Name: Hotel Last Resort
Brand: Violent Femmes

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

540086301186

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2019-07-26

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Orchard

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

5400863011864

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

540086301187

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Black

5400863011871

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "5400863011871"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

Violent Femmes

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

PIAS

Violent Femmes were founded in 1980 by bassist/multi-instrumentalist Brian Ritchie and drummer Victor De Lorenzo. The name is a contradiction in terms, with "Violent" being self-explanatory and "Femmes" being Milwaukee slang for wimp.

The rhythm section added high school singer/songwriter Gordon Gano in 1981. Gano and Ritchie had previously performed together at Gano’s National Honor Society induction ceremony, where they caused a near riot. Gano was expelled from the Society and suspended from high school for this outrage.

One of the only stable aspects of the band is their aversion to rehearsal. Due to this, they would take the music to the streets in an attempt to hone it and earn some spare change. It was on one of these occasions that they were spotted by the Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde and the gang were so amused by Violent Femmes' antics that they invited them to open their show. The hometown Milwaukee audience initially booed them but ended up converting approximately 50% of the audience during their set.

The Femmes borrowed $10,000 from Victor De Lorenzo's dad to record their legendary first album in 1982. Slash Records in Los Angeles was the only label to offer them a deal with no advance payment. Despite facing numerous challenges such as world tours, nervous breakdowns, band members quitting, solo albums,

The 13-track Hotel Last Resort, which follows 2016’s We Can Do Anything, includes two left-field cover tunes: a version of Greek rock band Pyx Lax’s “I’m Not Gonna Cry” (featuring Gano’s newly translated lyrics) and a stripped-down adaptation of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” (fleshed out with an improvised free-jazz coda).

“I think it’s probably the best one we’ve made since [1984’s] Hallowed Ground,” Ritchie said of the LP. “Which is a long time. It’s just a very focused album, the songs all hold together. It’s a classic album, in the sense that people should actually sit down and listen to the whole thing. It’s not too long. It’s short, it’s punchy, it’s solid, it’s to the point, goes a few different directions but it always comes back to the core approach and then it’s over. Hopefully you’ll think ‘I want to hear that again.'”

Hotel Last Resort

Music US

Buy Violent Femmes - Hotel Last Resort (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.