Violent Soho

Violent Soho are an Australian rock band from Mansfield, Queensland. Luke Boerdam, James Tidswell, Luke Henry and Michael Richards attend school together and form the band in 2004.

Early releases and touring

The band releases its debut EP, Pigs and T.V., in early 2006. It receives wide acclaim and is described at the time as a boisterous pop-rock take on the spirit of grunge. After that release, Violent Soho play shows in and around Brisbane, as well as in Sydney, Melbourne and elsewhere on the east coast. They tour with The Grates in 2007 and appear on the lineup for the 2008 St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.

Their first full-length album, We Don’t Belong Here, is released on Emergency Music in June 2008. They tour Australia after the album’s release, then play dates in London, New York and Los Angeles in November 2008 before returning to more Australian shows and summer festivals including Homebake, The Meredith Music Festival, Falls Festival and Southbound Festival. In 2008 they also tour with Faker and Grafton Primary while playing material from the album.

Label changes and later albums

In February 2009 the band announces a deal with Ecstatic Peace!, the label run by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, whom they admire. They say they plan to tour Australia and record in the United States, and mention a new album expanding on the material from We Don’t Belong Here. In December 2009 they announce a limited-edition EP with re-recorded versions of “Bombs Over Broadway” and “Son of Sam”, initially available only at US tour dates.

Violent Soho release a second, self-titled album on Ecstatic Peace! in March 2010. Gil Norton produces the record, and “Jesus Stole My Girlfriend” is issued as a single from it. The band plays the 2011 Laneway Festival, supports Jebediah on an Australian tour in mid-2011, and is chosen by Les Savy Fav for the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival in Minehead, England, which they co-curate in December 2011. They tour with Arctic Monkeys in early 2012.

The band is nominated for an ARIA Award in 2012. Around that period they are no longer signed to a label and have no financial support, before signing to the Melbourne-based independent label I Oh You. They release “Tinderbox” in August 2012 and follow it with the double single “Tinderbox”/“Neighbour Neighbour” in November 2012.

Hungry Ghost

Violent Soho record their next full-length album with Brisbane producer Bryce Moorhead at Moorhead’s Shed Studios. Hungry Ghost is announced in July 2013 for release on I Oh You, with “In The Aisle” as the first single. A video for “In The Aisle” shows a nude cyclist distributing flyers in Brisbane, and a later video for “Covered In Chrome” is filmed in Luke Henry’s house. Luke Boerdam says the song’s imagery is shaped by his reading about the Hungarian uprising of 1956. The album title is inspired by Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn, and Boerdam links its theme to consumer culture, masked reality, and outsider suburban characters.

Boerdam also says the band does not regard itself as fixed to a grunge label, despite being commonly described that way. Their sound is variously associated with grunge, alternative rock and indie rock.