Las Vegas Weekly

Nick Faiella returns to Vegas with new band Ultra Violent Lights

Faiella (far left) and his Ultra Violent bandmates.

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In 2003, former One More Weekend frontman Nick Faiella moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, not sure he’d ever be back. In LA, he and some Vegas friends formed the band Sub Rosa, and Faiella did return, at least a few times, for gigs. Now he’s headed back to town again, with a new band, Ultra Violent Lights, and a four-week residency at the Beauty Bar—every Tuesday in February.

“At the end of the day, there’s still so much home and kick-ass times in Vegas, that that was one of the first spots I insisted that we play,” Faiella says from New York City as UVL gets ready to kick off an extensive tour behind its debut album, Here in Filth.

UVL came together when former Fenix TX bassist Adam Lewis filled in during a few Sub Rosa shows. Soon Faiella had convinced Lewis to move up to LA, and the two were collaborating on new songs, with influences ranging from Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr. to The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen. The other members of Sub Rosa fell away over time, and Faiella and Lewis recruited drummer Hayden Scott to round out the lineup (he’s since been replaced by Robi Gonzalez). A name change and a move to New York City followed.

The band recorded Here in Filth independently, not interested in waiting around for label bureaucracy. “We just wanted to get it out and be able to go tour and play,” Faiella says, and that’s exactly what the band has done. Filth was released digitally in October, and physical copies will be available at UVL shows, along with about 400 copies shipped to record stores around the country. California-based label SideCho Records is helping with distribution and publicity, “but it’s still super-DIY,” Faiella insists. “It’s not like some sort of money venture that everyone’s just banking on.”

The band’s open-ended tour (which includes a South by Southwest appearance in March) will be putting down roots with residencies in Vegas, LA and San Diego in February. Beauty Bar owner Paul Devitt, a friend of UVL’s manager, hooked up the local gig, handing over the entire evening to UVL (local bands Slow to Surface and Twin Brother are among the openers booked, and UVL members will be DJing between acts). “This is the most concentrated, honest effort that I’ve ever probably put toward anything,” Faiella says proudly; now his hometown has a chance to appreciate that.