The Violent Femmes have a long history with New York (Brian Ritchie lived here for a decade, Gordon Gano longer than that, and Brian Viglione now) and a longer history making distinctive music – some visceral, some cerebral – always honest. The veteran proto-alt-rockers tore it up at Rough Trade on Tuesday after Gano and Ritchie spoke about the new stuff and the new guy, drummer Brian Viglione. Their new EP is titled Happy New Year.
