Frontwomen Takeover

Over the past few months I’ve noticed myself unable to escape this new revolution of frontwomen in the scene I follow. I remember the first band I got into with a chick lead singer was Zolof The Rock and Roll Destroyer back in ‘07. I saw them at Skate-A-Que and thought they were fun. They were touring with some ska bands, and even though they weren’t ska themselves, I figured my rep would be protected if I dug them. They were the first female act I actually admitting to liking since I had a huge middle school crush on Avril Lavigne. From there, I got really into the folk band Arrah and the Ferns after they released their album Evan Is A Vegan. For the longest time, I’d defend them as the only band with a good female vocalist. That was because I didn’t see a gimmick in them like I saw in bands like Paramore. I figured that it was “fake” to give a hott chick a microphone because I was so put off by the image of anything Top 40. These days—if you’re lucky—you can catch me turning off my Last.fm and giving Riot! a listen. For a short while, I tried finding bands that had the similar vibe as Arrah and the Ferns because of the lack of gimmick within “indie” music. I was into Now, Now, Every Children and I Kissed Charles for a very short time. Then I got into Tegan and Sara because they did a cover with one of my favorite bands, Alkaline Trio. I felt sort of obligated to give them a chance is they were good enough for my favorite band.

I guess when I joined choir, I was able to appreciate what women have to offer within a vocal harmony or to any song in general. I saw The Hard Lessons play an acoustic show on a people mover with Motion City Soundtrack and I was awed by the girl’s voice. The way her and the guy in the band harmonized together was beautiful. It was an incredible sound coming from just two people. I loved it. One of my favorite things about fun. was the subtle appearances on their album Aim & Ignite that featured a few words sung by a woman. I thought it was really unique that they could add backing vocals from a girl, yet still produce a sound that wasn’t bubblegum pop.

The start of this year broke my barrier of seeing Top 40 as a bad thing when I gave Ke$ha’s Animal a listen. I fell in love with it because it was catchy pop music. Ke$ha’s voice sucks, there is no doubt about it; but, it helped me transition from somewhat of a close minded individual to less of one. Pretty soon, I found myself listening to Katy Perry’s singles and really enjoying them. Another one of my radio-favorites has to be “That’s Not My Name” by The Ting Tings.

But back to the “scene”. I had to cover a Paper Route show where Lights was performing. I gave her a listen before the show because there was a small chance I was going to interview her—it never happened, but that’s beside the point. At first, I was drawn into how much of a babe she was and how cool she seemed in interviews. Then I actually listened to her, and was pissed at all of the accusations there were saying she’s the “Female Owl City”. Owl City fucking sucks. Lights is legit as hell.

My friend Nick Madore announced he was going to be guitar teching for Hey Monday this year, which meant I’d have to go to their shows just to hang with him. I figured why not give them a listen. Hold On Tight had a few songs I dug. “How You Love Me Now” in particular stood out as a great song to me. Now with their release of Beneath It All, I’m finding myself listening to “Wish You Were Here” on repeat. Seriously, such a great song.

On Mother’s Day this year, I had the opportunity to talk to my cousin, Sarah—someone I never really got close to due to our age difference. She knew I was involved in the music scene so she told me about her folk project she was singing on called Legendary Creatures. When I first listened to their demos, I was at first biased to love them because of the whole family relation thing. Then I really listened to it and realized how much talent my cousin had. I guess I’m just a huge sucker for the whole “indie” thing. But yeah, check out Legendary Creatures.

At Warped Tour, I got an acoustic from a band called Kelsey and the Chaos. I saw them open for Patent Pending once upon a time, but I never really gave them a chance. Their acoustic performance of “Life’s Just Fine” was eye opening to me, Kimmii, Tyler, and Mr. Common. It was a huge surprise that such a great band has such a small following. I mean, it’s not like I’ve ignored them because I hated their image. I ignored them because I forgot they existed. This specific performance will never let me forget. It was amazing.

About a week ago, I covered a Gold Motel show for TCDC Media. Gold Motel is fronted by ex-The Hush Sound’s Greta Salpeter. They too possessed that “indie” “hipster” sound that I really dig, so I gave them an actual listen when I got home. Their album Summer House is the only album I’ve been listening to front to back lately. It’s seriously so great. Since I got so into Gold Motel, I decided to check out The Hush Sound after ignoring them for so long. Why did I ignore them? They were just another band that Pete Wentz whored the fuck out of. Sorry guys, didn’t care to listen to any band that contributes to n00dz of Wentz. When I first listened to “Wine Red” I was blown away at the quality of music, and the mistake I made to never check them out. I seriously love them now.

For a lot of reasons I have TCDC Media to thank for me actually getting into new music. In a sense, it’s my job to listen to and find out about new artists. It just so happens a lot of upcoming artists are fronted by chicks. A perfect example of this…We are the In Crowd. Legit, a band with so much potential. The same goes for VersaEmerge. I love being given the chance to discover these bands and often times listen to their music for free. I’m seriously so lucky.

I think it’s great that a girl can survive in an environment where there are so many more dudes than them, and still manage to have self-respect. You’d think most of these chicks are either whores or bitches, because how else would a bunch of horny band dudes tolerate them? It’s the exact opposite though. The girls are such sweethearts, and a lot of the time, they are tomboys—which is just ballin as shit. Take Jess from The Summer Set. She doesn’t front the band, but she’s the drummer. She legit holds it down in that band, and she was one of the coolest people I’ve gotten to talk to. The band agreed that if the band got into an all-out brawl, Jess would come out victorious. I think that’s so cool.

In a way I feel sexist for overlooking these talents for so long, but I think that can be justified by saying I was naive. I’m stoked for this new takeover. I hope soon there can’t be the fangirl excuse that “the lead singer is so hott” to like a band. (Lesbians/gays, this is not a shot at you. You’re just outnumbered. iSupport.) I hope that people will be able to appreciate new talents and new sounds like I have. I’mma’ wrap this up though. Check out any bolded bands. Girl power. Later.

DanCox’s April 2010 Compilation

01 Andy Albert (Holiday Parade)- Slide (Cover)
02 The Swellers- Good Luck (Schwag’s Song)
03 The Rocket Summer- You Gotta Believe
04 Leslie Mosier- Butterfly (feat. Dave Melillo)
05 Brand New- Soco Amaretto Lime
06 Rival Summers- Good Luck With That
07 Miniature Tigers- Cannibal Queen
08 Ke$ha- Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
09 Good Old War- That’s Some Dream
10 Monty Are I- Dublin Waltz
11 A Loss For Words- All Roads Lead Home
12 The Gaslight Anthem- Bring It On
13 Motion City Soundtrack- Broken Heart
14 Lights- Ice
15 A Letter To You- Closer

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?mtymzz0omnq

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