Violent Femmes on tour with old, new favorites

When it comes to unlikely reunions, Guns N' Roses and The Eagles have nothing on the Violent Femmes.

That band looked to have permanently separated in 2009 after the better part of 29 years together after bassist Brian Ritchie first criticized singer-guitarist Gordon Gano for allowing the band's song “Blister in the Sun” to be used in a Wendy's commercial, and then followed with a wide-ranging lawsuit against Gano, seeking half ownership in the band's music and access to royalty accounting records, among other things.

But here we are in 2016, and not only are Gano and Ritchie back together in the Violent Femmes, but last April the group released a four-song EP, “Happy New Year,” and has followed that with a full-length album, “We Can Do Anything.” They'll be at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale on June 14.

So what happened? In a word, Coachella. In 2013, their long-time booking agent told them he has an “incredible offer” from the California festival.

“It was very difficult, and we almost didn't do it, but somehow we managed to do it,” Gano says. “And in the doing of it, I think we all realized that we sounded good. ... And people loved it. ... We have all these differences, but when we play the music, the music itself is fun, and we play it well and we enjoy that.”

So Gano and Ritchie, who formed the Violent Femmes with drummer Victor DeLorenzo in 1980 in Milwaukee, decided to play a few more festivals in 2013. DeLorenzo bowed out later that summer and was replaced by former Dresden Dolls drummer Brian Viglione.

Now, Gano and Ritchie, along with John Sparrow on percussion, are out on tour — joined on many dates by multi-instrumentalist Jeff Hamilton and at least some members of their long-time horn section, the Horns of Dilemma.

Several of the new songs figure to be in the set, as well as fan favorites from earlier albums.

“We always play a lot from our first album,” Gano says. “That's an album which is the overwhelming popular record for people of many generations at this point, and it's fun to play those songs and people love them so much. So we'll always have a good amount from that.”

Alan Sculley is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.