The flip side of success

• Title: The flip side of success
• Author: Kendra Meinert
• Publication: Green Bay Press-Gazette
• Date: 04-20-1993

<p>What could possibly be wrong with having a debut album that sells more than 1.2 million copies and turns three guys from Milwaukee into international cult stars?</p>

<p>Nothing really, except that fans won't let the Violent Femmes forget it.</p>

<p>The Milwaukee-based trio released its first album, <em>Violent Femmes</em>, on the Slash Records label in 1982. Eleven years and four records later, fans are still singing the praises of that first album.</p>

<p>Sales from the band's last four albums can't compare to the debut. Its angst-ridden songs, like <em>Never Tell</em>, <em>Add It Up</em>, <em>Kiss Off</em> and <em>Confessions</em>, remain live show favorites. And fans are passing the album down from one generation to another.</p>

<p>Lead singer Gordon Gano wrote the 10 songs on <em>Violent Femmes</em> as a teenager and recorded them when he was only 18. Fans continue to tell him how much they can relate to the frustration and emotion put forth in the music.</p>

<p>The flip side is that some critics would argue the only really good album the Femmes put out was the first one. Or, that Gano was at his best artistically when he was 18. Gano knows those views exist, but they don't concern him.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"I'm not bothered by it at all," Gano said during a phone interview from California. "I've heard people say that about the Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, and the list goes on and on of people who have done and continue to do incredible work. I think, 'Wow, that's incredible company.'</p>
</blockquote>

<p>"I think just to have anything speak to people in a positive way is something."</p>

<p>The Femmes — Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie and drummer Victor DeLorenzo — have plans to release their sixth album later this year, just as soon as they find a label. The band broke its contract with Slash Records in 1992, complaining of meager album sales. Negotiations with other major labels have been more than a year in the making, with still no signed contract in hand.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"We're 98 percent — now probably 99 percent — done with a deal with Elektra. It has essentially been all worked out. But there's a huge gap in my mind between 99 and 100 percent. Until it's done, anything can happen."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the meantime, Gano has been writing music and the threesome recording it. Some of it may end up on the upcoming album, for which Gano has high expectations.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"It will be good. I know that. If we don't use what we have now it will be because we have something even better."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The Femmes, Gano in Connecticut and Ritchie and DeLorenzo in Wisconsin, have eased up on their touring schedule in recent months to allow for time in the recording studio. Their concert tonight at St. Norbert College is their first show in two months. It's the beginning of a two-week college tour that includes an Earth Day performance Thursday in Washington, D.C.</p>

<p>Two months with no live performance is quite a stretch for the Femmes, but Gano is the first to admit they're not exactly the world's most rehearsed and structured band. They thrive on on-stage spontaneity, but that doesn't mean Gano won't be a little nervous at the start of tonight's show.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"I'll probably feel a little concerned, wondering if the miracle will happen again. But it always does. People always cheer and go crazy. There's something in the music that just seems to set people on fire."</p>
</blockquote>
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