Origin Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. Genres Folk punk, alternative rock Years active 1981–2009, 2013–present Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band consists of founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), joined by multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza (joined 2004), and drummer John Sparrow (joined 2005).[2] Former members of the band include drummers Victor DeLorenzo (1980–1993, 2002–2013), Guy Hoffman (1993–2002), and Brian Viglione (2013–2016). Violent Femmes are considered to be an integral part of the then-underground folk punk and alternative rock scenes of the 1980s,[3][4][5][6] and remain influential or inspirational to the subsequent movements, particularly on folk rock, indie rock, grunge, pop punk, emo, and the late 1980s and 1990s alternative rock scene. Violent Femmes在1980年时成立于美国威斯康辛州的Milwaukee，由吉他手兼主唱Gordon Gano、贝斯手Brian Ritchie与鼓手Victor De Lorenzo三人所组成，一如许多刚组成的乐队，咖啡馆与酒馆也是Violent Femmes发表自己创作的地方，然而却在一次于街头的表演中，被Pretenders的吉他手James Honeyman-Scott发掘，甚至主唱Chrissie Hynde还主动邀请Violent Femmes担任他们演唱会的暖场嘉宾，这对一个没没无名的新进乐队来说绝对是一个莫大的鼓励，因为如此，Violent Femmes也获得一纸唱片合约。从1983年开始，Violent Femmes陆续推出多张专辑，有些甚至只以MP3的形式在网路上发行，到了2009年，Violent Femmes宣布解散。