Illegal Foreign Object

I played in a few bands way back in the day. Nothing serious—just a bunch of friends getting together and playing garages, parties, schools, back yard tree stumps, gas station curbs, wherever, but we gave it our all and I always sang from my toes.

“Singing from your toes” is something I randomly said decades ago and just kept saying. For me, it’s always meant singing with everything you have—not necessarily as hard as you can, but with all your heart. Every last bit of it. Cutting yourself open and pouring out all over the music. Donny Hathaway, Keith Whitley, and Layne Staley sang from their fuckin’ toes. Chaka Khan sings from her toes. Willie Nelson has been singing from his toes for what feels like centuries.

So, when Violet Lea, bassist/singer of Madam Radar pleads “I wanna love ‘till I fall down” on “Early Bees”, the first track off her debut solo album by the same name, a listener with any empathic tendencies cannot help from feel the weight of a line so perfectly stated, especially if you know a little about Violet’s history.

Loving is hard, especially when someone has treated your love with so little care. When that person is the one staring back at you in the mirror, well, goddamn.

Songs like “Early Bees”, “Ashes”, “Pale Blue Dot”, and “I Promise I’m Okay” are heart-piercers. “Early Bees” is particularly poignant, as it deals with Violet’s escape from alcoholism. If these songs don’t make you pause and take stock of your own mental and emotional well-being, you have your shit together way more than I do.

“Swipe Right” is the complete other end of the spectrum—a funny, well, swipe at the online dating pool. Some advice from Lea: don’t dive in headfirst—it’s only about 3 inches deep (or long, if you’re a “big truck dumbfuck”). Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

The horns on “She’s A Lady” are “Sir Duke”-esque, while “Thoughts Of Me And You” is new love set to music. It’s a beautiful little ditty.

Early Bees is Violet Lea learning to love herself again. Self-loathing is a real fucker, and she hit the canvas (hard) several times, but she kept getting up, and she kept throwing haymakers. With Early Bees, she’s connected. It’s an album of collisions—love, pain, denial, and acceptance slamming up against anger, laughter, fear, and, ultimately, rebirth—which is what makes it such a thought-provoking listen. Every last one of us have scuffled, are scuffling, or will be scuffling before we know it. One of the few givens in life is that shit will get hard. Early Bees is a shining example of how good it can be if you just keep moving forward. Sometimes, one step is worth a thousand, and Violet’s willingness to walk through Hell to find her Heaven—for herself, principally, but also for those who love her—is as raw as it is real. That she’s also chosen to share her walk with the listener is heartening; you want that happy ending for her, and you come away awfully joyful that she’s found it.

Listen to it here. She’s singing from her toes.

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The Healthy Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) helps provide healthcare to ATX’s low-income working musicians. Maybe skip the guac the next time you go to Chipotle and throw a few bucks their way here instead.

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Hey, thanks for making it this far down! In case you weren’t aware, I have an eBay store. Give it a peep if you’re so inclined. There’s all kinds of stuff on there, from CDs to board games, books to stuffed animals, action figures, DVDs, disc golf, and just straight up weirdo shit. Ya never know, you might see something you dig. I add to it almost daily, so check it out! Or, ya know, buy a Substack subscription. Why the hell not? See ya down the road a piece.