Metropolis Records – 14th June 2024
Their Bandcamp bio presents a pretty fair an honest summary of the band’s career: ‘Original Post Punk drum machine band from Leeds. Started at the beginning, imploded, reborn for the 21st Century.’
They really were there at the start of that fermentation of post-punk that frothed its way out of Leeds, propelled by drum machines and a fuckload of attitude and came to define what would come to be defined as ‘goth’. The labelling was bollocks, but that’s the press for ya. The Violets may have been – for a short time – taken under the wing of Andrew Eldritch, who produced their first couple of records and put them out on his Merciful Release label, established for the purpose of disseminating The Sisters of Mercy’s releases, but also – equally briefly – home to fellow Leeds act Salvation, and much, much later, La Costa Rasa – but apart from the drum machine and attitude, you couldn’t really say that they sounded alike.
There were reports in the press of a falling out, although Violets front man Simon Denbeigh, who went on to front The Batfish Boys after the Violets, would later become a touring member of The Sisters as Nurse to the Doktor, before ill health curtailed any kind of musical activity.
But to backtrack a small way in a messy history, 2007 saw The March Violets reconvene, seemingly out of nowhere, with a reunion show at Leeds Beckett (which used to be the Polytechnic) and an EP and, not long after, an album. And they’ve been busy ever since.
The arrival of ‘Hammer the Last Nail’ is exciting because their first new material in a long time, and it’s a cracking tune in the vein of their later 80s works as well as the post-return releases. And it’s good, too. It SOUNDS like The March Violets. It sounds gothy, sultry. Rosie’s vocals are as strong as ever, and she’s still got so much charisma. The Violets minus Simon aren’t quite the same, and there’s no escaping that: the dynamic of the dual vocal defined their sound to begin with.
But… bands evolve, and shift lineups. This is a ripping tune and a great addition to their catalogue.
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Aural Aggravation 