‘We wrote these songs when we were 17 and very angry’
And a few years later, maybe a little less angry, three ladies gathered in the ever so sweet and cosy Rock & Roll BrewHouse to play a few tunes to put the famous (now infamous) Jewellery Quarter on the Rock n Roll radar. Sizzling and spitting like a Catherine wheel, there was no room to cartwheel here, these girls with guitars rammed some tasty vignettes of illegal activity down our collective throats. Keeping the memory of Poly Styrene well and truly alive, I felt a warm glow of pride and glee to be sat here clapping like a demented sea lion.
With Fliss ‘hit like a girl’ Kitson -on drums, vocals, Katie – bass and keys and singer Cheri they tore up their nan’s living room delivering a vibrant and gutsy, punchy set of songs ‘these are the only ones we know’ while regaling tales from their murky pasts, about as murky as the cut. Shout out to Eddie Argos, details of his complicity in the VV story are yet to be made public – ahem.
‘Get off your tits and get on someone else’s’
Violets are known for their powdery, sweet scent, well we have gunpowder and gumdrops sticking to your teeth ire and irritation rattling through the speakers.
With a golden skirt and a love hearts shirt, they shout from behind the mic at a crowd who spent an afternoon looking through their rose tinted glasses and into pints of lager, a little bit teary and a little cheery. Sigh.
Legend has it that gig protocol in Glasgow asserts that we end each show with
‘Here we fuckin’ go again, here we fuckin’ go again….’
And you know what, I wish they fucking would!!!
Azra Pathan
Violet Violet (the return of) 25th October 2025 at Rock & Roll BrewHouse, Birmingham