The March Violets

History

The original band members met while at Leeds University in 1981. Tom Ashton and Laurence "Loz" Elliot played lead and bass guitar, while vocals were handled by both Simon "Detroit" Denbigh and Rosie Garland. Percussion was provided by a drum machine, a feature that a number of bands in the Leeds scene had in common. Fellow student Andrew Eldritch, lead singer of the Sisters of Mercy, released the band's debut 7", the four-track "Religious as Hell" EP, on his Merciful Release label in 1982. The band garnered positive reviews for this first release, which was soon followed in 1983 by a second Merciful Release single , "Grooving in Green".

At this point, the band established their own Rebirth record label to handle future releases. The "Crow Baby" single shortly followed, and repeated the pattern of good reviews and a good showing in the UK Indie Chart. On the title track of the next single, "Snake Dance", additional female vocals were provided by Cleo Murray and bass by Steve McIntosh. Garland then left and did not perform on their two final independent releases, "Walk Into the Sun" and "Deep". The March Violets shifted towards a more pop-oriented sound, and Denbigh left the band in early February 1985 (he went on to form The Batfish Boys and D-Rok).

The band then signed to major label London Records, adding drummer Andy Tolson to the lineup. The subsequent "Turn to the Sky" single was released on London, although still bearing the Rebirth imprint. Reviews were disparaging, and despite being featured on the soundtrack to the film Some Kind of Wonderful, the band failed to find a new audience and broke up in 1987.

Following the split, Ashton performed with Hard Rain and long-running goth band Clan of Xymox, while Murray briefly fronted the Lovecraft in the early 1990s.

Garland became a poet and cabaret performer, performing under the name Rosie Lugosi. Later, she was the victim of a stalker, with the court case featured as a lead article in the Manchester Evening News.

Reformation and subsequent activity

On 8 October 2007, The March Violets played a one-off reunion gig in Leeds with original members Denbigh, Garland and Ashton, plus Mat Thorpe standing in on bass. Although the show was a success, plans for further shows were put on hold during Garland's successful fight against throat cancer.

Once Garland was fully recovered, the March Violets restarted their live reformation with a secret warm-up show at Whitby in October 2010. On 13 November 2010, the March Violets played their first London show in 25 years, at O2 Academy Islington with new bassist Joanna Moy (previously of Screaming Banshee Aircrew).

In November 2010, the band embarked on a project to make their first proper album using Pledge Music (as opposed to the previous compilation albums of their singles and EPs). Over 600 fans pledged support and they raised 196% of the money required. In addition to raising money for the recording of the album, the band provided funds to charities (Friends of the Earth, Cloth Cat and Macmillan Cancer Support). During the recording of the album, they released several promotional items, including a digital-only promo release of "Tokyo Flow" and a remix of "Dandelion King", as well as a "gigeo" (a combination of a gig in Leeds where they shot the promo video with members of the audience) of "Dandelion King".

In 2012, they did a small live tour that showcased some of the new tracks.

The album Made Glorious was released in April 2013 as a digital download to all fans who had pledged support. The album primarily consisted of original tracks, with some material being remixes of tracks from the Trinity and Love Will Kill You EPs. Physical hard copies, T-shirts, an A4 booklet (featuring lyrics, artwork and photos) and posters were distributed to those who had pledged support in June 2013. Pledgers received a special 2CD pack featuring 12 additional remixes including two tracks not included on the original album ("Liam Hits Seven" and "Black Heart").

To support the new album, the band performed gigs in October and November 2013, and a short tour in April 2014, including a headlining slot at the Convergence 20 festival in Chicago, the first US appearance of the original lineup. This was followed by a return tour of the West Coast in June 2014.

In August 2015, the band confirmed that Moy had officially left the band. The following month, they announced an American tour with William Faith on bass, scheduled for October.

In early October, the band announced that after completing the Mortality tour, they would record a new album of the same name. It was funded via PledgeMusic and achieved 167% funding – 10% of the funding going to Macmillan Cancer Support. The initial version of the Mortality album was released for download on Christmas Day to those who had supported its development. This version consisted of 10 tracks; all except the title track were "re-forged" versions of older songs. Mars Williams of the Psychedelic Furs provided additional saxophone on several tracks. The full version of the album, released in 2016, included additional remixes and extended versions.

After releasing the first remix to pledgers in early 2016, Denbigh suffered a stroke and was hospitalised for a long period.

Singles and EPs