Vendetta Valentine

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 à 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.