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VV Morgue is one of those rare acts whose performance is so raw, so unrestrained in its sheer emotional power that watching it feels like voyeurism. As VV (Genevieve) Loveland dances, screams and sings – chanting lines like “kill him, fucking kill him!” with reckless abandon – the show has the feel of secretly watching someone undress in front of their window. You can’t stop watching, but you pray to God they don’t see you standing there.

I first saw VV Morgue a few years ago when it was a solo act by Loveland – more of an art performance piece than a rock ’n’ roll act. Even alone on stage – with only a microphone, laptop and keyboard for accompaniment – Loveland was mesmerizing. Singing along to her electronic, gothic, noise-filled playback, with macabre movie scenes projected on a screen on the wall, she was in a class of her own. Experimental, dark, conceptual, VV Morgue seemed to be the antithesis of San Diego’s typical sunny, party music scene.

Since 2008 VV Morgue has expanded to include bass player Eric Johnston (also a member of the Severed Reds) and drummer Nigel Revenga (of Severed Reds and the Unruly Bangs). Gone now is the playback and the projected images. In their place is a many-layered, gut-wrenching wall of sound that has more of an of-the-moment, live feel. I talked with the band about their transition from solo act to band, future developments and about the benefits of collaboration.

Are the performance very different with a band?

Nigel: I think it’s a little more primal, because the recordings that she did before were just, like, all electronic and they had more of a dance feel, which is what she wants. We’re kind of going for that same thing now, but we have more live instruments. It makes it a little more primal, a little more dirgier sounding. Plus with Eric playing – he’s got a real dark, beefy bass. He kind of sounds like a synthesizer and a bass.

Eric: Yeah, but we’ve got to find a nice balance, because before she liked the electronic part so much. And then with a real drummer and bass it kind

of gives you a rock ‘n’ roll type style. And that’s not the sound we’re trying to get …

Are you thinking of bring back some of the elements VV used in her solo performances, like the projected video and the playback?

VV: Definitely. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me after shows and say that they liked the projection we used to do, they thought that was really cool. I definitely want to bring it back. We had a projector and it died, so that’s why we haven’t been very proactive on the whole visual aspect of it. But it’s definitely something I’d like to do.

Nigel: Yeah, I think it changes because before, when she did promotion by herself, it was more kind of like Peaches, but darker. And now we kind of have other elements, like the Melvins and Jesus Lizard kind of mixed in there …

VV: It’s kind of just inevitable. It kind of happens that way because when you take something that I did with all electronic instruments and you incorporate those songs with real live musicians it’s just gonna sound different no matter what … I can feed off of other musicians on stage and it’s more of like an actual show that people would enjoy watching more than just me by myself, because I’m kind of limited that way. I have two great musicians helping me. It comes together really well.

What are some of he places you’ve played at?

VV: We got to play at M/R/X (in Los Angeles), which was awesome. It’s kind of like a club that has a lot of Dark Wave, minimal, electroclash kind of bands. It’s a really cool club where people go out to and there’s like a couple rooms and DJs and a lot of fun stuff. And we were actually asked to play there which was awesome. It feels really good to have somebody ask you to play. And then we played the Knitting Factory up in L.A.

Eric: I almost threw up. It’s a bunch of like these vampire-Goth people in the middle of China Town on the second floor of this weird Mexican restaurant. And all of a sudden it gets really dark and you could smell meat cooking. It didn’t smell right… I was like ‘is that people they’re cooking?’ It was really uneasy.

VV: You never know with the dark wave Goth clubs, you never know about what they’re cooking ...

Nigel: But the thing about Goth stuff is that when you go to a club, it’s like Goths don’t dance to live music. They only dance to the DJs playing music. As soon as live music comes on they stop dancing. And when the DJs comes back on they do their spider web -weaving the spider web.

VV: Exactly, the punching the dwarf dances. I’m guilty of sweeping the cobwebs. Definitely.

Nigel and VV, you guys have been playing together for a long time. What are some of the projects you’ve worked on together? How did Eric come into the mix?

Nigel: We’ve been in a lot of bands together. Los Plasticos was the first one. We’ve played in Scary Mary.

VV: Strawberry Girls. We’ve been in a couple of incarnations of different projects. And we’ll all play different instruments each time and switch it up.

Nigel: We’ve mutated over time. And then this guy, how I met this guy is a pretty good story. He used to be a security guard at this pawn shop in Chula Vista. And I was trying to steal some cymbals for my drum set. This guy, he’s a big guy, but he’s a lot faster than you would think. He like pounced on me, he was like one of those rent-a-cop security guards.

Eric: I had to run for a block and a half.

Nigel: But he had his iPod with him, and when he tackled me, I heard he was listening to Black Sabbath.

Eric: I’m not gonna run without music. That was about 5 years ago now.

Nigel: Then we started jamming music. At some point we exchanged CDs of our own, because I had just recorded stuff, he had stuff that he did … He’s always just doing stuff. It’s kind of a nice thing because Genevieve’s more meticulous the way she does stuff and he just pours it out, so it’s a good mix ...

VV: I first met Nigel and I didn’t know how to play anything consistently and he started a band with me. It was awesome … I have such a good working relationship with Nigel because there’s no egos

… We kind of have a symbiotic relationship, where even if we’re on stage and one of us messes up hardcore it’s like ‘okay, I know he usually does stuff in four or eight counts, so I’ll just come around on the next time.’ And it’s all good.

Eric’s the same way. I was nervous about bringing someone else into the mix because I got along with Nigel so well. And then Eric came in and it’s like the same thing – it’s like no egos, no bullshit, it’s all just like we’re all just here to play music because we all enjoy playing music. It’s a good relationship.

Nigel: I got Eric in the band because I knew Eric would be a perfect fit. He’s kind of experimental and he’s loud and he can fill up sound good. He’s open and he’s laid back. And he’s just up for anything.

Eric: There’s only three of us. A drummer, a keyboard and bass, but you’ve got to fill up the stage with sound.