Bruise Violet fuses punk rock and heavy metal

Junior Emily Schoonover is not one for stage fright. Whether it’s performing solos in St. Paul Academy and Summit School’s Pops concerts or rocking out at Lollapalooza, Schoonover dominates the stage with her voice and guitar skills.

Accompanied by Bella Dawson and Danielle Cusack, Schoonover is in the teenage punk rock band Bruise Violet.

The idea for a band came together in 2014 while Schoonover was at a party.

“Well we started talking about tampons, so all the guys left the room, until there were just three people left. We were all girls, and so we were like, ‘Hmm. We should start a band,’” Schoonover said.

The ability to talk openly about basic things, such as tampons and periods, is what Bruise Violet’s lyrics revolve around.

“Usually, we sing about feminism or anything that makes us angry. We have a song about people who are emotionally manipulative, there’s one [about] a guy being a jerk, we have a bunch about people who are just generally rude,” Schoonover said.

All the music by Bruise Violet is original and composed by Schoonover and Cusack. Schoonover’s favorite composition is Maybe You’re the Problem.

“It rotates the vocal among the three of us. Also, we wrote it together in a moment of anger. We were all really pumped and the words were just flowing,” Schoonover said.

Bruise Violet’s music is categorized as grunge punk because it fuses the elements of punk rock and heavy metal.

“Bruise Violet’s music is really just angry teen angst in a really chill way,” junior Phoebe Pannier said.

Bruise Violet’s first show was at The Garage in Burnsville. The Garage is a non-profit, all ages music venue.

“We played with a bunch of local teen bands. We’ve always wanted to be a feminist punk band, but we were really trying to sell it at first. So, we were like dressing up in super girly costumes and originally started playing really bad acoustic covers, but in the middle, we would just start screaming. Then we would eventually play our own songs,” Schoonover said.