Violet Crime is an indie-pop band hailing from Chicago. There’s no shortage of local, up and coming acts in the Midwest — specifically Chicago — but there’s not a lot that are like Violet Crime.

They are gearing up to release their debut EP, Paper Queen, on June 14th. The record was produced, mixed and engineered by Sam Guaiana (Like Pacific, Story Untold, Silverstein, Young Culture), and features additional production from Derek DiScanio of State Champs. However, what makes it special, is the EP will be released via Play Together — a social impact artist management company, co-founded by Violet Crime bassist, Kasey Gandham.

Play Together invests a portion of profits back into elementary art and music programs in Chicago. With each release, they pair a musician with a visual artist, providing a richer and more immersive experience for fans. For Paper Queen, Violet Crime have partnered with Julius Bautista, and a third of proceeds from music and art sales will go to Intonation Music.

Violet Crime is more than just an indie-pop band, they show that through their music, their philanthropy, and even what they do outside of the band. The band’s bassist, Kasey Gandham is a co-founder of the education startup Packback, which was featured on Shark Tank and even backed by Mark Cuban.

With all of that being said, Substream is excited to team up with Violet Crime to debut the title track off their upcoming EP, “Paper Queen.”

This song is about fantasy and unrealistic expectations, and the confusion we feel when we realize no one person is perfect or can fix us,” the band tells Substream. “‘Paper Queen’ highlights Selina and Jeff’s capabilities of harmonizing with each other and swapping leads.  Sam [Guaiana] and Derek [DiScanio] sent us home after a 10 hour studio day and said ‘Tonight you need to go home and write a new chorus, if you can’t do that we’ll use what we have but we think you can do better.’ After being exhausted, we spent the next few hours writing and came with the new chorus. And we got it all on video.”

Find that in-studio video that the band is referencing below.


If you like what you hear from Violet Crime, you can keep up with them on Facebook and Instagram. Paper Queen will be out on June 14th.