User:Brandviolet

BRAND VIOLET BIOGRAPHY by Juan dos Passos

Brand Violet formed October 31, 1999, in London, the brainchild of Henderson K. Shatner (bass), Igor (guitars) and Ulrika Björsne (vocals). The trio recorded their first home demo/EP, Sex With Susan, in early 2000 and sent it to a cryptic advertisement in Melody Maker.

This resulted in Brand Violet’s getting signed to Stevo Pearce’s Some Bizarre label (The The, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Cabaret Voltaire, Einsturenzde Neubauten), where they demo’d material, showcased, and gained licensing interest from several major and independent labels. Session drummer Dafydd Jones agreed to play for these sessions, and then to stay aboard full-time.

The band’s songwriters, Shatner and Igor, wanted a different singer and thus were left singer- and label-less in late 2000, when they auditioned and brought aboard Kirsty Hockenhull, who stayed with the band through late 2000 through early 2002. Hockenhull performed on the Retrovision Coma U.S.A. EP which garnered attention on Garageband.com and CDBaby.com as the band gigged heavily on the London circuit. The band also released a single, Argyle Gargoyle Grrl, which received significant underground exposure and internet airplay and #1 chart success on MP3.com.

In 2002, the band came to the attention of ex-Arista head/Rhythm King founder Martin Heath, who loved the band but wasn’t convinced by Hockenhull, and felt the group needed a more dynamic and charismatic front woman. Heath introduced the band to ex-Zomba/Jive singer Sally-Anne Marsh, whose credits included screen and television performances, West End musicals as well as singing work with Simon Cowell, Stock-Aitken-Waterman, The Chemical Brothers (Ariel), and Right Said Fred … and several Top 10 UK pop singles. Marsh, Shatner, Igor and Jones agreed it was a match made in space, so Marsh replaced Hockenhull.

2002 saw the release of A Grave Mistake, an EP with Marsh, as well as a licensing agreement with independent label Riverside Records and a publishing deal with MCS Music, and tracks licensed to a North American animated series. The band secured excellent exposure in underground press as well as numerous awards on Garageband.com, where Sir George Martin and other leading producers are involved.

Riverside released three well-received but little-promoted singles in late 2003-early 2004 (Alien Hive Theme, Head, Voodoo) ahead of the full-length album Retrovision Coma U.S.A. The singles and the Alien Hive Theme video received royalty-generating airplay on college, university and local/regional radio as well as Virgin. Tracks were also featured on several highly-rated indie compilations in the UK and Europe.

In 2004 Tapewyrm Records released new material on two EPs -- Sputnik Bride and The Legend of Ladybeard, which included a vampire-gothic videoclip featuring Suicide Girls (www.suicidegirls.com) for the Sororicide track. Ladybeard also featured Rail Thin, produced by Brian James (The Damned, Lords of the New Church). The band also featured on the label’s Segments: Volume One compilation disc. Sputnik Bride achieved a place on Steve Lamacq’s BBC OneMusic.

In late 2004, Jones left, followed by Igor, who wanted to spend more time pursuing his brilliant Thumpermonkey project. The drumming slot was filled by Stuart Perry, and guitar by John Waring (The Milburns, Telford Mining Disaster).

In 2005 Tapewyrm released Brand Violet’s second full-length album, Akathisia, and in early 2006 a limited edition EP (Short Playing Pornograph). The band further expect to record additional EPs or a new album before the end of 2006.

-END-

REVIEWS/MEDIA

RETROVISION COMA USA '...the perfect pop of 'Alien Hive Theme' (which should have made no.1 on every chart everywhere) and the fun sized brilliance of the magically moody title track alone make this an essential purchase...a handful of contemporary classics...Igor's slippery guitar and Sally's seriously seductive vocals combine for an exotic (nay erotic) new musical experience...' TOTAL GUITAR

'...Currently the objects of an appalling a n r dribble-fest...an artful compromise between art and artifice...while the pop nous of the B52’s and Blondie loom large, a metalled-up take on the Rondelles is biting their ankles and the pop is very much kicked shitless by the rock on this set. If I had money to invest, I’d put it into Brand Violet, but only to spend the winnings on vodka n coke you understand...' UNPEELED

'...an album that oozes sexual tension...from the outset ‘Retrovision’ locks it ray gun target sights...clubs you to death with the kind of melodic hook that takes up residency in your waking conscious and redecorates it to its own taste...marries together prime Blondie and classic Pixies to a devastating conclusion...keeping you fixed till the end half expecting Frankie Avalon to turn up in the middle in full S and M gear with chains ‘n’ whips...‘Retrovision Coma USA’ is all at once cute, smart and deadly...' Mark Barton, LOSING TODAY

'...a tapas extravaganza of (almost) unimaginable proportions...challenging, powerful, melodic...at some point, the flashback sets in (or does it?). Throbbing noises, silver saucers, sexual experimentation and strange humanoids with slanted black eyes...all this, and more, in under 45 minutes...' Juan dos Passos, BETWEEN PLANETS

'Someday all pop will be made this way.' LOGO MAGAZINE

'...This is really good, it's easily the best thing I've heard tonight. I like the idea of having very harsh, punk music with such cute female vocals; I think that really gets your attention...' SOUND ON SOUND

“There may never again be a record with as much variety. Sci-Fi Pop/Rockers Brand Violet create a sound all of their own covering Elastica, Blondie, No Doubt, Space, Radiohead, a bit of 50’s beach rock, and star-treky synths. Dark electric pop is the general outline … The normal guitar band pop song formula goes out of the window with this band, who manage to create space ship sounds using synths, whizzy sound FX, whammy bars and background chants. Musically, Brand Violet are very proficient, slick, tight and self-assured, even if this is a bit off the wall for your taste. The CD is well produced too, with clever dropouts and use of EQ which combine with stabs and well thought out unit rhythms to increase punch in sections as a whole band, rather than just relying on the drummer. ‘Retrovision Coma USA’ proves to be a somewhat bizarre interlude, a nice change from the songs non-the less, while ‘Soul Patch’ delivers a more laid back Radioheady approach, proving that this really is a band who can deliver variety and quality in their writing.” Gigs Unlimited, Chris Corrigan , Rating :: 8/10

VOODOO (SINGLE) '...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...Suffice it to say Voodoo would fill the floors of clubs and BDSM clubs alike, with both audiences equally confused and equally enthralled...' Between Planets

'...Brand Violet are appearing in these pages with such regularity you might think that we were on their payroll...they've taken their standard future surf pop template on a stroll down the avenue where the freaks hang out...' (4 stars) Cliff Roberts LOGO MAGAZINE

'...and your excuse for not knowing how great this band are is…. what?...Consummately outstrips its influences, its giddy melodicism would make Van Morrison smile...No doubt about to leave our modest orbit. It has been an honour to know you...' WWW.LIVECLUB.CO.UK

SPUTNIK BRIDE (EP) '...irresistably seductive...rummaging through Joe Meek's cupboard looking for the holy grail of unmistakable sounds...I'm looking forward to seeing the look of confusion on the face of the tragically hip loser that has to present this lot to the nation when they make it, for make it they surely will...' (3.5 stars) Suzie Q, LOGO MAGAZINE

Brand Violet display three gems for their sizable collection of quirky sci-fi pop/rock songs… couldn't really be confused with anyone else because they have created their own genre, (somewhere between Garbage and Star Trek) …. Why these songs aren't being played on every radio station and music channel going is more mysterious than why anyone would buy a Gareth Gates record in the first place. The pop song structures and hook laden melodies are offset against organ parts and guitar solos that don't care about going out of key. Much like a nice and plump, innocent white lamb squaring up to a 15 stone wolf who hasn't slept for a week, hasn't eaten for three months, just had the mother of all rows with the missus and banged his head on a low branch before seeing this stupid bloody lamb. Who wins is irrelevant; the contrast speaks for itself. Review by Chris Corrigan Gigs Unlimited Rating :: 8/10

'...too damn cool for its own good...the Pixies caught red-handed hoodwinking a copy of B-52’s ‘Planet Claire’...needling riffs, dragging doom laden chords navigate a cautiously grinding groove that’s pitted in shadows and oppression and just when your at your least aware it rears its potently tipped tail sting to render you paralysed...' WWW.LOSINGTODAY.COM

'...what would have happened had only Debbie Harry joined The Clash and written the soundtrack for Rocky Horror Picture Show...' WWW.GARAGEBAND.COM

'...too many nights of vodka and amphetamines. Sally-Ann Marsh can't be bothered using her microphone, so a bull horn will have to do. This is what rock should aspire too, not the gentle strums of guitars your dad covets, but something cheap turned up way too loud...as if Wendy James had balls and fronted Metallica...' (4 stars) Juan De Passos, BETWEEN PLANETS

HEAD (SINGLE) '... sparky, spunky, spiky guitar pop with attitude and balls. The gorgeous Sally-Anne Marsh croons and swoons whilst backed by what sounds like Satan's helpers in Hawaiian shirts...mad buggers and all the better for it...' WWW.ALIVE.CO.UK

'...Sally-Anne Marsh sounds alternately like a five year-old with a penchant for sucking on helium and a twenty-year old with a habit of luring eligible bachelors into her black-painted bedroom before ripping their balls off and turning them into earrings. It’s a dangerous combination that’s reinforced by the incongruous sound of Bikini Kill doing the hully-gully on Daytona Beach while The B-52’s let rip on the collected works of The Cramps and Jan & Dean. I like, we like, you like... ' (3.5) stars Cliff Roberts LOGO MAGAZINE

ALIEN HIVE THEME (SINGLE) '...sinewy scales and all the wrong chords in all the right places...the Yeah Yeah Yeah's would kill for either of these songs...' RECORD COLLECTOR

"...A stunning debut from a London based band who seem certain to climb the ladder of musical fame, also a stunning live band according to Manilla columnist Daryl Frost..." MANILLA

'Insane surf guitars and helium pop vocals with a strange, dark edge...a wonderously off-kilter array of influences. They look fantastic and play like it's their last night on earth...you can hear the B-52's, Blondie and today's New York rock wonders. Gloriously unhinged and fresh.' WWW.ALIVE.CO.UK

'...Man or Astro Man / Link Wray being crossed with the best bits of Transvision Vamp, a spot of the 50’s obsessed early B-52’s, some pop friendly Blondie, the Munsters and a library load of Sci –Fi b movies and that as they say is ‘Alien Hive Theme’, beehives, lasers, bug eyed space nasties and a melody that ducks, dives, swerves, swaggers to literally turn you to a gibbering heap...' WWW.LOSINGTODAY.COM

'...exquisitely versatile vocals and bass grooves that are too big for this mint song alone. Brand Violet sound set to storm the charts with catchy music that is actually totally rocking too in its pop wake...' BLACK VELVET

LIVE '...the sex appeal of a very young Deborah Harry, the stage presence of Patti Smith on heat and a voice of pure liquid gold...it's pop, but it's not. It's rock without the cock. Whoever isn't signing this band to a major is an arse of the highest order and should be strung up by the silver spoon and slapped around the chops with a wet ballad until good sense prevails...' UNPEELED

'...Brand Violet stand out a mile from the competition. The energy of hyperactively dancing pint-vocalist Sally-Anne Marsh positively shines off the stage, bewitching a typical London crowd sufficiently to drag them right up to monitors and pay full attention in a way never reserved for no other...Sally is an absolute star centre stage, looking deceptively sweet ‘neath a blond bob, yet tainting her sugary vocals with a witchy spite...' BUBBLEGUM SLUT

THE LEGEND OF LADYBEARD (EP) … a quite X rated blood fest, following a group of female urban vampires killing their snacks and leaving in their wake an obvious trail of destruction. In the end the singer is a vampire too and kills the band… a good pop song with Brand Violets stamp all over it – full guitars, pounding drums, butter-wouldn’t-melt vocals and the quirky sounds and production techniques that give the band their niche. ‘Rail Thin’ starts with the Halloween piano string plucking idea that was conceived on film, and jumps into thumping rock which was also being filmed. Quite a rocky song which Brand Violet pull off with the usual level of competence that we have come to expect from them… continues the bands originality from the music through to the presentation like a breath of fresh air. Gigs Unlimited, Chris Corrigan, Rating :: 7/10