Goth outfit The March Violets originally formed in Leeds back in 1981 and were labelmates of The Sisters Of Mercy. The March Violets impressive post-punk legacy stretches from 1980s BBC John Peel Sessions, indie chart success with 1982’s ‘Grooving In Green’, 1984’s ‘Snake Dance’ and 1986’s ‘Turn To The Sky’ (as featured in the John Hughes movie, ‘Some Kind Of Wonderful’), all the way to the 21st century reunion, headlining festivals across Europe and the USA and storming Record Store Day 2021 with sell-out double album ‘Big Soul Kiss’.
As momentum and interest rose The March Violets for the first time released their full back catalogue, with worldwide distribution via Jungle Records….
‘The Big Soul Kiss’ double LP was released for Record Store Day 2021 and sold out in one day. It features twenty-three tracks recorded for John Peel and other BBC programmes over six separate sessions broadcast by the BBC between 1982 and 1986 and includes nine unreleased songs.
‘The Big Soul Kiss’ tracklisting:
Side One:
‘Radiant Boys’
‘Steam’
‘1 2 I Love You’
‘Grooving In Green’
‘Crow Bab’
‘The Undertow’
Side Two:
‘Strangehead’
‘Slow Drip Lizard’
‘Walk Into The Sun’
‘Deep’
‘Kill The Delight’
Side Three:
‘Big Soul Kiss’
‘Lights Go Out’
‘Love Hit’
‘Don’t Take It Lightly’
‘Electric Shades’
‘The Face Of The Dragonfly’
Side Four:
‘Snake Dance’
‘Deep’
‘High Times’
‘Close To The Heart’
‘South Country’
‘Avalanche Of Love’
If you missed out, it is now available in yummy yellow vinyl, find it HERE.
‘Play Loud Play Purple – The Complete Singles 1982-85 And More’ double LP contains every single the band ever released on the Rebirth and Merciful Release labels between ‘82 and ‘85, in their original 7” versions. Plus three tracks from this century to bring The March Violets story up to date.
‘Play Loud Play Purple’ tracklisting:
Side A:
‘Radiant Boys’
‘Religious As Hell’
‘Fodder’
‘Children On Stun’
‘Bon Bon Babies’
‘Grooving In Green’
Side B:
‘Steam’
‘Crow Baby’
‘1 2 I Love You’
‘Long Pig’
‘Snake Dance’
‘It’s Hot’
Side C:
‘Slow Drip Lizard’
‘Walk Into The Sun’
‘Lights Go Out’
‘Essence’
‘Deep’
Side D:
‘Eldorado’
‘Electric Shades’
‘Cut Down Pretty’
‘Road Of Bones’
‘Mortality’
This album can be located HERE.
‘The Palace Of Infinite Darkness’ 5 CD boxset includes all the tracks on both vinyl compilations plus extended single versions and also 2 CD’s of unreleased demo and live rarities. The tracklisting and information on this release can be found HERE.
The March Violets current lineup features founder-members (from 1981) Rosie Garland (performer, poet and author) and Tom Ashton (guitarist, producer and studio owner) and they are joined by William Faith (musician and vocalist with Faith & the Muse, Conflict and the Bellwether Syndicate) who first joined back in 2015.
They are working on their next new album release, but before then the trio have announced that they are building onwards from their 40 year legacy by playing 15 live concert dates in support of this and their back catalogue releases. 12 of these are in Europe and the remaining trio of concerts will be happening in the UK. On 28th October they are very special guests at ‘Tomorrows Ghosts Festival’ in Whitby, and two days before that they will be playing at Facebar in Reading, and the day before that on Wednesday 25th October they will be playing Chalk in Pool Valley, Brighton. They will be joined at the Brighton gig by The Rose Of Avalanche, one of Leeds’ finest bands and purveyors of such beauties as ‘L.A Rain’, ‘Always There’ etc.. The band performed last year with The Mission and they too have released vinyl of the BBC sessions – Find it HERE.
Tickets for The March Violets concert in Brighton at Chalk on Wednesday 25th October can be purchased HERE and HERE.
