Chick Rock!

Hiya Ladies!

Today, we have another post from our guest blogger, Bev!!

Mark your calendars because coming up on December 9, my darling Bea is going to be taking the DJ helm once again with her show devoted to all girl bands.  This doesn’t mean a male band with a female lead singer like Flyleaf or Halestorm, or even mostly female rockers like Hole.  To even qualify for the list the band has to be entirely comprised of women and they have to rock.  We all know DJ Bea has a well-earned reputation for bringing us fantastic music but this show is about more than that.  This show is also about history.  Bea will be sharing with us some of the early rock pioneers.  These women led the way so that women don’t have to sit on a stool in a coffee shop singing folk tunes with an acoustic guitar.  We can plug our ESP Explorer into our Vox AC 30 and blow the windows out! 

The Pleasure Seekers was a 1960s-era band from where else but Detroit, Michigan.  The band was formed in 1964 by sisters Suzi and Patti Quatro.  Nancy Ball on drums, Mary Lou Ball on guitar, and Diane Baker on piano rounded out the original line-up.  According to Suzi Quatro , she and her sister searched the dictionary for a band and came across "hedonist" to come up with "The Pleasure Seekers".  The Pleasure Seakers’ first record was released in 1964, when Suzi and Patti were 15 and 17 years old, respectively.  That record featured the single "Never Thought You'd Leave Me" and its B side "What a Way to Die" which I would describe as a fairly straight forward example of 50s to early 60s rock when electric instruments were becoming mainstream and the piano was still prominent.  What separates The Pleasure Seekers from the herd though is Suzie’s voice.  Not sweet and lyrical as would be expected from the time but containing a bit of an edge and roughness like her male counterparts of the day.  Listening to her sing you can hear and feel a scream just under the surface reminding me of modern acts like Veruca Salt.  The Pleasure Seekers were one of the earliest all female bands to sign with a major record and Suzi Quatro has gone on to sell over 55 million albums worldwide.

Despite signing to a major recording company later than The Pleasure Seekers, another pair of sisters became the first all-female band to release an album on a major label.  Sisters June and Jean Millington, both born in the Philippines, went through a few line-up and name changes without success.  In fact, they had decided to disband completely.  There would be one final show at an open-mic night at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles in 1969.  It was at this final performance, playing under the name Wild Honey, that they were discovered and subsequently signed to Reprise Records.  The name Fanny was chosen to reflect the female spirit.   In my opinion, the greatest strength of the band is the lead guitar work of June Millington.  June initially balked at taking the role of lead guitar.  “I was actually scared. I thought what everyone else thought – that a chick can’t play lead.”  June practiced and studied night and day becoming a true student and expert not only on playing her instrument but its construction, modification and on the music and musicians as well.  She became discontent with the musical standard of the day where a soloist would play fast and technical but not musical, without heart and feeling.  “I think that a solo should be melodic first, and, if you are an exceptional player, you can make it melodic and disjointed at the same time.” Jean was definitely exceptional and now seeks to pass along her wisdom and expertise by running a music camp for young girls.  David Bowie said that Fanny was “one of the most important female bands in American ...They were one of the finest... rock bands of their time, in about 1973. They were extraordinary... they're as important as anybody else who's ever been, ever; it just wasn't their time. Revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done.  So on behalf of myself and David Bowie, I want to thank DJ Bea for introducing or reintroducing us to this wonderful music.

- Bev