# Craft Recordings celebrates 40th anniversary of Violent Femmes’ debut, folk-punk trailblazers now on 40th anniversary tour! Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/10/12/craft-recordings-celebrates-40th-anniversary-of-violent-femmes-debut-folk-punk-trailblazers-now-on-40th-anniversary-tour-video-photos/
- Published: 2023-10-12T00:02:26+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Craft Recordings celebrates the 40^(th) anniversary of Violent Femmes’ 1983 eponymous
debut with a special reissue of the seminal cult classic. Due out December 1^(st).**

A special 4-disc vinyl box set will follow February 9th, 2024, limited to 5,000 
copies worldwide. Housed in a lift-top box with die-cut window detail, this collectible
edition offers three 180-gram LPs — the original album, alongside the demos, and
live material — plus, a replica 7-inch single (“Ugly”/“Gimme the Car”). The original
album and single discs are cut from the original analog tapes, while lacquers for
the complete set were cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Both the CD and LP editions
will feature an expansive book with new liner notes by journalist and _Rolling Stone_
senior editor David Fricke, complete with interviews with Violent Femmes members**
Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie, and Victor DeLorenzo**.

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Reflecting on the album’s 40^(th) anniversary, bassist Brian Ritchie shares: “I 
am frequently stopped on the street by people who tell me, ‘Your album changed my
life,’ or some variant. I don’t have to ask, ‘Which album?’ because it is implied
that they’re talking about the first one. The uncanny thing is that these people
range from early teens to septuagenarians, and they all have the same testimony.”
Ritchie adds, “Sometimes music is more than just a pleasing sound that entertains.
It takes on greater meaning. Multiple generations have found the songs to be relevant
in their life situations…”

In July 1982, Violent Femmes headed to a Lake Geneva studio and cut their debut 
album’s 10 songs in just a week, funding the sessions with a $10,000 emergency loan
co-signed by DeLorenzo’s father. Produced by Mark Van Hecke, _Violent Femmes_ mostly
consists of the band’s first takes and centers on a raw and potent sound augmented
by their idiosyncratic instrumentation (Ritchie favored an acoustic, mariachi-style
bass, while DeLorenzo’s minimalistic drum kit included an upside-down metal tub).

“We were using tape, which was expensive, and paying for this record ourselves,”
Ritchie says today. “We might have a few, false starts. We’d get a take, then say,‘
That sounds pretty good, let’s try a few more.’” After sorting through a deluge 
of rejection letters from record labels, the band released their full-length debut
via Slash Records (a now-defunct offshoot of the Los Angeles punk zine, also home
to punk trailblazers like X, the Germs, the Misfits, the Gun Club, and more).

Today, fans can visit digital platforms to pre-save _Violent Femmes (Deluxe Edition)
_and stream or download the advance single “Gone Daddy Gone / I Just Want to Make
Love to You (Live).” Recorded in January 1983 at Folk City in New York, NY, this
raucous early version of the longtime fan favorite includes a complete verse from
Willie Dixon’s 1954 song “I Just Want to Make Love to You” (originally recorded 
by Muddy Waters). Like all the bonus material featured on _Violent Femmes (Deluxe
Edition)_, “Gone Daddy Gone (Live)” was previously unavailable in digital format.

Released on vinyl and cassette in April 1983 — and certified Platinum by the RIAA
in 1991, the same year it charted on the _Billboard_ 200 for the first time — _Violent
Femmes _has achieved cult status and served as a perennial discovery for music lovers
partial to unbridled expression of teen angst. Just a year prior to recording their
debut, Gano (vocals, guitar), Ritchie (bass), and DeLorenzo (percussion) co-founded
the band in Milwaukee and got their start performing in the streets (a point of 
necessity rather than preference, given that local clubs refused to book them and
it was too hot to practice in DeLorenzo’s basement).

But when members of **the Pretenders** caught Violent Femmes performing on the sidewalk
during a tour stop at Milwaukee’s Oriental Theatre, the legendary British/American
band spontaneously added them to the bill at that night’s sold-out show. By the 
following summer, Violent Femmes had landed a spot opening for punk heroes **Richard
Hell and the Voidoids** at New York City’s Bottom Line.

**Tour Dates for Violent Femmes**:

10/11 – Queen Elizabeth Theatre (Toronto, ON)

10/12 – Mtelus (Montreal, QC)

10/13 – MGM Music Hall at Fenway (Boston, MA)

10/14 – Ulster Performing Arts Center (Kingston, NY)

10/15 – College Street Music Hall (New Haven, CT)

10/17 – Webster Hall (New York, NY)

10/18 – Starland Ballroom (Sayreville Station, NJ)

10/20 – Rams Head Live! (Baltimore, MD)

10/21 – The NorVa (Norfolk, VA)

10/22 – The National (Richmond, VA)

10/27 – Arizona State Fair (Phoenix, AZ)

11/16 – The Novo (Los Angeles, CA)

11/18 – Darker Waves 2023 (Huntington Beach, CA)

![](https://i0.wp.com/www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/28DB1B7B-
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