THE VIOLETS (angular recs, UK) // Stagger Lee // ALALAL (coldwave DJ set) @ MXJY (1 Viewer)

[Raar - Maximum]

MAXIMUM JOY
THE VIOLETS(ANGULAR RECORDS, UK)
STAGGER LEE
DJ's MICÍ & DARREN (MAXIMUM JOY)
& ALALAL (COLDWAVE SET)

Underground @ Kennedys, Westland Row, Dublin
From 10 til late; October 5th; €10

www.myspace.com/maximumjoyclub
www.myspace.com/thevioletsuk
www.myspace.com/staggerleeband
www.myspace.com/minimalwave

 

[HalfHunter]

deadly

 

[Raar - Maximum]

THE VIOLETS
The Violets are about to release their debut album 'The Lost Pages' on November 5, preceded by a single 'Troubles Of Keneat' on October 1st.

The Violets are four punk fantasists from London who set out to create a sinister mood with elemental and triumphant pop music. Drawing inspiration from a range of disparate influences such as Neue Deutsche Welle, David Lynch and French Coldwave, The Violets have created a monochrome corner of their own.

They began life as a three piece garage punk ensemble who could barely play their instruments, yet there was a vitality which belied their musical talents and set the band in motion, their overwhemingly energetic live show and the imposing prescence of blonde frontwoman Alexis Mary provided an intensity that was missing from the post-Libertines skiffle bands of London's live circuit.

The Violets play with stripped-down ferocity, they're earthshakingly powerful and equally spatial by turns. Guitarist Joe Daniel is Keith Levene meets The Normal. On 'Descend', built around feedback and shards of melody, he makes his guitar sound like a laptop. Although he lurks stage left, he is central to The Violets' show; it's the dynamic between him and Alexis that allows her Dali-esque visions to succeed. The rhythm section also works with a conflicting dynamic; Kris Kane's melodic basslines wrap themselves around the avant-hardcore of Andrew Moran's drums, working against each other to provide seductively awkward grooves.

Having assumed various different forms in their time together, The Violets debut album shifts comfortably from raucous garage punk (Forget Me Not) to Coldwave disco (Co-Plax, Troubles Of Keneat), via moments of sheer pop (Shade To Be, Parting Glances) tender reflection (Nature Of Obsession) and Hunky Dory-esque classic songwriting (Half Light). By turns they can be disturbing violent art-punk or soothing and melodically poised, yet all the while retaining a sense of otherworldliness that treads a cohesive path through 'The Lost Pages' thirty five minutes.

Having released a clutch of 7" singles on the Angular Recording Corporation, the bands records have garnered airplay on Radio One, MTV2, 6Music and become a staple on the indie dancefloors of clubs such as Trash and Southend's Junk Club - where they met likeminded bands These New Puritans and The Horrors, who have regularly championed The Violets in their interviews.

STAGGER LEE
Stagger Lee began 2007 with a debaucherous NYE gig and spent the early part of the year preparing for the release of their debut single ‘Bad Shoes’ which came out on their own Label Split Lip Records on Friday 13th April. The single comes with some tasty fetish artwork and includes the video for ‘Bad Shoes’ shot by the notorious Love Action. Their sound embodies the spirit of Robert Johnson’s Devil-at-the-crossroads and Mavis Staples sultry gospel cry combined with the energy and attitude of The Stooges, The Cramps and Siouxsie Sioux.

Highlights to date have included appearances with The Kills, Jon Spencer Blues Xplosion, The Duke Spirit, Sleater Kinny, The Long Blondes, The Drones, The Priscillas, Little Barrie and Pink Grease in the notorious White Trash club in Berlin. Stagger Lee were also invited to play at the Irish launch night of the European MySpace Festival and the Fringe Festival's beautiful Speigeltent in 2006.

On Friday 13th April Stagger Lee played an in-store in Tower Records, Wicklow Street, to launch ‘Bad Shoes’ followed by an official launch party in Crawdaddy on Sat April 14th. The night was a roaring success with a video premier, some beautiful dancing ladies from The Tease Mafia and more dirt, sleaze and rock n roll then you could handle!

WHAT THE PRESS SAY
"The debauched blues of Stagger Lee recalls the explosive aggression of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion" - NME

"...Stagger Lee don't belong in a quagmire of underachieving rock n'roll bands; their superior, oppressive redolence of jealousy, longing, loss and lust puts a yawning chasm between them and the deathly average" - InDublin Magazine

"They punch out the tracks, wailing solos, waltzing lines, catchy melodies, hidden in a haze of sleaze and dirt. There was rocknroll; there was sex, now if only I could find out where they hide the drugs. a show worth seeing, and a band worth listening to, where so many falter when they play the blues, Stagger Lee rise above it all and produce some fine sounds" - Drop D Magazine

"Very noisey & gritty rock with a severe dose of the blues" - The Ticket Irish Times Magazine

 

[HalfHunter]

nice one.

 

[Raar - Maximum]