For those of you who have spent the last two weeks in a vacuum, the Violent Femmes are appearing tonight in the Duke Ellington Ballroom.

A limited number of seats are still available for the 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $10 for NIU students with I.D., and $15 for the general public.

The Violent Femmes have been a favorite of the college/underground music scene since the release of their debut album in 1983.

The group consists of Gordon Gano, guitar and vocals, Victor DeLorenzo, drums, and Brian Ritchie, bass guitar.

The Milwaukee trio formed in 1981. They were discovered playing outside of a Milwaukee drugstore by Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Hynde was so impressed by the group’s sound that she invited them to open a show for the Pretenders that evening.

The Violent Femmes’ sound is difficult to categorize. In an age of MTV-inspired homogenized regurgitation, they stand out by not following the “what’s hot at the moment” trend. Their sound could be called folk/gospel/punk (whatever that means).

The band relies heavily on acoustic instrumentation. Bassist Ritchie is a true master of his instrument and is worth the ticket price alone. Drummer Victor DeLorenzo plays a minimalistic kit of snare, cymbols, and several homemade percussion devices.

Vocalist/guitarist Gordon Gano, son of a Baptist minister and former Homecoming king of his high school, is also the group’s principal songwriter. Many of his songs deal with religious issues and inquiries. Listening to a Violent Femmes album is akin to having Gano in your living room baring his soul.

In a show last summer at the Milwaukee Summerfest, the group drew heavily from material on their first two albums, but was not afraid to explore improvisational territory during the course of the concert.

Opening for the Violent Femmes will be a DeKalb band—the Renfields.