Past, present and future?

In September 2011, a little more than a year after The Neon Violets first got together for a jam – Nell left the band to pursue her academic studies. I said on many occassions I couldn’t imagine doing The Neon Violets without Nell but then I have a habit of doing things I couldn’t imagine doing previously. The Neon Violets, being the vocalist and bass guitarist in a duo was one of them!

At first I fell into a pit of despair but then even though music has always been part of my life, I’ve always felt very fortunate to have had the chance to do what we’ve done so far. This would never have happened without Nell.

The Neon Violets playing Truck Festival 2011

Playing Truck Festival was a highlight, we met some great people and played some gigs which were a pleasure to be both playing at and watching. I’ve always felt quite humbled and appreciative of the supportive and genuine interest people have shown in what we’ve done so far. Since Nell left we’ve continued to get played by people and also on the radio. It seems almost an insult to just walk away from it.

So with that mind and the fact that Nell wants me continue – The Neon Violets is still here.

The Neon Violets can’t be about 1 person though. So if you’re a drummer and interested then please get in touch

In the meantime I’m looking at putting together some jam sessions with other musicians, perhaps even some online live streaming. See you soon

Joe.

Break The Line (video)

The video for our second release “Break The Line” is now out. This is our first voyage into the land of the music video and was a lot of fun to make. The video was shot on a small HD camcorder in the studio with Milkdrop visualisations blended in.

We plan to make more videos for future releases and possibly a DVD version at some point. We hope you enjoy this first video.

Truck Festival

On Friday 22nd July we’ll be playing our first festival gig at this year’s Truck Festival (Truck 14) at Hill Farm in Steventon. We’re playing live on the BBC Introducing stage at 4.30pm and it looks like we’re opening the festival.

The entire festival takes place over 3 days this year and is planned to be a bigger event too with new stages curated by record labels Transgressive, Heavenly and Bella Union.

More information can be found at the Truck website: http://www.thisistruck.com/

We’re really happy about having the opportunity to play Truck and if you’re going along on the Friday please drop in and check us out.

The current listing for Friday on the BBC Introducing stage is as follows:

0100-0145 Rock of Travolta
0000-0040 Dive Dive
2300-2340 Spring Offensive
2210-2240 Dead Jerichos
2115-2145 Charly Coombes
2020-2050 Gunning for Tamar
1930-2000 dB Band
1845-1915 Listing Ships
18001830 TBC
1715-1745 Braindead Collective
1630-1700 The Neon Violets

Video shoot

Over the past week we’ve been shooting our first band video which will feature our latest song “Break The Line”. We’ve had some fun moving things around and playing with visualisations. All being well the video will be out via YouTube (in full HD) and our website in the next couple of weeks.

May 2011 recording session

Last weekend we had our second recording session here at the home of The Neon Violets in Cowley, Oxford. We recorded the instruments for 3 tracks including what we plan to be our 3rd release which is called “Burn So Bright”. We’ll be recording the vocals in the next couple of weeks ready for the next release in June 2011.

We’ll keep you updated on progress and the date for “Burn So Bright”.

New Song – Break The Line – Out Now

We’ve just released our second recording and it’s called “Break The Line”. You can hear the new song via our website at http://www.theneonviolets.com/ and for the moment it’s only available via the embedded Soundcloud player or from our Soundcloud profile but it’ll also be up on Last.FM and available as a free download soon.

The instruments were recorded at home back in February this year on the same day as our first track The Search. This song took longer to release as I wanted to spend more time on the vocals which I finally recorded last Sunday having spent all day Saturday recording but when I woke up Sunday morning I decided they weren’t quite right.

I’ve made the production slightly different on this one, partly because I’ve been learning to use some new software and the recording and producing itself is a creative exercise like the actual writing of the music. The vocals on this recording are more prominent than the last and after recording the vocal track I ran it back through a valve amp and also through a space echo pedal which mimicks the old tape echo units used in years gone by.

The words are about an overflowing of life, detail, light and energy. We hope you enjoy it!

Strawberry Fields: An Evening Of Contemporary Noise

Tonight The Neon Violets will be playing The George Tavern in Stepney, East London for Strawberry Fields: An Evening Of Contemporary Noise.

The event is a regular night featuring psychedelic rock, shoegaze, drone rock live bands and DJs and is promoted by Big Bird Music at a well known and popular venue in London.

Doors open at 8pm with the first band on at x. We’re on stage at 10pm. The whole night goes on until 3am Saturday morning with DJs Magnetic Paul and Zapa.

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Tonight’s live line up is:
Sunlight Service Group

The Neon Violets

The Magnetic Mind

93 Million Miles From The Sun

Here’s the facebook event for more info:

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138544259551884