The Violet Tone to perform at Puck

Their loud sound, polished with catchy choruses, purposefully interesting articulations and pleading lyrics are all the rage in the pop-radio scene that puts a shiny spin on indie rock.

Yet, they’ve got a shine that’s all their own.

Meet the Violet Tone – an alternative rock group based out of Philadelphia that is on regional tour to promote its debut EP, “Neon Kings & Violet Queens.”

The band recently completed the album in Los Angeles with Grammy-nominated Luke Tozour, a producer and engineer who’s worked with Katy Perry, Pink and Mika, among others.

Tomorrow night, you can catch the band at Puck in Doylestown, Pa.

Band members include Scott Cumpstone on rhythm guitar, Brian DiBiagio on lead guitar, Josh O’Neill on vocals and lead guitar, Steve Lynn on bass and Mike De Castro on drums.

Seem like a lot of strings?

That’s part of what helps the band get its high-energy appeal, says O’Neill, acoustic guitarist and a founding member of the group.

“Three guitars give us tons of flexibility with parts. It definitely contributes to our big sound,” he says. “By adding and taking away some of the strings at certain sections it gives the music dynamics. If everything is big, then there’s really nowhere to go, but if you work different dynamics and make certain sections small, a song can really take off.” Off the band’s EP, “Lights” is a fitting example of how the Violet Tone plays off the strings by keeping the verses rather simple and then bringing in gusto with heaving-hitting strings during the chorus.

The Violet Tone formed two years ago, O’Neill says, but the journey through “band hood” hasn’t always been easy.

Twenty years ago, it used to be that making music professionally meant you were part of a label. Producers picked you up and sold you off to audiences by the thousands, all eager to buy a record, and later in life, a CD.

The internet has changed that drastically. Now, it seems that anyone can be part of a band, releasing their music from a basement at home or from a college dorm room.

The Violet Tone isn’t hiding in any basement. The band members are balancing the creative aspect of music with the business side – a feat that has become increasingly more complicated for any artist over the last decade.

Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere Video and Lyrics

This is not the official video, sorry guys, it’s a video put together by a fan, and it’s pretty good. :)

The music video for “Radio Nowhere”, directed by Thom Zimny, was released to Amazon.com on September 4, 2007. It consists mostly of Springsteen and the E Street Band lip-synching the song in a darkened studio, interspersed with filmed Manhattan street scenes and a few shots of a recent promotional photograph of Springsteen being torn. Of the E Streeters, Scialfa, Van Zandt, Weinberg, and Lofgren get the most face time in the video; quasi-member Soozie Tyrell is absent altogether.

Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere Lyrics

I was trying to find my way home

But all I heard was a drone

Bouncing off a satellite

Crushing the last lone American night

(Chorus:)

This is Radio Nowhere

Is there anybody alive out there

This is Radio Nowhere

Is there anybody alive out there

I was sitting around a dead dial

Just another lost number in a file

Dancing down a dark hole (some say it’s �Been in some kind of dark cove�)

Just a-searching for a world with some soul

(Chorus)

I just wanna hear some rhythm

I just wanna hear some rhythm

I just wanna hear some rhythm

I just wanna hear some rhythm

I want a thousand guitars

I want pounding drums

I want a million different voices

Speaking in tongues

(Chorus)

I was driving through the misty rain

Just a-searching for a mystery train

Bopping through the wild blue

Trying to make a connection with you

(Chorus)

I just wanna hear some rhythm

I just wanna hear some rhythm

I just wanna hear your rhythm

I just wanna hear your rhythm

Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere Song Info

Released August 28, 2007 Producer Brendan O’Brien

The single was released ahead of the album, initially leaking to the Internet on August 22, 2007, to satellite radio the following day and to regular radio the day after that. Scott and Todd played the song twice on the morning of August 24th, 2007 on New York City’s 95.5 WPLJ-FM. After the first airing, a disgruntled Sony representative called in ordering them not to play the song again.

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