The local punk band Violet Ray’s roots go back to the punk rock scene of the ’90s. Frontman Billy Somerville used to sing in the Hooligans, a popular punk band that broke up in 2000. Just about 10 years ago, Somerville started Violet Ray with the intention of forming a politically charged band.
“We were similar to [punk rockers] TSOL,” says Somerville, whose group celebrates the release of its new album with a show on Friday, Oct. 23, at the Five O’Clock Lounge in Lakewood. “Their first record was political and then they went for a Dark Wave sound. We went for skate rock sound and have been skate rock since our first full-length album.”
Violet Ray started writing the songs for its latest album, Skate Gang, over a significant stretch of time. The band has become so obsessed with skate-themed songs, that local musician Nick Wolff and his band Gemini Lounge started caling them the Kings of Skate Rock, and the group uses the nickname on its flyers and merch.
“Some of these songs have been around since 2020 and others date back just a year,” Somerville says. “It’s a weird amalgamation of sounds. We’ve been breaking free from our punk rock roots and some of these songs have metal influence and some have a funk influence. We’ve been taking some influence from early Iron Maiden and some from skate rock bands like the Big Boys, who took heavily from funk. We’ve been broadening our song and even included synthesizers on songs like ‘Birdman,’ which is about [skate icon] Tony Hawk.”
The snotty, NOFX-like “Ripper Girl,” an album highlight, came to fruition as Somerville sought to pay tribute Abby, a young girl who used to skate with him and his crew.
“She was one of the toughest skateboarders I’ve ever skated with,” he says. “In the winter, we used to go snowboarding. She injured herself and later found out that she broke her tailbone and didn’t complain at all. The song is about gender inclusion and skateboarding. A lot of people will be down on female skateboarders and say they only get attention because they are female, but I say let the skateboarding do the talking.”
The album represents the band’s first release on Otitis Media Records (OMR), a Corpus Christi, TX-based label that gave the group to make the album on its own terms, even as Somerville struggled to recover from a diabetic coma that he says almost killed him.
“We had talks with a lot of traditional alternative and punk rock labels throughout the country, and they just didn’t seem like a good fit for us based on the current trends in alternative and punk rock music,” Somerville says. “We came across Otitis, which is run by Christopher Puryear, and he really understands the bond and history between skateboarding and surfing. We’re the only skate rock band on a surf rock label, so that is distinctive for us, but they have given us full creative control and time to get our music done and meet our deadlines.”
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