Joel and Amber decided to leave their jobs with the wealthy businessman, and immediately after, began work on the first record by their newly-formed band, The Violet Lights. And soon after finishing the record, in early 2012 they decided, sink or swim, to begin touring North America without financial backing and with the responsibility of seeing after nearly every aspect of the endeavor themselves, which has led to quite a bit of sleeping in their minivan, showering at truck stops, selling most of their possessions, giving up their apartment, and generally getting by and making things work by whatever means necessary. That first record is Sex & Sound, and The Violet Lights played more than 100 shows in support of it by early 2013.

Joel describes the sound of the record as a reflection of what the band has gone through to this point, "I wanted to capture the impetus and experience of moving out to L.A. from the relative calm and security of the Midwest. Amber and I have dealt with a lot of discontent, numbness, frustration, anger, and fear in pursuit of success as The Violet Lights and within our personal relationship. I knew that there had to be loud and destructive passages, but wanted to temper them with enough melodic elements to make the record enjoyable and to represent our belief that the struggles in our life or any life are not without purpose and meaning, no matter how disparate things may seem."

Band BIOGRAPHY continued →