You Go, Grrlz!!

Alright, I put it down to a looong, post-Joan Jett hangover. All that estrogen and all those chords pumping through major amperage, why, it's given me a crrraving for grrlz wot rock!!

Erm, what more to say? Well, I guess I could try and explain why grrl rawk entrances me so. Is it the inherent challenge of women appropriating a male artform? Possibly. Could it be the juxtaposition of the female voice and clangy gee-tarr?? Mebbe. Could it be that when they do it properly, they rock with in-yer-face growl & howl unmatched by any male? Quite probably.

Argh, enough with the floundering. Here's what I'm talking about:

Silverfish - Vitriola (buy here or e-here)
Not the creepy crawly that eats yer books, but the in-yer-face Camden noiseniks fronted by formidable feminist Glaswegian goddess, Lesley Rankine. Subsequent to Silverfish s-he swapped the shoutiness for downtempo trip-hop and formed Ruby. Last I heard she had taken time off to devote to another awesome female pursuit, i.e. motherhood.


Pack A.D. - BC is on Fire (buy here or e-here)
Ohh, yess, here's some awesome, home-grown, blues-n-garage rawk from Vancouver's own Becky Black and Maya Miller. Growly, gritty, straight-up goodness. Currently finishing up a US tour on the east coast.

Thee Headcoatees - Teenage Kicks (buy here or e-here)
And since we're on the subject of garage rawk, I doff my hat to these fine, fine, female acquaintances of Billy Childish. Although they started off as his backing band, make no mistake: Kyra, Holly, Ludella, and Debbie were no less loud & proud.

Voodoo Queens - Supermodel Superficial (buy here or e-here)
Back to Camden, then, to have a howl and a shout circa 1993 with Ms Anjali Bhattia, whose sentiments on mainstream fashion were --and still are-- spot on.

L7 - Just Like Me (buy here or e-here)
Donita Sparks? I wanna be just like her. Sigh...