Forty years may sound like a lifetime ago, but the Violent Femmes made it feel like yesterday during their recent sold-out turn at Rams Head Live. Performing their self-titled debut album, Gordon Gano (vocals/guitar), Brian Ritchie (bass/vocals), drummer John Sparrow, and multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza took this packed house on a trip to 1983.

Violent Femmes ostensibly started in the Midwest as a melodic punk rock outfit, influenced by a bit of Lou Reed and a lot of Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers. After signing to punk label Slash Records, the band released what, in hindsight, certainly, would be called the perfect record. The band’s self-titled album would go on to spawn several well-known songs from “Blister in the Sun” and “Kiss Off,” the lead-off tracks, to “Gone Daddy Gone.” Even if you aren’t familiar with the name, you know those songs.

So it was no surprise that, with the announcement that the Violent Femmes were performing the album in full for its anniversary on many of the dates on their tour, including at Baltimore’s Rams Head Live!, quickly sold out.