BRAND VIOLET: Voodoo (single)

Brand Violet

Voodoo (single)

© 2004 Riverside Records (828290000117)

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Put Blondie and The Pixies in a blender. Frappe, 3 minutes. Add surf guitar and some drum and bass loops. Serve chilled.

notes

PIXIES MEET BLONDIE IN CRAMPED B-52

LONDON -- "It's a wild ride, hang in there," read one of Brand Violet's first reviews, and how prophetic that statement proved to be.

Record Collector magazine adds, 'This already-cult four piece have an ear for super slick songs ... if Tarantino is struggling for his next soundtrack, he need look no further. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs would kill for these songs.' Drowned in Sound calls them 'London's finest female-fronted guitar combo ... powerful girl vocals, catchy guitars and a hint of doom.'

First signed to Stevo Pearce's Some Bizarre label (Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, Cabaret Voltaire) on the strength of their home-recorded first demo. Clichéd self-destructive phase. Ex-Arista/Rhythm King head Martin Heath proposes a new singer (ex-Zomba, Jive, Stock-Aitkin-Waterman) for the band to work with on his new label. Kept the singer. Not the label. Picked up by independent Riverside Records. First two singles produced by P.J. Harvey's engineer. A couple songs licensed to North American TV shows. Danelectro gives them free gear, then promptly stops making it. Songs chart in Top 5 online via Garageband, MP3.com, Vitaminic. "Alien Hive Theme" video is the final clip before the Stereophonics take the stage on their current tour. Guitarist Brian James (The Damned, Lords of the New Church) expresses interest in producing the next release.

References to Pulp Fiction, The Pixies, Blondie, The Cramps and the B-52s roll in. Strange bedfellows perhaps, but Brand Violet sound like nothing else in the UK, maybe the world.

John Peel's 'Unpeeled' magazine adds, "How often can you say, 'Oh, I popped out to this gig last night and you'll never guess what? I saw this wicked band whose singer has the sex appeal of a very young Debbie Harry, the stage presence of Patti Smith on heat and a voice of pure liquid gold. And did I mention the cat suit?'
Doesn't happen does it? It does now. Tunes you'd quite happily admit to liking.
It's pop, but it's not. It's rock without the cock."

Maybe that explains their 'cult' status in London, UK. Formed Halloween Night 1999.

They are:

Sally-Anne Marsh - vocals
'Baby' Igor - guitar
Henderson K. Shatner - bass
'Bones' Jones - drums

reviews

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  • slow-burning energy, power and pure sexual tension
    author: Juan dos Passos - Bewteen Planets

    Brand Violet - Voodoo Brand Violet have been kicking around the London indie scene for several years now, leaving some of us wondering how it is possible for this band to have remained such a well-kept secret for so long. It seems that the word is starting to spread, and the release of the Voodoo single ahead of the band's debut album Retrovision Coma USA confirm that this is a band to watch. Having seen them live, it's hard to imagine how anyone could capture the slow-burning energy, power and pure sexual tension of vocalist Sally-Anne Marsh and the band's impossibly self-contained atom-bomb-in-a-biscuit-tin sound. Voodoo, like Alien Hive Theme before it, comes close. Making comparisons is a poor and lazy journalist's way out of doing any work, but I'd file Brand Violet somewhere amongst Man Or Astro Man, Blondie, The Pixies and possibly the Cardigans at their naughtiest and most interesting. Suffice it to say Voodoo would fill the floors of clubs and BDSM clubs alike, with both audiences equally confused and equally enthralled. LOGO Magazine seems intent on tipping Brand Violet for future success and a bright light in the vanilla-flavoured UK musical soundscape of 2004, and I'm pleased to join them. Brand Violet / Voodoo's appeal, and brilliance, lies in the easy reference points that make the band accessible -- great for lazy journalists -- contrasted against a sound, when those reference points are melted together, that is simply unmistakable. Do Voodoo! -- JdP

  • his time around they’ve taken their standard future-surf pop template on a strol
    author: Cliff Roberts - LOGO

    Brand Violet are appearing in these pages with such regularity you might think that we were on their payroll. In fact it’s just because they engaged in a blizzard of releases; if you miss one there’ll surely be another along in a minute. They are all to be welcomed as well, there’s not a duff release in this bag. This time around they’ve taken their standard future-surf pop template on a stroll down the avenue where the freaks hang out; this time around you’ll see Altered Images pilfering Space’s finest moments (they did have one or two) while Voivod look on approvingly. It’s Sally-Anne Marsh’s catsuit that does it. Cliff Roberts

  • Consummately outstrips its influences, giddy melocicism
    author: Alex Ogg - Live Club

    Brand Violet – Voodoo CD EP And your excuse for not knowing how great this band are is…. what? More of the same is a treat in this context. Pumping, rump-shaking pop music like they used to make. Consummately outstrips its influences, its giddy melodicism would make Van Morrison smile. You even get a free video of ‘Alien Hive Theme’. No doubt about to leave our modest orbit. It has been an honour to know you.

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