Velvet Violet’s Jason Blades (who rarely gives an interview) answers a few questions:

What was Velvet Violet like in the beginning?

When I started this project in the early nineties, everybody thought I was crazy because all I wanted to do was make music and express myself. That was where my mission began and ended. Many of the musicians around me on the sunset strip in those days were obsessed with getting signed to a major label and being big rock stars. To accomplish this goal, they were busy forming their own little Nirvana clones. These were the same guys that a year earlier were forming their own little Poison clones. I didn’t understand any of that. Everyone has their influences, but I really wanted to emulate my own creative voice. I figured that people could take it or leave it, but at least It would be somehting original. Maybe that’s why I’m still around and so many of them not. Even today, the music at the top of the Billboard charts just doesn't speak to me personally, and I know a lot of other people feel the same way. Part of it is the rebel in me too. If you follow Goth back a little bit you get Punk. There is a long proud tradition of being anti establishment there. Velvet Violet is about breaking new ground and trying something a bit different. I’m just here to make music for the people that enjoy it. I couldn’t care less about the rest. Grammy shammy. The music industry must really be running out of ideas when you got Gwen ripping off another old show tune on one radio station, and somebody butchering an 80’s classic on another. We have an entire generation that doesn’t know that true creativity is all about originality.

What was the scene like when you were coming up?

Oh man, I’m going to sound like a dinosaur…I was one of those guys with the trench coat and the eyeliner, hanging out at clubs like Helter Skelter when it was just a loft in LA's Chinatown. It was a tight knit scene in those days because the internet hadn’t even come along yet. If you wanted Doc Martins there was no Ebay, you had to drive all the way to Melrose and then go to another store on the sunset strip to search for your spiked bracelet. Then if you wanted to get some band stickers to put on the back of your hatchback, you had to go all the way to another store on Highland. If you were really exotic and you had the money, you could travel all the way to England and bring back a pair of pointy boots with buckles shaped like bats. Now you got a Hot Topic with all that stuff in every suburban mall wedged between a Banana Republic and a Gap. I remember having to spend hours sifting through a bin of records looking for an import copy of Bauhaus In the Flat Field with two extra tracks. Now you can go online and have it sent to you in no time. I can’t down play progress too much though because without it, I would not have been able to connect with so many thousands of music lovers from all over the world.

How would you describe the distinctive sound on the album Shards?

I intentionally went with an under produced organic sound for these songs in the spirit of Tom Waits and his Bone Machine album or Jimi Hendrix’s experiments with distortion. His approach was so revolutionary that he actually had to put a disclaimer on the album that the guitar distortion was intentional. Nobody had heard rock sound like that yet. I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want Velvet Violet to sound like a slick, commercial, soulless Justin Timberlake album. If the character in the song had a numbed or distorted perception of the world, for example the ghost in Souls In Shadow, I wanted the sound to reflect that as if he is singing through the veil that separates this world from the next.

A song about a ghost…what is the story with that?

I hate to comment usually on the stories behind the songs because I love how people can connect with art and write their own stories. I guess since I’m spilling my secrets here. The song Souls In Shadow is about someone who is in love with someone else, but dies. Now that individual as a spirit has to watch their previous love with a new person. It is not only a statement about how love is eternal and even more powerful than death, but it could also comment on the question of how do you move on after loving someone. We all have our ghosts.

One of the more popular tracks Ashes is also about loss...

Ashes is a composite of many personal experiences, but the main theme is about being strong enough to be able to say goodbye to negative things that are trying to bring you down.

And Dark Whispers (Nosferatu) seems to be about Vampires.

I guess that song is my answer to Bella Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus. I happen to be a fan of Vampire lore and wanted to incorporate those themes by writing from the point of view of a Vampire who has lived through the ages into modern times, weathering loss and inviting others to join him on a journey through his world. I was surprised at how popular that song has become. Again the best fiction includes personal, relatable themes and I guess it struck a chord with people.

How did Griddle’s Lament come about and what’s with the title?

Griddle’s lament is based on a short story I wrote in high school about a creature named Griddlecrumb. The early demo from that era included a song Griddle’s Jig which was more upbeat. When the time came to write this album, those youthful days of innocence had faded into history so Griddlecrumb was isolated and more melancholy. Sort of if you take puff the magic dragon at face value. Griddle’s Lament was created to express the characters updated frame of mind.

What about this project might surprise people?

I’m probably the only indie artist who actually doesn’t want to be signed to a major label. Why would I want to have some corporation mess with my music and then take all my record sales? Have you seen the bland crap that’s being shoved at us lately from those guys? Why would anyone want to be a part of that? For the money? I got news for you, ever since Napster first came out, there hasn’t been nearly as much money for the music biz. For the fame? Every week there’s another shmo in heavy rotation that nobody remembers. If that was my goal, then I’d be trying to sound like whoever is hot right now. Does the world really need another guy dressed like a Gap model strumming a guitar? I’d rather just focus on creating something original and unique. There might not be millions and millions of dollars behind this project, but I give the fans something real that they can sink their teeth into.

Anything else you want to add?

I just want to thank the fans and friends that have been so supportive over the years. Stay true to who you are and never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something.

 

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