ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO, Gordon Gano announced that Violent Femmes would no longer write or record new music together. They'd continue to perform when booked, but the lively acoustic punk-folk juggernaut would cease to progress. It was a dreary portent of what the following years would hold for the pride of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The rift deepened in 2007, when bassist Brian Ritchie filed a lawsuit against Gano for signing over rights to their omnipresent classic "Blister in the Sun" for a Wendy's commercial. After going on hiatus in 2009, the band seemed destined to disappear forever.
But then Coachella came calling, which led to Violent Femmes' momentous reunion in 2013—with Dresden Dolls' Brian Viglione replacing founding drummer Victor DeLorenzo—and eventually they resumed playing live dates together. Still, the prospect of the band recording again seemed highly unlikely.
"We were interested in it," says Gano, "but we had to find a way to either resolve or set aside enough of our differences to unmake that decision."