riggs on guitar...
, Prag Vec, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as more contemporary acts such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...
.
The band formed when guitarist Joe met vocalist Alexis in a tea room in Pinner
Pinner
- Climate :Pinner's geographical position on the far western side of North West London makes it the furthest London suburb from any UK coastline. Hence the lower prevalence of moderating maritime influences make Pinner noticeably warmer in the spring and the summer compared to the rest of the capital...
, a suburb in North West London, and the pair discovered a shared affinity with emotive, brash and confrontational music. The pair soon wrote a song 'Laxteen', which was recorded in a studio owned by Scott Rosenthal in New York. Scott also played drums on the track. Upon returning to London Wolfe Riddims was recruited as drummer and the trio played their debut at Brixton Windmill.
Around the same time as the band was formed, guitarist Joe founded the record label Angular Recording Corporation
Angular Recording Corporation
Angular Recording Corporation is an independent record label originally based in New Cross, South East London. Set up in June 2003 by two ex-Goldsmiths College students, Joe Daniel and Joe Margetts, who reclaimed a local Ordnance Survey Triangulation Station and made it their first artefact: ARC 001...
having been inspired by Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...
's book 45
45
Year 45 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vinicius and Sabinus...
and the film 24 Hour Party People
24 Hour Party People
24 Hour Party People is a 2002 British film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Winterbottom...
. The song 'Laxteen' appeared on Angular Records first release, a compilation entitled The New Cross :An Angular Sampler.
At the start of 2007 The Violets released their most acclaimed and successful single to date, 'Foreo'. This song was inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
film Marnie
Marnie
Marnie is a 1961 English novel written by Winston Graham, about a young woman who makes a living by embezzling from her employers, moving on, and changing her identity. She is finally caught in the act by one of her employers, a young widower named Mark Rutland, who blackmails her into marriage...
, which featured a horse named Foreo. The band supported this release by touring with The Gossip
The Gossip
Gossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...
in February, including a show at the London Astoria
London Astoria
The London Astoria was a music venue, located at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. It had been leased and run by Festival Republic since 2000. It was closed on 15 January 2009 and has since been demolished...
as part of the NME Awards
NME Awards
The NME Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine, NME .The first awards show was held in 1953 as the NME Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding of the magazine....
Shows.
In March and April 2007 the band recorded their debut album, which was released in November 2007 on Angular
In August 2007, guitarist Joe joined Klaxons
Klaxons
Klaxons are a British indie rock band, based in London. Following the release of numerous 7-inch singles on different independent record labels, as well as the success of previous singles "Magick" and "Golden Skans", the band released their debut album, Myths of the Near Future on 29 January 2007....
as bass player for the summer whilst Jamie Reynolds recovered from a broken ankle.
In late 2007 ex-Lost Penguin member Matt Gilbert joined the band on Bass Guitar. The quartet toured Germany and Italy in early 2008, splitting up afterwards. Alexis went on to do solo projects.
Performance Style
The Violets' stage presence is centred on Alexis and her sexy, charismatic personality. Alexis has been likened in the underground press to a cross between Debbie HarryDebbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
and Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures . The Banshees produced eleven studio albums and a string of hit singles including "Hong Kong Garden",...
(she rejected such claims in an interview with Maps Magazine, and their guitarist said it was lazy journalism), and she has cited the same influences they had, such as Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Diamanda Galás
Diamanda Galás
Diamanda Galás is an American avant-garde composer, vocalist, pianist, organist, performance artist and painter.Galás has been described as "capable of the most unnerving vocal terror", with her three and a half octave vocal range. She often screams, hisses and growls...
. However, also Allmusic noted an "uncanny" vocal similarity to Siouxsie Sioux. Alexis's vocals are made all the more powerful by Joe's angular guitar playing technique, where he seems to play two guitar lines simultaneously. The lack of a bass player has been cited by some critics as accentuating the minimalistic, menacing qualities of their music.
The Violets' lyrics are often cryptic and abstract, laden with ambiguity and multiple meanings. In one interview with the South London Press
South London Press
The South London Press is a bi-weekly tabloid newspaper based in Streatham, South London, covering local news within the London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Wandsworth....
(and reproduced on their website), Alexis replied to the interviewer on where the inspiration for the songs originates:
"Forceful thought train fuels the songs. It's frustrating trying to communicate to people that are looking for a middle road comment. I feel like I'm going to blow up in their faces. Although the words are mostly a breakdown of a harsh environment, the surge it creates is a positive and empowering feeling. We don't look for inspiration, it tends to just creep up on you."
Critics
The Drowned in SoundDrowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
webzine wrote that Alexis is tipped to become a "future underground icon, and critics have been very favourable about their 7" singles.
Singles
- 2006 "Feast On You/Come Home" (Filthy Little Angels)
- 2006 "Mirror Mirror" (Angular Recording CorporationAngular Recording CorporationAngular Recording Corporation is an independent record label originally based in New Cross, South East London. Set up in June 2003 by two ex-Goldsmiths College students, Joe Daniel and Joe Margetts, who reclaimed a local Ordnance Survey Triangulation Station and made it their first artefact: ARC 001...
) - 2006 "Hush Away" (Angular Recording CorporationAngular Recording CorporationAngular Recording Corporation is an independent record label originally based in New Cross, South East London. Set up in June 2003 by two ex-Goldsmiths College students, Joe Daniel and Joe Margetts, who reclaimed a local Ordnance Survey Triangulation Station and made it their first artefact: ARC 001...
) - 2006 "Descend/Carnival " (Angular Recording CorporationAngular Recording CorporationAngular Recording Corporation is an independent record label originally based in New Cross, South East London. Set up in June 2003 by two ex-Goldsmiths College students, Joe Daniel and Joe Margetts, who reclaimed a local Ordnance Survey Triangulation Station and made it their first artefact: ARC 001...
) - 2007 "Foreo" (Angular Recording CorporationAngular Recording CorporationAngular Recording Corporation is an independent record label originally based in New Cross, South East London. Set up in June 2003 by two ex-Goldsmiths College students, Joe Daniel and Joe Margetts, who reclaimed a local Ordnance Survey Triangulation Station and made it their first artefact: ARC 001...
) - 2007 "Troubles Of Keneat" (Angular Recording CorporationAngular Recording CorporationAngular Recording Corporation is an independent record label originally based in New Cross, South East London. Set up in June 2003 by two ex-Goldsmiths College students, Joe Daniel and Joe Margetts, who reclaimed a local Ordnance Survey Triangulation Station and made it their first artefact: ARC 001...
)
Awards
ArtRockerArtRocker
Artrocker is a UK-based collective involved in music promotion and publishing. It was started by Paul Cox and Tom Fawcett who had been co-promoters of a London night called The Sausage Factory...
Magazine named 'The Lost pages' the 15th best album of 2007 and the single 'Foreo' the 17th best single of 2007.