Death Valley Girls – Street Venom (Deluxe Edition)

After releasing Under The Spell Of Joy last year, Death Valley Girls are set to reissues their 2014 debut album, Street Venom, as a deluxe edition on July 30th, so what constitutes a deluxe version? well to start with the album was originally released digitally and as a long sold out small run of cassettes, this time round the album is getting the vinyl treatment, on the tempting sounding variants, Satan’s Fingerprint, Full Moon Fever and Eye of the Beholder. Aside from the vinyl pressing you also get new artwork, the obligatory polish of a remaster and two bonus tracks, Gettin’ Hard and Electric High, that didn’t appear on the original release. Whilst that tells established fans, and those carefully untangling the cassette from their tape deck, everything they need to know, for those of us who became acquainted with the Death Valley Girls relatively recently what does their debut full length offer?

If recent trends in movies have taught us anything then it’s that you need to get the origin story established, and Street Venom is the first instalment of Death Valley Girls backstory, one that will be will swiftly be followed by a revisitation and remastering of their sophomore album, 2016’s Glow In The Dark. The origins of Death Valley Girls lie in front woman and multi instrumentalist Bonnie Bloomgarden moved to Los Angeles to get clean from drugs. As she sought positive distractions Bloomgarden found like minded souls to make music with, eventually hooking up with Rachel Orosco and siblings Larry and Patty Schemel, the latter formerly of Hole. The band did not rush, the therapeutic side of music did it’s work, and after a year of “messing around and jamming ‘cause we all needed to play and have something safe to do that wasn’t AA” Death Valley Girls entered the studio, somewhat perversely prior to appearing live, and Street Venom was born after two days in Station House Studios.

Whilst you can hear the echoes of what would become the Death Valley Girls current incarnation and sound, this is much darker, fuzzier and lurks in the dark space that the best garage bands call home. From the sublime opener, No Reason, this is an album of raw fuzzed out primitive garage punk that has that almost otherworldly edge, something that has become the trademark of the Death Valley Girls. Whilst there is a debt to those obscure sixties garage bands this is not a recreation of a bygone era. Tortured treble laced guitar solos haunt the album, as the does the fuzz and Bloomgarden’s distinctive vocals. The remaster brings a touch of refinement to the original mix and the bonus tracks don’t feel like an afterthought, they shouldn’t as both originally appeared on the band’s debut single, Electric High. This is the perfect time to discover the Death Valley Girls, and there’s no better place than the start at the beginning.

The Deluxe Edition of Street Venom can be pre-ordered via Suicide Squeeze Records