The Violent Femmes: Wisconsin's Musical Claim to Fame
Marissa Klaff

A loud voice whines. A frenetic acoustic bass thumps. A loud cymbal and snare drum pound. A band looks out at an audience. Two-and-a-half decades after they began, the trio known as the Violent Femmes sees the same energized faces that crowded their early shows as Milwaukee’s premier punk band. But next to those faces are the 54-year-old lawyers and 40-something mothers, who represent the first generations of Femmes fans.

Meet the Violent Femmes, a group that so clearly defined their genre, they never went out of style.

“It’s weird to go to a show with my friend’s mom who is just as big of a fan of the band as I am," Kevin Kopplin, a 27-year-old UW-Madison student said. "You can look at generations up or down and the music still seems to relate."

It’s the experience that counts, both as a member of the band and as a fan. One fuels the other. In the case of the Violent Femmes, as long as there are new and old generations of fans that continue to identify with their music, they will continue to play the music they love.

The unique sound and lyrics in combination with an equally unique fan base that spans generations make the Violent Femmes one of the most captivating musical acts of all time. According to Steve Dietz, a 47-year-old sales representative, the Femmes still put on live shows that are “as good today as they were 20 years ago.” The Femmes still capture their audiences and transcend generations because “their music and style is unique and timeless. It never surprised me that younger generations came to love the Femmes, especially since there are so few newer bands as creative and captivating as the Femmes, ” Dietz added.

Founded in Milwaukee in 1980, the then-duo consisted of bass player Brian Ritchie and drummer Victor DeLorenzo. In 1981, Ritchie and DeLorenzo discovered singer-songwriter Gordon Gano, who completed the trio that became known as the Violent Femmes. As the band began to form their sound, they took their talent to the streets of Milwaukee in hopes of building a fan base. Eventually they scored a house gig every Tuesday night at the Jazz Gallery, a now-defunct jazz club, which helped the Femmes develop their sound.

According to Ritchie, “Milwaukee’s music scene was not geared very much toward one kind of music or another. Therefore, there was no trend for us to follow. We ignored everybody and did our own thing.”

In 1981, the Femmes were doing their “own thing” outside the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee when the band the Pretenders asked them to be one of the opening acts at their concert that night.

“The fact that there were no record labels in Milwaukee forced us to reach out to New York and Los Angeles, which helped us break free of Milwaukee,” Ritchie said.

The Femmes ultimately had to leave the city in which they grew up to follow their dreams and achieve success in the music industry. In 1982, the Femmes were signed to Slash Records and immediately recorded and released their first self-titled album. Gano wrote the majority of this album's songs during his time as a student at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee. The Femmes were a breath of fresh air in a music scene that was oversaturated with rock and pop bands. They were everything mainstream music wasn’t expecting but everything angst-ridden teenagers in the United States were waiting for.

It was their first album that helped establish the Femmes’ cult following and also produced four of the Femmes’ most well-known songs: “Blister in the Sun,” “Kiss Off,” “Add It Up” and “Gone Daddy Gone.” Although fans were excited by and supportive of the Femmes’ first album, it never reached The Billboard’s Top 200 album chart. However, the self-titled album is acclaimed as one of the best debut musical efforts of all time, and the fans agree. As a testament to the Femmes’ intergenerational popularity, the album went platinum in 1991, nearly 10 years after its release. Dietz, a long-time fan who was fortunate enough to first experience the Femmes in 1981 at the very show where they were discovered, recalled “buying the first album and falling in love with the music right away," adding, "I think it’s all I listened to for two years.” Although Dietz is a fan of everything the Femmes have put out since, he said, “The first album is still the best.” Kopplin agreed, “The first album was my favorite.”

The Femmes released their sophomore album, Hallowed Ground, in 1984. Considered a departure from their first album, it reflected Gano’s upbringing as the son of a Baptist minister, which fans felt was risky and a little bit too different from the Femmes they knew and loved. However, the Femmes’ 1986 album, The Blind Leading The Naked, reintegrated the familiar level of energy the Femmes had become known for with their evolving sound.

After releasing The Blind Leading The Naked, the band took a break in pursuit of solo careers. Two years later, the Femmes reunited and made a successful transition from the '80s to the '90s with the 1988 release of 3 and the 1991 release of Why Do Birds Sing? However, DeLorenzo wanted to continue his pursuit of a solo career and left the Femmes after the release of the band’s first compilation CD, Add It Up (1981-1993), in 1993.

Ritchie and Gano, determined to continue making music, invited drummer Guy Hoffman, a former member of the Oil Tasters and the BoDeans, to round out the trio. Hoffman toured and recorded with the band for nine years, during which the Femmes released New Times in 1994 and Rock!!!!! in 1995. The Femmes paid homage to their home state with 1999’s Viva Wisconsin, a compilation of songs recorded while touring Wisconsin. Freak Magnet, released in 2000, is the Femmes’ most recent album containing new material.

In 2002, DeLorenzo rejoined the Femmes and has been touring with the band ever since. According to the Femmes’ website, they are currently “bringing the rock to every nook and cranny of the globe.” Their latest world tour has taken them across the world, performing for fans in Australia, Africa and Europe.

The ongoing success of the Femmes is strongly attributed to their unique ability to engage and unite fans from all generations. Dino Armiros, a 55-year-old attorney, said, “I like the innocence, its ragged unpretentiousness, the clever lyrics and the story of the band.” Kopplin also cited, above musical talent, the band’s down-to-earth attitude as one of the main reasons that fans of all generations connect to the Femmes’ music.

“If someone in a band isn’t the best singer, they either suck or they’re playing from the heart," Kopplin said. "Gordon’s not the best singer, but he sings from the heart. It’s more genuine.”

The unique experience of being a Femmes fan is due in large part to what the band represents. Referring to themselves on their website as the “spokesmen for misfits,” the Femmes represent and give hope to fans who feel as though they don’t fit in with the world around them. Armiros said the Femmes’ success showed the world that “it was OK to be unique and follow your own vision—you didn’t have to try to imitate whatever was ‘hot’ at the moment ... That sort of rebellion, refusal to follow the hoard while at the same time connecting with your audience at a gut level, lies at the essence of great rock.”

Kopplin, who first became a fan of the Femmes at age 13, said, “The high school problems and problems with girls is universal. Everyone can relate to that. Songs like ‘Gimme the Car’ nails high school angst.”

Although both Dietz and Armiros became fans of the Femmes in the '80s, Kopplin said that he and fans of younger generations are introduced to the Femmes’ music in a different way.

“You can’t necessarily find out about a band like the Violent Femmes from the media," Kopplin explained. "It’s something like loaning a friend their CD.”

Kopplin said that he sees a difference between the fans that are only familiar with radio friendly hits like “Blister in the Sun” and fans that appreciate the Femmes’ full repertoire of music.

“Behind the poppy hits, you might not know how their music can strike a chord with you," he said. "You might have an entirely different conception of the kind of band they are if you only know their more popular songs.” However, he added that it’s possible that the better-known songs “might be the foot in the door for the new generations of fans.”

Regardless of how one becomes a fan of the Femmes, fans old and young say their live concerts take the fan experience to a new level.

“We like to drive the audience past their expectations and to the point where they forget their everyday lives,” Ritchie said.

Having attended roughly 25 shows combined, Dietz, Armiros and Kopplin all agreed that every concert they have attended has exceeded their expectations.

“For me, seeing them today brings back so many great memories," Dietz said. "I know and love all the music, so seeing them live is so much fun. The best part of any Femmes show is the countdown during ‘Kiss Off.’ It’s great to hear everyone counting down as everyone is jumping up and down and then lose it as the count reaches 10. Great concert moment.”

“When I’m at their concerts it feels so familiar," Kopplin said. "I get the most excited when older, obscure songs are played.”

Although Dietz, Kopplin and Armiros represent different generations of Femmes fans and are all inspired by familiar elements of the music, they also experience a great sense of pride at concerts that not many other fans can say they feel. This sense of pride, expressed by all three men, exists because they all grew up in or around the Femmes’ home town of Milwaukee.

“I’m a fan of a lot of bands, but the Femmes hold a special place for me because they come from my hometown,” Armiros said.

For all three men, this unique personal connection to the band intensifies their fan experience. Kopplin excitedly described the Femmes as “the rock 'n' roll home team.”

“The boredom inspired us to get out and see the world," Ritchie said. "Then after seeing the world, we realized Milwaukee was not so bad after all."

The Femmes are one of the rare musical groups that are able to relate better to their fans because they speak to true human experience. According to Ritchie, the Femmes’ formula for success is to “play the music you love, don’t compromise, and don’t worry about what other people think.”