Violet Sedan Chair



Violet Sedan Chair is a fictional psychadelic rock band created for Fringe and is Walter and Walternate's favorite band. In the original timeline (seasons 1-3) Walter's actions caused a butterfly effect that led to the band breaking up in the Blueverse after releasing only one album whereas they released at least three albums in the Redverse. In the new timeline without Peter (season 4) the band released at least two albums in the Blueverse.

Despite being a fictional band, real musicians (identities unknown) were hired to write and record an album as Violet Sedan Chair. A small number of vinyl records for that album, Seven Suns, were pressed and sent to independent record stores across the U.S. It has been rumored that some records were even weathered so that stores would put them right into 'used' bins to make them harder to find. And each individual copy of the album may be unique in some way, featuring specific spoilers and clues about the show. Many records have been found but there's no way to know how many may still be out there. The album can be played for free on YouTube, however (see below).

In April 2009, six months before Violet Sedan Chair was first mentioned on Fringe and nearly two years before they were featured as a plot point, J.J. Abrams was a guest editor on a wired.com article called "Musical Mystery Tour: Messages Embedded in Your Favorite Album" where he snuck in a mention of Seven Suns as if it were a real album. The record sleeve shows the final track to be "Greenmana" but this track doesn't actually exist on the album.

Listed below are all the references to Violet Sedan Chair throughout Fringe, videos about the band of mysterious origin, and a playlist to listen to Seven Suns.

S2E03 - Fracture

  • Sam Weiss wore a t-shirt with the Violet Sedan Chair logo on it. (Image 1)
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Sam Weiss
Image 1: Sam Weiss
Timestamp: 03:28

S2E10 - Grey Matters

  • Walter said to Astrid "My dear, Violet Sedan Chair... it's a band. Their debut album always helps me come down from a Valium high."

S2E20 - Northwest Passage

  • Walter put on Seven Suns and listened to "She's Doing Fine". (Image 1)
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Walter putting on <i>Seven Suns</i>
Image 1: Walter putting on Seven Suns
Timestamp: 29:19

S2E22 - Over There (Part 2)

  • A deleted scene shows Walternate listening to "Hovercraft Mother" in the car with Peter where he reveals that Violet Sedan Chair's third album is his favorite. Watch the scene here. (Image 1)
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Walternate listening to
Image 1: Walternate listening to "Hovercraft Mother"
Timestamp: 00:23

S3E10 - The Firefly

  • Violet Sedan Chair's keyboard player Roscoe Joyce is featured in this episode. Walter learns that consequences from his actions in 1985 caused Joyce to break up the band in the Blueverse.
  • Walter wore a Violet Sedan Chair shirt. (Image 1)
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Violet Sedan Chair shirt
Image 1: Violet Sedan Chair shirt
Timestamp: 41:18

S3E16 - Os

  • Walter's bong had a Violet Sedan Chair sticker on it. (Image 1)
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Violet Sedan Chair sticker
Image 1: Violet Sedan Chair sticker
Timestamp: 01:48

S4E05 - Novation

  • There's a Violet Sedan Poster in the lab, possibly suggesting they made more than one album in this timeline since the artwork doesn't match Seven Suns. (Image 1)
  • Dr. Malcolm Truss was singing the song "Seven Suns" in his garden. (Image 2)
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Violet Sedan Chair poster
Image 1: Violet Sedan Chair poster
Timestamp: 01:37
Dr. Malcolm Truss
Image 2: Dr. Malcolm Truss
Timestamp: 11:52

S4E07 - Wallflower

  • Walter listened to "Long List of Lovers" while working in the lab. (Image 1)
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Walter working in the lab
Image 1: Walter working in the lab
Timestamp: 13:16
Listen to Seven Suns
Features
  • "Slow Vibration" video clip - This short video shows a band playing a portion of "Slow Vibration". Are they the actual musicians? The video has been edited to appear decades old.
  • Guitarist talks about "Slow Vibration" - This video shows a band member from the above video talking about "Slow Vibration". The audio in this video has (probably purposely) been degraded almost to the point of being unintelligble. A commenter has attempted a transcription: "I guess somehow through playing the keyboards he could tell that I had a great voice even though he never heard it. Till there was this uh, this... this odd year when he uh.. y'know he played riffs. I love my favorite track on the record called Slow Vibration because a gentleman called the Observer heard me-"