Violent Soho Interview: SXSW 2010

In an age of electro nu-age music, the rugged and raw sounds of Violent Soho bring a uniqueness to the table, reminiscent of the grunge era. They have spent a great deal of time playing numerous electrifying shows for their loyal and growing fan base across Australia, U.K., and the U.S. Violent Soho's first American single, 'Jesus Stole My Girlfriend,' has recently hit the top 40 of The Billboard Alternative chart. Before heading to Austin for SXSW, vocalist and Guitarist Luke Boerdam spoke with Spinner, sharing highlights of the band's career as they celebrate their newly released eponymous album.

Describe your sound in your own words:

We usually describe it as "stoner pop" because we think we have a stoner sludge sound with hard core undertones and then on top of that we really like writing pop music. By "pop music" I mean we like writing two and three chord songs.

How did your band form?

We have a pretty long history. We knew each other from high school and we jammed now and then after school. We all grew up in the same area. In 2005 we started playing shows together and it grew from there. We played shows locally around Brisbane. Then we started touring nationally. Then we released an EP which paid for our album and we just kept touring and touring. Eventually we made it to London and New York where we eventually got signed. It sounds so simply when you just put it out there but it's been five years of hard work.

What are your musical influences?

We take a lot of inspiration from groups like Black Flagg, Mud Honey, The Pixies. Pretty much pre-grunge stuff.

How did you come up with your band name?

When we actually got together we had no vision in our minds about anything overseas because when you are from Australia it feels quite impossible. We just liked the name Ruby Soho but then after a couple hours we decided to throw Violent in front of it without much thought. We ended up in New York City five years later and the name took on a whole different meaning. It's funny because back in Brisbane it was more ambiguous and didn't carry as much meaning.

How do you get in "the zone" to write songs?

Some of the older songs are more political but the newer ones are more personal stories. I usually write in my bedroom and find all the chords first and match them with the lyrics later. I sit with lyrics for a couple days and jot them down randomly on my notepad and then piece them together over time. I like to let the lyrics fall into place naturally.

Where did the inspiration come from for 'How Jesus Stole my Girlfriend?'

I was engaged to our guitarist's sister. Eventually we broke up over religious differences and the song kind of follows after we split and how I don't really understand religion if it causes such harm.

What's in your festival survival kit?

There is this one thing and it's a bit odd but we now have a tour mascot: The Tijuana Mama. It's apparently a Mexican sausage that we found at a service station. It's fluorescent orange and looks like plastic beef jerky. We were shocked and amazed. When we looked at the ingredients it says it's made from mechanically separated chicken and contains less than 3% meat. We decided to draw a face on it and call it Tijuana Mama. We all agreed that wherever we go Tijuana Mama comes with us. It's a cool kind of mascot.. We want to see how long it lasts. Considering it is made all from chemicals it should be a long time.

When you're touring other parts of the world, what's the main thing you miss about home (Australia)?

Good question. We moved here just before winter so the first thing is good weather. We had never seen snow before moving here. We were driving through Denver and it started to snow and we started to freak out. We didn't even know if we could drive through it. In Australia the weather is always sunny and has very comfortable weather to be touring in. We love touring in the U.S. though. The venues are great, the people are great, and it's similar to Australia but there are still things from home we miss like the sunshine and the food.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

That's a good question because we listen to a lot of music in the van. We listen to a lot of Lil Wayne.

Beatles or Stones?

I'm pretty sure it's the Beatles.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

This just happened last week. For $55 James our guitarist drank his own urine. I've never seen anything like it before in my life.

What social network do you prefer and why?

It was MySpace but it's been taken over by Facebook. It's less intrusive. You're actually connecting with real people. Whereas on MySpace probably 4,000 of our fans are spam strippers. Facebook actually reaches people who know who you are and listen to your music. We use Facebook everyday.


Nana-Adwoa Ofori is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.