You may not know their name, but odds are that if you live for The WB on Tuesday nights, you're familiar with their music. Darling Violetta, a dark pop/hypnotic rock band, first broke into the Buffy universe when they were seen performing their songs "Cure" and "Blue Sun" at The Bronze during the "Faith, Hope, and Trick" episode; their return to the fold occurred when they composed the haunting opening theme for spinoff series, Angel. But their exposure to the public is not limited to Buffy fans. They've also contributed songs to the soundtracks for the films Burn Hollywood Burn and No Rest For the Wicked.
What's unique about Darling Violetta is that they have managed to successfully blend dark gothic sounds with pop and rock, and the band's style combined with the work of electric cellist Gerri Sutyak produces a sound that's both wistful and catchy. With the successful independent release of their first album, BathWaterFlowers, and a new album, THE KILL YOU EP to be released soon, band members Jymm Thomas (guitar), Cami Elen (vocals), Steve McManus (drums), and Atto Attie (bass) talked with The 11th Hour about their musical careers and their time on TV.
11th Hour: When was the band formed?
Cami: A couple of years ago, Jymm and I met and started working on songs and playing as a duo in coffee houses and at open mike nights. Once we felt we had some good ones we started looking for other musicians to complete our line-up.
Atto: Then I found them! [grins]
Jymm: Steve was the final piece to the puzzle.
Steve: I've never met these people before and I'll attest to that under oath.
11th: Why did you decide to bring on an electric cellist rather than the traditional second guitarist?
Jymm: We'd been trying to find a second guitarist for a while and having no luck with our search. Steve met a cellist who was interested in doing some rock and suggested that we try it out. That person didn't really work out but we stuck with the idea because of the instrument's versatility. Plus, I'm too insecure about having competition to work with another guitar player! [grins]
Atto: Plus, when you have two guitarists you're required to do Iron Maiden stage moves and we'll have none of that.
11th: Were you guys band geeks in high school?
Cami: I guess I was a theatre geek, plus I played sports and participated in student government.
Steve: You were a band geek in you played clarinet, not drums.
Jymm: I played bass drum in marching band and electric bass in concert band. So YES.
Atto: I just played Iron Maiden songs in a heavy metal band.
11th: How did everybody know everybody else, pre-Violettas? Did some of you know each other as kids, or did you meet while club-hopping and playing with other bands?
Jymm: We all met via ads in an L.A. music magazine as unlikely as that may seem if you've ever tried to find musicians that way. Cami answered mine, Atto answered ours, then came Steve.
