They haven’t given us anything since Freak Magnet back in 2000, but the Violent Femmes are now set to release their first new music in 16 years. Although they haven’t fully clarified the details of the impending album, they have been keeping fans updated on Facebook, the latest post (September 29) revealing that they’re mastering their material with Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound in New York City.
The band’s collaborator John Kruth, who appears in the photo, commented on Facebook, “You’ll dig the new material — the band’s sounding really good and there’s a few unexpected twists and turns — I just happened to be wearing my red dragon shirt when they were mastering a wild song about dragon hunting!”
Mastering the new #violentfemmes album with the amazing, Chris Gehringer, at #sterlingsound #nyc !!#masteringengineer #masteringstudio #newalbum ##2016
Posted by Violent Femmes on Tuesday, September 29, 2015
The band also revealed in an earlier Facebook post that they’ve been working with producer John Agnello, who has also worked with Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.
The Producers: end of album mixing photo. With the legendary John Agnello! Altitude Recording Studio.
Posted by Violent Femmes on Friday, September 25, 2015
Despite a brief hiatus from 2009 to 2013, when the trio broke up and two band members sued each other, the punk-rock outfit have toured pretty much non-stop for thirty years.
“We’re playing it by ear, seeing how things go,” bassist Brian Ritchie told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “We don’t have any plans not to continue. We’ll continue as long as it makes sense.” A performance at Coachella in 2013 signalled the reunion of the band.
The trio also recorded a four-song Record Store Day EP called Happy New Year this earlier in the year, the first single called Love Love Love.