VNV Nation

Awesome music. Concise lyrics. Empathic art.  VNV Nation are perhaps my favorite group, aside from Information Society (who benefit from a hefty dose of nostalgia). Here is my small tribute to a group who has meant so very much to me in the past few years, and who will always know what to say.

Members

Ronan Harris - electronics, lyrics, vocals
Mark Jackson - drums

Website

www.vnvnation.com

History

VNV (Victory Not Vengeance) was created in 1990 by Ronan Harris. The initial releases were two white-label 12" singles titled Body Pulse and Strength of Youth, both described by Ronan as "a collage of orchestral, electronic dance and soundtrack inspired pieces." The music from these releases is lost to antiquity, as Ronan's personal copies have long since vanished. Should anybody uncover original copies of these releases, I'm sure they could send their children through college by offering them on eBay.

1995 saw the first label release with Advance & Follow. Mark Jackson joined soon after (leaving behind Faith Regime), and they began to tour with Nitzer Ebb during the Ebbhead tour.

They released Praise the Fallen in 1997, which included the club hits Solitary and Honour. This firmly established VNV as a musical force in Europe and introduced them to American audiences. VNV toured again, and began work on the 3rd album, Empires. 

Empires was released in 1999 to much critical praise. Ronan's emotionally charged lyrics and dancefloor friendly sounds caught the ears and minds of clubgoers on both sides of the Atlantic, and VNV quickly became a household name among the Industrial crowd in the US. They toured the US with Apoptygma Berserk. Burning Empires, a limited edition remix album released concurrently with the Standing single a short while later, became an instant collectible,  providing another injection of dancefloor adrenaline. VNV had established a worldwide fan base from Russia to Australia.

In 2002, VNV released their highly anticipated album, FuturePerfect. Many fans of VNV's traditional sound were taken aback by the shift in musical and lyrical direction. The music was more trance-based, while the lyrics replaced extroverted malcontent with introverted optimism. Even the second single, Beloved, seemed optimistic despite it's potentially depressing subject. VNV toured the US twice... in 2001 prior to the album's release with Icon of Coil, and again in 2002 with Haujobb.

Honour was given the re-make treatment and released as a new single in 2003, titled, appropriately enough, Honour 2003, as a prelude to the double DVD release PastPerfect, currently scheduled for September.  The next album is very tentatively scheduled for mid-2004.

Discography

I discovered an excellent discography for VNV here, including lyrics and art. However, no attempt is made to cover the promotional versions of VNV releases, so I have produced my own page. The VNV Promo Page includes items that are not commercially available, or items that are not represented in most discographies.

Images

I first saw VNV live in December of 2001. I had, until then, no concept of what they looked like, so you can imagine my surprise at discovering that Ronan was a short, cherubic Irishman while Mark was a towering Englishman. In order to save anyone from the same awkward discovery, I have compiled some of VNV's promotional pictures here, mostly from the latest album/tour.

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