Violent Femmes are celebrating this year’s 40th anniversary of the band’s self-titled debut — home to classics “Blister in the Sun,” “Add It Up” and more — by playing the album in full on a spring tour of the western U.S. and reissuing it in a new picture-disc vinyl edition for Record Store Day.
The no-longer-a-trio — founding members Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), plus multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza and barbeque-grill-playing-drummer John Sparrow — will perform 1983’s Violent Femmes “cover to cover” on the just-announced 11-date tour this May, which opens in Ventura, Calif., and runs through a May 21 date in Denver.
See dates below and head over to violentfemmes.com for full ticket information.
Additionally, Craft Recordings will release a new 40th anniversary picture-disc vinyl edition of Violent Femmes — the longtime college-rock staple — on April 22 at participating independent record stores in the U.S. and U.K. The label is pressing 3,000 copies in the U.S.
Now in its 16th year of celebrating independent music retailers, Record Store Day is back to a single day — April 22 — following the pandemic-era “drops” that spread the event over multiple months the last couple years.
Head over to recordstoreday.com and recordstoreday.co.uk to see full lists of exclusive, limited-run and “RSD First” releases along with participating independent record stores in the U.S. and the U.K., respectively.
Below, check out the Violent Femmes’ tour dates and details of the new picture disc.
Violent Femmes, Violent Femmes
Side A
1. “Blister In The Sun”
2. “Kiss Off”
3. “Please Do Not Go”
4. “Add It Up”
5. “Confessions”
Side B
1. “Prove My Love”
2. “Promise”
3. “To The Kill”
4. “Gone Daddy Gone”
5. “Good Feeling”
Violent Femmes tour dates
May 6: Ventura Music Hall, Ventura, CA
May 7: Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
May 10: Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, San Diego, CA (with San Diego Symphony)
May 11: Pappy & Harriets, Pioneertown, CA
May 12: Pappy & Harriets, Pioneertown, CA
May 14: Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM
May 16:House Of Blues, Dallas, TX
May 17: White Oak Music Hall, Houston, TX
May 18: Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre, Austin, TX
May 19: Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa, OK
May 21: Levitt Pavilion, Denver, CO
All dates with Jesse Ahern except San Diego
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Listen: Violent Femmes, ‘Another Chorus’ — jaunty second single off ‘Hotel Last Resort’
- Violent Femmes announce new album ‘Hotel Last Resort’ — hear the title track
- Violent Femmes set U.S. co-headlining tour with Ben Folds following dates with X
- Echo & The Bunnymen, Violent Femmes team up for 2nd U.S. summer co-headlining tour
