Los Angeles new wave revivalists Vendetta Valentine fuse punk-edged guitar rock with sharp synth-pop textures, echoing both current groups such as the Epoxies and You Say Party! We Say Die! and earlier outfits like Berlin and Missing Persons. The trio—singer Thomas Monroe, who had already published the science-fiction novel Neeva's Gift, guitarist and drum-machine programmer Daniel Powell, and keyboardist Anna Judd—came together in early 2006 in Santa Ana, an L.A. suburb. They took their name from a comic character created by Judd, who also serves as the group’s in-house illustrator in the vein of Gorillaz’s Jamie Hewlett. Within six months of forming, Vendetta Valentine claimed victory in a Best Unsigned Bands competition run by KROQ, Los Angeles’ longest-running alternative rock station, earning their debut single “Let It Burn” immediate airplay. That summer the band issued a five-track self-titled EP containing the song on its own imprint. Their first full-length album, There’s Nothing Safe, appeared in spring 2008 and revisited the EP’s entire track list while adding eight fresh songs.
