The Violent Femmes @ South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, Fri., Oct. 20 and Sat., Oct. 21 at 8 p.m.
Successful rock bands can often point to a particular hometown club where, as they say, “it all began.” For the Violent Femmes, the legendary brick-and-mortar spot in their Milwaukee home has no walls. It’s the intersection where North and Farwell avenues converge—the corner in front of what once was the Oriental Pharmacy next door to the still flourishing Oriental Theatre. The Femmes often played on that heavily trafficked crossroads back when busking was unknown (and probably illegal) in this town.
In 1981, when the Violent Femmes were “discovered” on that corner by Chrissie Hynde and invited onstage as opening act for The Pretenders at the Oriental Theatre, playing the streets was as much a necessity as a fun way to earn a few coins (and startled expressions) from passersby. The city’s rock clubs, seldom bastions of enlightened thought, wouldn’t have them. When the Femmes played indoors, it was usually at a four-table Peruvian café in a Downer Avenue basement or on off nights at Riverwest’s Jazz Gallery.
The Violent Femmes didn’t fit the norm, but with the release of their self-titled debut album in 1983—the one with “Kiss Off” and “Blister in the Sun”—they found a worldwide audience of young people who didn’t fit. Their latest album, 2 Mics and the Truth, was recorded during informal acoustic sessions in between concerts on their 2016 tour and includes selections spanning their debut LP through 2016’s We Can Do Anything. It revisits a career that, despite many bumps and gaps, has continued into its third decade.
The Violent Femmes are returning to Milwaukee—to a suburb they never visited back in the day, South Milwaukee, a place beyond the last bus stop and too far to walk from Riverwest.
On their current tour, the band includes two of its three original members: vocalist-guitarist-songwriter Gordon Gano and bassist Brian Ritchie. Australian Blaise Garza is on sax. Milwaukee’s John Sparrow, known locally for his high-energy, jazz-inflected band, The Danglers, holds the drum stool originally occupied by Victor DeLorenzo. DeLorenzo exited the band in 1993 but returned from 2002-2009 and for a few shows in 2013.
The Femmes had already gone dormant briefly in the late ’80s as Gano and Ritchie pursued solo careers, but their differences threatened a permanent split in 2007. In that year, Ritchie sued Gano after the latter licensed “Blister in the Sun” for a Wendy’s ad and demanded a larger share of royalties. It was ugly.
“It would be remarkable if there wasn’t turbulence in a band,” Ritchie tells me when asked about the unstable climate for music making. “Bands are not healthy social constructs. But sometimes the music that results is better, or at least different, than what individuals can create on their own.”
This was certainly the case with the Femmes at their point of origin. Gano’s teen angst lyrics rode on melodies simple enough to play around a campfire. He needed a band to fully put him across and found a most unusual one in Ritchie and DeLorenzo. Their visceral knowledge of avant-garde jazz, coupled with punk-rock energy, wrapped Gano’s stark sentiments in perpetual surprise and invention.
“We shook off our torpor after reforming for Coachella [2013] and have released an EP, an LP and a double-LP in the last three years,” Ritchie says. “Two Mics and the Truth is a definitive recording and the closest we’ve ever gotten to the original concept of the band. It’s been one of our funnest and most productive periods. Gordon and I are both pleasantly surprised at being able to become viable again. General mood is that we’ll keep it going for a while.”
Aside from their willingness and ability to play rock music acoustically at a time when “unplugged” was for lamps and toasters, the original Femmes were unique for keeping time not with conventional drums but with the “tranceaphone”—DeLorenzo’s homemade percussion kit fashioned from a metal bushel basket. For his part, Sparrow plays on a snare and, yes, a Weber grill. “Oddball and minimalist percussion has been one of the hallmarks of Violent Femmes since the beginning,” Ritchie explains. “Victor laid a good foundation for the subsequent drummers to build upon.
“Having grown up as a fan has given John a deep perspective on how to play the songs and the overall Femmes philosophy. We are in an interesting position right now with both John and our saxophonist being a generation or more younger than us and coming into the band as big fans. We were the first album Blaise bought and the first concert John saw.”
The current band is spread across continents. Sparrow still lives in Milwaukee. “Blaise and I live in Tasmania, and Gordon lives in an undisclosed location, but not the same undisclosed location Dick Cheney used to live in,” Ritchie says. The Tasmania reference is no joke; Ritchie is now an Australian citizen and has lived in the Australian state of Tasmania since 2008. He is music curator for the Museum of Old and New Art; plays with members of Midnight Oil in a surf band, The Break; tours with the Australian Chamber Orchestra; and is artistic director of Australia’s contribution to the Commonwealth Games (April 2018).
I asked Ritchie if fatigue has set in, playing songs Gano wrote as a teenager and recorded by the band 35 years ago. He laughs. “I heard ‘Blister’ on the radio recently and it still sounds good,” he replies. “Gordon copes with the absurdity of some of the lyrics by taking an actor’s perspective. If it’s autobiographical, he channels himself. If you listen to Two Mics and the Truth, Gordon’s vocals are more focused and unhinged than ever. For us to play, and for the audience to listen to that material, calls for some suspension of disbelief. But the satisfaction of knowing the music has stood the test of time and still sounds fresh outweighs any cognitive dissonance. Also, as soon as we see the audience going nuts, it gives us fresh energy to do those songs.”
The Violent Femmes perform at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21 at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, 901 15th Ave., South Milwaukee.
