“Be Sweet To Me” (Aurora/Republic Records)
By Eleni P. Austin
A few years ago, it was startling to discover the Foo Fighters had been labelled “Dad Rock.” Yikes! Dave Grohl first made his bones on the Washington D.C. Punk scene and of course, became famous pounding the kit for Punky Seattle three-piece Nirvana. In 1994, when their frontman, Kurt Cobain suddenly exited stage left, Nirvana screeched to a halt. A year later, Dave was fronting his new outfit, Foo Fighters. Perhaps that paternal appellation feels more appropriate now that Dave’s daughter, Violet, has just released her debut record, “Be Sweet To Me.”
Violet is the eldest of Dave and Jordyn Grohl’s three daughters, which includes Harper and Ophelia. Born in 2006, she turned 20 a few weeks ago, ahead of her album release. Apparently, she began singing as soon as she could speak. She learned piano as a kid, and her teacher taught her any Beatles song she wanted to learn. After that, she picked up ukulele and later guitar. Early musical touchstones included Bjork, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, Cocteau Twins and Amy Winehouse.
Violet started writing songs as a form of journaling, and she practically grew up on the road. She had her own walkie-talkie and assisted the tour manager by handing out per diems to the Foos and the road crew, then brought her dad a towel after the show. At age 12, her dad beckoned her onstage and she performed Adele’s “When We Were Young.” A couple years later, just ahead of the pandemic, she joined the surviving members of Nirvana onstage and sang “Heart-Shaped Box.” Around the same time, she began performing Jazz songs with David Bowie’s longtime pianist, Mike Garson, in L.A. bars
In 2021, Violet and Dave recorded a pitch-perfect version of X’s Punk Rock classic, “Nausea.” The following year at the tribute concert for late Foo Fighter drummer Taylor Hawkins, she delivered a tender rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” In 2023, she appeared on the Foo Fighters single, “Show Me How.” Two years later, when Nirvana played a surprise four-song set for L.A.’s Fire Aid concert, she was on-hand, joining her dad, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, acquitting herself nicely on “All Apologies.” Aligning herself with producer Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Kim Gordon, Lil Yachty), they hunkered down in the studio with co-producer Anthony Paul Lopez and a simpatico coterie of musicians that they likened to The Wrecking Crew (a legendary loose collective of studio players that included Tony Tedesco, Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye, Leon Russell and Glen Campbell). The result is Be Sweet To Me.
The record delivers a one-two punch with the opening pair of tracks, “Thum” and “595”. The former careens out of the speakers at warp speed, a thick slab of distorto guitars, search-and-destroy bass and a pummeling, rattle-trap beat. Violet’s sugary swoon prowls the melody’s perimeter on the verse and grinds through the chorus. Self-soothing lyrics like “Self help me, self help myself chew my bitter fingers, can’t help me, can’t help myself,” display a measure of anxious fragility that any nail-biter can identify, as she notes: “If you know, you know, you know…you know.” Fuzz-crusted guitars hurtle through the break, succeeding in momentarily redirecting the angst.
The latter opens tentatively with meandering guitars, thrumming bass and a kick-drum beat, rather quickly, Violet dirties up the pretty with the slash and crunch that punctuate each verse. Lyrics take their inspiration from a vintage t-shirt that advertised a phone-sex hotline: “Up the skirt, cock it first, boy you got bad timing, I’ll be your 1-900 g-spot baby, 595 on the line, you won’t last.” On the break, swerving guitars give way skittery-sweet riffs and a stop-start cantilevered beat.
Despite her musical ancestry, it’s clear that Violet doesn’t feel any obligation to remain confined or defined by her Grunge/Alt.Rock heritage. Consequently, this record speed-shifts through a plethora of genres. Take “Mobile Star,” an ethereal soundscape of Mellotron, bloopy synths, tinkly toy piano, and blissed-out bass cocoon Violet’s gauzy vocals. Wispy, hypnagogic lyrics limn that moment of threshold consciousness: “Floating between awake and a dream, visions of peace, I tried to sleep/I drew a skull, back of my head, as we begin, so shall we end.”
That quietly recedes, signaling the sonic maelstrom of “Often Others.” Buzzy guitars ignite and are quickly matched by rapid-fire riff-age, treble-heavy bass and a staccato drum salvo. Violet’s darkly hypnotic vocals shroud cryptic, vaguely macabre lyrics that chart the delicate dance between emotion and corporeality: “Bird house burnt out, light as a feather, stiff as a board, I like weather warm.” The instrumental break offers a rollicking roller coaster ride. The menacing backbeat accelerates before powering down to just some spectral electric riffs and then roaring back to life with stunning heaviosity before finally stopping on a dime.
Admittedly, “Applefish” takes a page from the quiet/loud playbook that The Pixies wrote and Nirvana popularized. Willowy acoustic underpinnings brace Violet’s quavery croon as she unspools desolate lyrics like “Black crow, fix of dawn, kiss of death, siren song, walk alone stranded on the shore.” Each verse is punctuated by sludge-y downstroke guitars, knotty bass lines and a bludgeoning percussive assault. Her waifish vocals finally intertwine with the instrumental goo-goo muck on the last verse (same as the first): “No past to escape to, greetings from the other side, empty road humming by, friends across the river, pull me from the water, return denied.” A stray guitar solo nose-dives emitting a high-pitched yowl as Violet parachutes toward a soft landing.
This is a great record, front to back, but a few tracks stand out from the pack. Take “Big Memory.” A stickity backbeat and vroom-y bass lines anchor the low end as a phalanx of guitars ricochet across the melodic melancholy. Confessional lyrics navigate the rocky shoals of a romance long past its expiration date: “Do you want to know what’s in my head, if I, if I could keep you inside, if I believe you, I know you’d eat me alive, if I, if I could keep you inside, a big memory too big to hide.” Jaggy, feedback-drenched guitars synch up on the break, ahead of the rueful bridge: “Riptide pulling me back in, let go and let the end begin again.” As the track winds down, she is ready to chart a new course: “Forgive me if I must forget you, I don’t need to try, to try, stay in the quiet where I left you, a big memory too hard to hide.”
“Cool Buzz” is Mosh Pit ready, anchored by twitchy guitars, tensile bass and a jackhammer beat. The tempo quickly downshifts and Violet drops in to tell us what condition her condition is in. Trenchant lyrics take aim at the hypocrisy and misogyny that continues to surround the Hardcore Punk scene: “Shot my favorite arrow through the mind that’s narrow, narrow mind, narrow mind, crushed him bad habit, lights are out, hardcore heartbreaker stay tough.” Frenetic guitars, wicked bass lines and a Jazzy, contrapuntal beat spark and pinwheel beneath the verses, the tempo revs up on the chorus as slash and burn riff-age ride roughshod over a triple-time tattoo across the hell-for-leather outro.
Meanwhile, “Bug In The Cake” is plenty perfect. Squally shards of guitar collide with throbbing bass lines and a blitzkrieg beat. Violet’s mien is blasé as tart lyrics recount the supernatural happenings she experienced when she moved in to her late Grandmother’s house: “Smile in the dark now, I’m allowed, live how I like with no one around, turn the TV off so it comes back on, come on, Grandma, play me your favorite song/Soul slumber party with my deep fake friends, it’s not a bummer babe, summer never ends, dance in place with the furnace on, when it’s time to party turn the TV off.” Skronky guitars jackrabbit through the break, offering up a kaleidoscope of riffs, feedback-y one minute, sinewy and mercurial the next, bookended by caroming bass and a hopscotch beat. The arrangement nearly catapults out of control before course-correcting as the phantasmagoric proves benign: “There’s a bug in the cake & a crack in the cup, still a bottle in my bath get my spirit drunk, killer party girl, get my bb gun, know you like to laugh, girl, we’re having fun, soul slumber party with my ole best friend…when it’s time to party turn the TV off.” Equal parts muscular and magnificently hook-driven, it’s pretty damn perfect.
The action slows on two cuts. “Pool Of My Dreams” is lush and somewhat torpid. Liquid guitar, wash over synthesized bass loops, ambient keys and muted percussion. Violet’s gossamer voice drifts across lyrics that unfold like a narcoleptic haiku: “Flowers sleep beneath my feet, cradle gently underneath me, spaced out, spaced out.” Then there’s “Last Day I Loved You,” drowsy guitars partner with agile bass lines and a hulking beat. Lyrics find Violet gently exorcising a charismatic ex: “Friends of friends, I’m a shadow on the wall, catch my breath in a pool of alcohol, in a vision of my own control, it’s hard to grip what’s hard to hold.”
The record closes with “Plastic Couch.” Strummy acoustic guitars sidle between mournful, electric chords, shivery bass and a molasses-thick backbeat. Violet wraps her keening croon around lyrics that paint a vivid portrait of loneliness, vulnerability and grief: “Cornered in a room, paint cracks on the wall, feeling sad and dull, but still too alive, dust likes to gather here, I’m clean but never clear.” As the arrangement expands, wistful guitar licks are supplanted by a thunderous, percussive salvo, dissonant guitars and sandblasted bass. As the dust settles, the listener is left with a faded chiaroscuro. A fierce finish to a deft debut.
Quite possibly, a few cranky misogynists and jealous incels might characterize Violet as a Nepo-Baby, and yeah, she readily acknowledges that her last name got her foot in the door. But it was her undeniable talent that gave her a leg up and got her signed to a label. This isn’t Alexis Rose crushing “A Little Bit Alexis,” (although that would be so baddass). Nor is it some whimsical Kelly Osborne Pop-Star fuckery. She may be a Rock Star scion, but Be Sweet To Me confirms that Violet’s definitely got the goods.
