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List archive online at http://www.oocities.com/violentfemmeslist

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TOUR DATES:

Friday, June 14, 2002 – THE PALACE THEATRE Hollywood, CA
Sunday, July 7, 2002 – SUMMERFEST Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10pm Miller Oasis Stage
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Who’s Going Where:
Jesse – jesse – Summerfest/Milwaukee

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IN THIS ISSUE:

*Update* Advance Order the Re-Issue at CDNOW
re:Victor
Before the Hurricanes
RE: Victor
RE:Guy & Femmes Invade Wabash
Femmes Video

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*Update* Advance Order Violent Femmes (Deluxe) at CDNOW
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www.cdnow.com

CD Now still has the 2 Disc Re Issue available for Advance Ordering but
they now list the “expected release date” as the correct official
release date of JUNE 18, 2002.

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RE: Victor
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For the question posted about Victor needing more than a snare and
Tranceophone… well yes he may. He knows very well how to play a full
kit, and did it many times on Violent Femmes tours in the past.

I hope they don’t play anything off of Freak Magnet as that was the
worst album ever made. I am hoping he stays with them, and they
re-create the kind of magic they once had.

For those of you who don’t know much about Victor, go to
www.victordelorenzo.com, order one of his cd’s – I just ordered the
latest one, and he sent it to me with a personalized note and
everything…. great guy!

Mike Galante
Drumgalante

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Before the Hurricanes
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DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THE FEMMES ARE COMING TO FLORIDA??? IS GUY OUT???
WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON????? I’M SO EXCITED??????? BUT I DO LIKE GUY,
AS LONG AS THE FEMMES COME TO FLORIDA I’LL BE OKAY. HURRY GORDON AND
BRIAN BEFORE THE HURRICANES COME.

Robert M. Wilson
rmw17

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RE: Victor
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As far as Victor learning the new drum parts, the stuff that Guy was
playing wasn’t the hardest drumming in the world to play. So Victor
being a professional drummer shouldn’t have a hard time picking up on
the new stuff.

Mark
Mpdrum95

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RE:Guy & Femmes Invade Wabash
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I’ve only been a VF fan for about 8 years. I saw the band in concert
3 times, always with Guy of course. Once when I hung around after the
show to try to meet the band Guy came out and talked to me for a long
time. He was very nice and funny and I thought he was really cool.
Gordon came straight out and got into a van and left… no hello or
anything. I like the early Femmes stuff ok but I’m really into New Times
and I like Rock a lot. So I’m sort of sad that it looks like Guy’s out.
BUt I am really happy their touring again. Anwyay I’m going to work for
the newspaper at my college next fall and I’ve been doing some archiving
work here to learn how the computer and filing systems work. I found this
transcript from an interview some guys did when the VF played here a
while back. I thought I would post it so everyone could read it. It’s not
veyr often you find interviews with Guy and what he says about Victor
is pretty intersting too I think.

Milwaukee’s Best: The Violent Femmes Invade Wabash
Mark Elrod & Kevin Reynolds
Writers
The following is an interview conducted previous to the show with,
at first, Guy Hoffman (drummer), and later, Gordon Gano (lead guitar
and vocals) of the Violent Femmes. The interview offers insight into
band history and the journey through the club scene of Milwaukee to
their modern day cult status. We hope you enjoy!

Kevin: I realize that this may be a touchy subject, but could you tell
us the circumstances behind Victor De Lorenzo’s (the Femmes’
old drummer) dismissal?

Hoffman: …It was…philosophical…I think that Victor lost his
interest along the way and for many years he was just kind of hanging
in…and after a while when you’re not a hundred percent involved in
something it starts to show in ways…and he had a long lasting
relationship with Brian and Gordon It wasn’t just something he could
just turn his back on and say that’s it,good-bye. It takes a lot.
It’s like divorce for example…it takes a long time to say o.k.
this is not going to work…let’s split up. Sometimes people need
a push. Sometimes people need to be kicked out of the house for
a while. I think basically Victor wanted to do other things.
It finally came to that point.

Kevin: Who would you personally quote as your influences?

Hoffman: For drumming, I have so many. I would say that the spirit
of my style and playing comes from the British Invasion…the
original British Invasion. And I guess on other levels, after
that kind of simmered down…end of the Sixties…actually when
the Beatles split up, I kind of followed each of them along their
paths. And in doing so, I came upon the drummers that they
employed, and one of them was Jim Keltner. And I find that his
drumming really attracts me a lot and the music he’s done. You
know, I just got attracted to the projects he was doing. I think
he did a lot with Rod Cudder in the Seventies. I just happened
to be in a situation where if I didn’t get involved with some
kind of music, I died in the water. So on a local level in
Milwaukee, I got involved with punk bands and new wave bands,
and I kind of just zeroed in on the song writing that those
bands encompassed and tried to apply my style and ideas into
those bands without trying to be like the Ramones or The
Talking Heads. It’s kind of the way I am today. I’m not really all
that influenced by alternative music.

Kevin: How did you get involved with the band personally…
friends…from the Milwaukee area? Obviously you’re accomplished.

Hoffman: In 1980 and 81 our sound man Caleb and I were in a band
called “The Oil Tasters.” It was a bass drum/sax thing…not too
dissimilar to Morphine. We put a record out, we did some regional
work…Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, Debuke, Davenport. And at
the same time I was trying to get that band off the ground with
a record contract. The Femmes kind of clicked together, and they
were playing in the same neighborhoods that I was in, but just
different bands, different bars, different locations. So, we
were just kind of mutual friends trying to make a break from
the same little town.

Kevin: Well, obviously I know that you cannot answer for the
other guys, but what do you see your music accomplishing, or where
do you see the band going in the future?

Hoffman: We’ve collaborated recently with a Frenchman who probably
may not be alive for more than ten more years. He’s like seventy or
so. He’s like the grandfather of musical collage; people like John
Cage have been influenced by him, and everything else that has
come after that. He’s like the innovator of that kind of music.
And Brian was initially attracted to…and turned Gordan on to his
music. Then, when I came into the band, they kind of showed me
this guy’s catalog and history. So, it was our intention to
collaborate with the guy in such a way that we have a couple of
tracks now. One of them is an instrumental…the guy’s name is
Pierre Henry…and one of the songs is like a narrative song.
It has a base line and a drum beat, and Gordon does just a
narrative without melody. Brian and I play different parts;
it’s kind of like different characters, so Brian and I handle
certain lines and phrases. And what we did was send it to
Pierre in Paris. And what Pierre ends up doing is putting all
these strange sound effects and musical…just his own way of
interpreting music…he kind of puts his own thing into it.
It’s not very accessible music…it’s not something that you
would want to listen to. I enjoy it because it’s very weird and
bizarre.

Kevin: But it’s not something that’s going to pack people in.

Hoffman: It’s not intended to be popular. It’s like a complete
art form. So I think maybe in the future people will say,
‘Pierre Henry was the innovator of that,’ and maybe they’ll
realize that we admired the guy and was able to work with him
before he passed on.

Kevin: So you don’t have any preset notions as to what you want
to accomplish with your music? I mean, is it grand aspirations
or a personal outlet?

Gano: There was a time where I might have had better answers for
you or ones that would be more interesting. Right now I feel that
this is what I do, and it pretty much shuts down at that point,
rather than that I believe personal statement. I’m feeling right
now that this is what I do and that’s enough.

Kevin: I think that is just as insightful.

Gano: Maybe…maybe so. But it doesn’t make for as good of an
interview.

Kevin: Who do you sight as your major influences?

Gano: Well, there was a show that we had that was cancelled.
I’m not even sure of the reason why it was cancelled, but it was
cancelled last month. I was excited about it because it was in
Las Vegas…I think at one of the casinos, but I’m not sure. It
was with Bob Dylan. And I was looking forward to that very much…
certainly Bob Dylan would be somebody who comes to mind. I think
he’s one of the greatest song writers…and performers also. I’ve
seen him a couple of times. I thought he was fantastic. So that’s
just one…there are so many.

Kevin: Quite a number of your songs have religious undertones, or
just refer to religious figures. We were wondering if this was a
personal reflection on you…

Gano: It’s not a band thing. If it’s a song that I’ve written, it’s
not a band point of view. I know our band on certain rare occasions
has been referred to as the ‘born-again rock band’ Violent Femmes,
which got at least one particular bass pretty upset about that. I’ve
written a variety of songs. Some are gospel songs…pretty straight
forward gospel songs, and then some others mix as some of the
different imagery or references that get mixed up in other things
that would be considered more secular or of the world. And I guess
that just comes from me and different experiences. I grew up in the
church and am still very much involved with stuff like that.

Kevin: You write about what you know.

Gano: Yeeeaaaa, hopefully. Although, maybe I haven’t got to that
point yet. Maybe it’s like this has all been…preparatory work.

Elrod: Basically, as a band, your set-up is somewhat simple. A
stripped-down drum set…

Gano: Right now two set-up, one that’s sit down and one that’s
stand-up. It’s extremely stripped-out as far as what is up there…
basically just snare and whatever…and played with brushes. But,
we’ve recorded with both the sit-down and stand-up stripped-down
approach…and depending on the song our drummer will go from one to
the other.

Elrod: A lot of the earlier sound was the stripped-down.

Gano: Right…right…right.

Elrod: But what I wanted to know was, why exactly do you focus on a
lot of odd instruments in the percussion area?
Is this personal (for Brian)?

Gano: Well, we have a … well, you heard at some point Brian Richie,
our bass player, but he plays so many different instruments…walking
through playing a…horn…I believe would be the correct term for it
…from Sri Lanka. He just came back from Sri Lanka and he bought a
lot a various instruments, both percussion and horns and all kinds of
things that are Sri Lankan. So it’ just a love of music and a love of
instruments and different sounds…how they sound. That’s how it found
its way into our music. Probably, mostly …or…probably, that’s
Brian Richie that has brought the most of that, because he has a
passion for all of these different instruments and different sounds
and he can just pick something up and work with it. We were touring
Australia, and I think the second time we were in Australia he got
a digerido. Within a couple of days he had taught himself how to
circular breath do all this stuff, and now he’s been playing
digerido ever since. So he’s an amazing musician who can just
say…’I like this, so I’m just going to pick it up and learn it.’

Kevin: Do you feel that the crowds are actually in touch with your
music, because some of your albums don’t get the respect that they
deserve, like Hallowed Ground, Blind Leading the Naked, and Three?
These albums got very little credit.

Gano: Yeah. Most people are familiar with the first album, and then
a lot of people form the Add It Up compilation album, so maybe it
will have a song from some of these other records that you are talking about.”

Kevin: Well, this is what I am hinting at…does it bother you?

Gano: I tend to look at is as the cup half full opposed to half
empty. Looking at the positive…that it’s amazing that we’ve had
one record in particular that keeps speaking, to basically to now
we’ve gotten to where going to a generational thing, which is a
wonderful thing. Yea, there’s been disappointment with each new
record that got put out and reached a smaller number. But, it’s
for myself, personally, if I hear from somebody or I know that
something really connected even just with one person, then that
really is worthwhile. And that makes it…for some of the records
that have sold the fewest…the people that have sometimes come
up to me and spoken to me about it…I feel like somehow that
mattered a lot to that person, and that’s great.”

Jason
barrajp

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Femmes Video
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Hi,

I have been the European distributer of the VF video, unfortunately I can no longer make copies due to equiptment problems at work.
Could you please remove me from the list.
1 person is on the waiting list and has actually paid me but I can no longer do this either, unfortunately due to a computer crash I have lost he details, could you make a post on next femmes list.

many thanx

Harry Bull
hazza30

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