Violent Femmes, folk punk leaders, plan comeback album

The Violent Femmes, who helped shape the alternative rock scene with their blend of folk and punk, have announced their first album in more than 15 years.

The Milwaukee-based band, led by singer and guitarist Gordon Gano, said late Thursday that the new album, "We Can Do Anything," would come out on March 4.

The Violent Femmes plan to mark the release with an extensive tour of New Zealand and Australia, where the group has long enjoyed a strong following.

The band did not offer clues to the music but earlier this year released an EP that largely stayed true to the group's trademark style of high-energy acoustic rock.

The Violent Femmes found an underground and eventually mainstream following in the 1980s with hits such as "Blister in the Sun," "Add It Up" and "Gone Daddy Gone."

Taking the hard musical edge of folk rock, but with lyrics more likely to concentrate on sex than politics, the Violent Femmes were a major influence on the alternative rock scene that emerged in the early 1990s.

But the band has not released a full-length album since the commercially disappointing "Freak Magnet" in 2000.

The trio broke up in 2007 when Gano, the main songwriter, sold the rights to "Blister in the Sun" to the Wendy's fast food chain for a commercial.

Bassist Brian Ritchie angrily accused the vegetarian Gano of selling out and said that neither of them ate "garbage" like the hamburgers.

The band reunited in 2013 with festival performances that included Coachella in California and Summerfest in Milwaukee.