Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies is an indie

Indie pop

Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...

 sunshine pop

Sunshine pop

Sunshine pop is a subgenre of pop music originating in the United States, mainly the state of California, in the mid-1960s. Sunshine pop, by nature, is cheerful and upbeat music which is characterised by warm sounds, prominent vocal harmonies, as well as sophisticated productions...

/garage rock

Garage rock

Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

 band formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. They are part of the neo-psychedelia

Neo-psychedelia

Neo-psychedelia is music that emulates or is heavily influenced by the psychedelic music of the 1960s. It began to be revived among British post-punk bands of the later 1970s and early 1980s and was taken up by groups including bands of the Paisley Underground and Madchester scenes, as well as...

 movement in the Chapel Hill music scene. The band consists of singer-song writer Amanda Brooks(lead guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, lead vocals), Karen Blanco (organ, electric piano

Electric piano

An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...

), Cathleen Keyser (bells

Bell (instrument)

A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...

, glockenspiel

Glockenspiel

A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...

, tambourine

Tambourine

The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

), Matt L'Esperance (drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

), and Alex Maiolo

Alex Maiolo

Alex Maiolo is a musician, writer, and health care reform advocate who lives in the Chapel Hill / Carrboro area of North Carolina.- Activism :...

 (bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

).

History

Upon moving to Chapel Hill, Brooks first met Karen Blanco in 2005, and Cathleen Keyser in 2006. Keyser learned how to play the glockenspiel, hand bells, and various other instruments. Later in 2007, after several line-up changes, Alex Maiolo was added on bass guitar. The then current drummer's abrupt withdrawal led to a quick cessation of studio recording and live performances. Alex Maiolo recruited his friend Doug Edmunds on drums.

The band gained momentum after several performances at Cat's Cradle, The Local 506, and Slim's Downtown in downtown Raleigh, in which they unintentionally impressed their future Chapel Hill indie record label, Holidays for Quince, into signing them and distributing their first album.

In 2008, Edmunds announced that he would be leaving the band to focus on his solo work but has filled in with the band since then. Currently Matt L'Esperance is the regular drummer.

Influences

The band is influenced by the Kinks, the Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

, Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

, earlier Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

, and the The Zombies

The Zombies

The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...

.

Track listing

1. Can You Dig It?
2. Candyland
3. Make My Day
4. Serva Ad Manum
5. Double Axe

EP I was recorded by the band and mixed by Brian Paulson

Brian Paulson

Brian Paulson is a musician, record producer and audio engineer from Minnesota, best known for recording albums by Slint, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt and Wilco....

. The first song of the EP, "Can You Dig It?", has attracted attention via Myspace

Myspace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 and various music blogs such as notable music blog Idolator.com, which announced "Can You Dig It" as their song of the year in 2007. The magazines Curve (magazine)

Curve (magazine)

Curve is a lesbian magazine in the United States. It covers news, politics, social issues, and includes celebrity interviews and stories on entertainment, pop culture, style, travel, and a website that hosts an internet forum focusing on lesbian issues, active since 2000.The magazine was first...

 and Paste (magazine)

Paste (magazine)

Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...

, and blogs such as Eardrumsmusic.com and Indyweek.com agree.