Milwaukee famous

Press, 30 January 1986, Page 18

Milwaukee famous

The Violent Femmes are not the band that made Milwaukee famous — more likely notorious. The Milwaukee band play at the Theatre Royal, along with the Christchurch group, The Conoisseurs, on Monday evening, a much better venue compared with the place that the Americans last played at in Christchurch. This time the Femmes bring with them a saxophonist and a keyboardist to broaden their sound away from the wiry noise the three-piece made on the last album, “Hallowed Ground.” The band’s third album, “The Blind Leading The

Naked,” is due out on world-wide release on February 10, just after the Femmes complete their New Zealand tour. Like this tour, the album also has additional musicians on it, including the top guitarist, Leo Kottke, and Jim Lieben, on harmonica.

The album was produced by Jerry Harrison, better known as a former member of the Modem Lovers and present member of Talking Heads. In spite of offending some sections of American society, particularly in Milwaukee, the Violent Femmes have managed to be commercially success-

ful. But, they say that they continue to learn a lot, paying a tribute to Jerry Harrison for showing them what a tight rhythm section is like. - Harrison himself compared the new Femmes album with its counterparts as being the difference between a HarleyDavidson and a Japanese motor-cycle. HarleyDavidson “hogs” are rtiade in Milwaukee.

Harrison imported a lot of new sounds for the Femme’s album, which took more than five months to make. Already the band’s music is a strange mixture of gospel, country punk, hillbilly, and folk.