Today we’d like to introduce you to Violette.
Violette, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been singing since I was a little girl but started writing more seriously around 8 years ago. My parents had a wicked music selection that they raised me on. My father played a lot of classic Rock n’ Roll, Motown, and Doo Wop- lots of Beatles, lots of Roy Orbison, and the Platters. My mother loved Fleetwood Mac, Springstein, and old country westerns.
For the longest time, I never listened to the modern pop as a child because my parents thought the music of my time was “eh” for sake of a better word. I didn’t mind too much as I didn’t know anything different. My parents always called me their songbird as I was always making up songs about everything I was doing. I could have been making a PB & j and something magical would have hit me and have to be voiced. haha
About a year and a half ago, I took a gamble and moved to Encinitas on a whim in search of a new life. I know it’s cliche, but its totally true. I feel like something definitely shifted and “up leveled” when I moved to San Diego.I found myself getting involved in more activism specifically water related issues going on around world and more intimately, my country.This kind of translated into me naturally directing my a lot of my songwriting towards a conversation about the water.
In the midst of all this, I met Angus. He had just moved to Encinitas as well, brand new from his home in Canada.
Angus has a lot of experience in the music industry as a singer/songwriter, educator, among other things. He came down to produce music and artists with a message and do his part in positively impacting the world around him through music, and it’s pretty serendipitous that we met during this time. Longer story short, we started playing together (writing, jamming) and very quickly realized we were put together in this time and place for a larger purpose. We decided to spend our lives together and committed ourselves to let our music be the energy of our life, and this is how Miss Violette started. We’ve been “officially” playing together as Miss Violette for pretty much exactly a year now.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think as far as obstacles and challenges there is kind of a consistent list of them that all artists and musicians face today. The basics of growing up and finding my voice, playing little gigs to even see if I was good enough, haha, and over the years just grinding and trying to get funding for various projects, get more exposure, etc. It is a grind for musician out there these days! But definitely the biggest obstacle I’ve faced in my life and as a musician was losing my mother when I was 12. She was my biggest fan, still is and always will be, and was a huge supporter of me growing as an artist.
Her passing was a lot to deal with as I grew up and it took a lot sometimes to keep myself motivated and still believe in myself without her physically there to encourage me.
Having Angus in my life has been a huge support, and I’ve found myself more motivated and confident in our music and message together than I ever have been. We still deal with the same challenges of getting our music “out there” but having each other has allowed us to share the load a bit and focus in on what we are really good at doing. We make a pretty good team!
Please tell us about Miss Violette. Anything exciting in the works?
We really believe that the things we are saying with our songs, the way that we are delivering them, and the value that we hold in being true and authentic to our sound and do something positive with our music set us apart a bit. I mean, we are not “set apart” completely by any means, there are SO many amazing musicians and bands out there playing great music and playing it with purpose, and we definitely want to be part of that club! We are pretty excited about the momentum we’ve seen build in just a short time of playing together.
In April, we launched a 20-day Kickstarter to fund the release of our first EP and music video to our single, “Black Snake” and successfully completed the campaign.As of July 16th, our first EP titled, Black Snake and music video will be available on all music platforms. Crowdfunding is pretty challenging and requires a big time and energy investment, so we are pretty proud of ourselves but especially our family, friends, and fans, that showed up to support us. We are so excited to share our first gifts of recorded sonic expression to the world.
We have already started pre-production on what could very possibly be a full album in the next year, and are just really excited to get out on the road and starting to share our music with as many amazing humans as possible.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory as a child would have been road tripping back to Montana to see our family during the springs and summers. I remember being fascinated with all the buffalo on the side of the road, all of the trees and creek beds. It felt so magical to me. When we got to Culbertson, there was always music playing at both grandparents houses.
I have a memory of my grandfather and my uncle Jim playing the fiddle, my grandmother playing the keys, me sitting in the center of it all as a little girl just watching them intently. There was berry picking out back in the garden, ice-cold tea, and always stray kittens underneath the porch that my little sister Ruby and I would look forward to playing with every spring. I love thinking back on the moments that have built me as a woman.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MissViolette.com
- Phone: 760.338.1637
- Email: info@MissViolette.com
- Instagram: @GrooveOnViolette
Image Credit:
Dana Trippe
Black and White photo with guitars: Mark Carter
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