Vendetta Valentine Biography & Awards

Billboard requires a JavaScript enabled browser to get the full experience

Artist Info

Formed

2006 Santa Ana, CA

Members

Daniel Powell, Thomas Monroe, Anna Judd

Biography

Los Angeles new wave revivalists Vendetta Valentine blend punky guitar rock and needly synth pop in a manner akin to contemporaries like the Epoxies and You Say Party! We Say Die! as well as old-school acts like Berlin and Missing Persons. Formed in early 2006 in the L.A. suburb of Santa Ana, the trio of singer Thomas Monroe (also a published author with a science fiction novel called Neeva's Gift to his credit), guitarist and drum machine programmer Daniel Powell, and keyboardist Anna Judd named their band after a comic character developed by Judd, who moonlights as the band's artist in residence � la Gorillaz's Jamie Hewlett. Barely six months after the trio formed, Vendetta Valentine won a Best Unsigned Bands contest sponsored by KROQ, Los Angeles' longest-running alternative rock radio station, which put their first single, "Let It Burn," into rotation as a result. A five-song self-titled EP featuring that song was released in the summer of 2006 on the band's own label. A full-length debut, There's Nothing Safe, followed in the spring of 2008, reprising all five songs from the EP along with eight new tracks. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide