Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie co-founded the trio Violent Femmes 41 years ago in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With only short spurts off since, the Femmes have continued to tour and bring to cities worldwide their performances of fan favorite tunes like “Blister In The Sun,” “Add It Up” and “Gone Baby Gone” from their 1983 self-titled debut.
The band’s sophomore release Hallowed Ground celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and the tour now underway includes some opportunities to see that album played in full, start to finish. Other dates, like Violent Femmes’ stop in Music City on October 9, find the band playing in hallowed halls such as the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, working out their singularly recognizable discography of “folk punk” songs with full symphony orchestras!
On a call in late summer, singer-songwriter-guitarist Gano told me about the process and associated feelings of formatting their tunes this way. He also shared about the instant creative chemistry he found with bassist Ritchie, which persists after four decades and both feeds and benefits from the band’s improvisational tendencies.
“One of the times that we had not been playing — not just months, there were some years involved — and then when we did play together again, there was an immediate musical connection,” said Gano of picking back up with Ritchie. “It’s just something that’s there. And it’s there because of all of the years. But also it was there from the very start. We both recognize and appreciate that, I believe. And we can have fun with that.”
He continued, “We’re always improvising. There’s not an idea of a song that ‘this is the perfect way to do the song and we’re going to try to do it as close to perfect as possible.’ I don’t believe that. Anytime we play it there could be a different way of doing it. We’re not trying to recreate an ideal performance. I believe there’s not even an exact tempo which is correct at all times.”
Hear this full interview and other exclusive artist content on WNXP’s podcast channel.