Former Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie has assembled an ad-hoc supergroup featuring The Dresden Dolls, former Bad Seeds multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish to perform the Femmes’ classic 1983 self-titled debut album at the MONA FOMA Festival in Tasmania on Friday.
According to Faster Louder, Ritchie is the festival’s director, and he put together the Femmes tribute at the last minute to fill the slot left vacant by the cancellation of Death Grips’ debut Australian tour. The group — featuring both Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione of the Dresden Dolls — will perform such classics as “Add It Up,” “Blister in the Sun” and “Kiss Off.”
Ritchie, who now lives in Tasmania, also is a member of The Break, an instrumental surf-rock band formed in early 2010 with several ex-members of Midnight Oil.
