Just a few months after making an appearance at the Coachella valley music festival, Violent Femmes drummer Victor DeLorenzo announced his departure from the band this morning. While the band has since added dates to what was shaping up to be an extensive reunion tour, DeLorenzo was seemingly dissatisfied and disheartened with interpersonal relationships between bandmates. Violent femmes have had their fair share of rifts: they have broken up and gotten back together three times - it seems that this time, the disagreement could not be overcome. Read DeLorenzo's full statement below:
The only conditions that I had were that the three of us move forward to repair our relationships within the band, and that we would strive to attain a fair business agreement that would reflect a new way of handling the business that wouldn’t be ‘business as usual.’ Sadly, my open-hearted approach to finding a way to move forward wasn’t shared by Violent Femmes. What was finally being offered to me was, ‘business as usual,’ with a great deal of disrespect, dishonesty and greed.
After having found out that the promoters of our recent concerts weren’t interested in booking our group unless it was, ‘the reunion of the original band,’ I spoke to two of the biggest concert promoters in the world that handled two of our shows, and they told me directly that this was true. So it confuses me that fans and the promoters see the value in presenting the original band, but not the band itself. I realize that I’m no longer part of the copyright after having given up my business interest in Violent Femmes years ago, but I will always be part of the birthright of Violent Femmes, for which I will always be very proud! I’m sorry and I apologize that the fans, promoters and agents won’t get to see the Violent Femmes show that was being offered and that people bought tickets to see.
As John Lennon once said, ‘the dream is over.’ In regards to my history with Violent Femmes, the dream never quite got there.
So on the evening of June 26th, 2013, on the stage of the Marcus Amphitheater at Summerfest, I gave to the world my last performance with Violent Femmes. Milwaukee, we were yours for the night, and now forever!
Sincerely and with warm regards,
Victor DeLorenzo
It was also revealed today that the drummer for the Dresden Dolls, Brian Vigilone, would undertake the task of replacing DeLorenzo as permanent drummer for the Violent Femmes. That is, until they break up again.
