Date Signed: October 2023
Label: Hopeless Records
Band Members: Rena Lovelis, lead vocals, bass; Nia Lovelis, drums, keyboards, vocals; Casey Moreta, guitar, vocals
Type of Music: Rock, Pop
Management: Gina Orr - [email protected]
Booking: Zach Falkow - UAA
Publicity: Brandy Robidoux - [email protected]
Web: heyviolet.com
A&R: Eric Tobin - [email protected]
Sisters Rena and Nia Lovelis are veterans of this thing they call “show” and “business.” Their entry into the industry began in 2008 when they both were still in middle school. Their debut musical venture was an all-female hard rock band called Cherri Bomb. Over the years they went through various versions of that band, with several personnel changes, alterations in sound and a rebranding as Hey Violet in 2015.
The band cut their teeth on past affiliations with major labels like Hollywood and Capitol Records. After a two or three year hiatus they are back with a strong video and single in “I Should Call My Friends.” It’s an up-tempo pop-rocker that puts the emphasis on camaraderie and fun. “It felt like that was a really good song to come back swinging with,” says Rena. “It was a way to say we’re back and we wanna get reconnected. Personally I’ve dealt with a lot of mental health stuff and I think it’s really important to call myself out that I’ve been isolating a lot. But it’s good to connect with fans again and give them new music.”
Hey Violet’s current signing journey found a comfortable and family-friendly partnership with Hopeless Records. Drummer Nia befriended a musician closely associated with the label. This fellow musician liked Hey Violet’s music and provided an introduction to Hopeless Records’ A&R rep Eric Tobin.
“Eric really seemed to get what we were about,” says Rena. “Often A&R reps would rather try and mold an artist into what they want rather than what the artist wants to be. Eric listened to us. It was like we were dating or something (laughs). He said he wanted us on their label but didn’t push us about it. They just wanted to support us.”
At this time the trio was reconfiguring a career plan and direction. But after some minor deliberation they took that fresh leap of faith. “It’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made,” says Rena. “We’ve gotten support from them that we haven’t experienced before. We have a lot of freedom in designing album covers, video treatments and how we wanna create our songs. It feels really, really good to put the reins on what we’re doing and steer it with a family behind us that really supports us.”
Hey Violet is planning to release a follow-up single soon, with a new album coming in early 2024.
