The Violets

Guitarist Joe Daniel assembled this UK indie rock band in summer 2003, shortly after founding the Angular Recording Corporation label, with Alexis McCleod aka Alexis Mary supplying vocals and Andrew Moran on drums completing the trio. Early coverage centered on McCleod’s magnetic and sexually threatening stage presence, frequently invoking the example of post-punk figurehead Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie And The Banchees. The group’s first release was the track ‘Laxteen’, included on the Angular compilation The New Cross: An Angular Sampler that November. Their May 2005 7-inch single ‘Mirror Mirror’ revived the angular punk disco approach of ‘Laxteen’ and drew broad attention from the UK independent press. A succession of additional singles and compilation appearances led to 2007’s thrilling ‘Foreo’, whose vocal delivery carried an eerily reminiscent echo of Hazel O’Connor within its jerky new wave rhythms and needle sharp riffs. Issued later the same year, The Lost Pages failed to equal the single’s melodic thrust and blended indistinguishably with contemporaneous output from numerous other post-punk acts.