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A3MJ8>flS:- TSeCK CLICKS: 'POINTS: A T0121IM
Is "Why do we need to meet with all the women who are ploying in
Athens? Because is it really an issue that we're women? It shouldn't
he an issue. It should only be on issue that we're playing music” —
•Jltfcifer's ^mber Valentine
.‘A- True. It shouldn't be. But is it? We gathered 15 of Athens'
..ywbmen musicians to find out what it's like to be a girl in the male-
vjbminated risdc world. Most of our participants got started in music
•Hrty. Some;- tike Dani Wright and Shannon Bedwell, loved to sing
• ‘and dance as.Jcids at home. Some like Alice Grayson, began playing
dad's drum jjjtt or guitar at a young age. Others, like Roxanne
.Martin and Ketiy Noonan, began playing music in the school band.
Others had been hit with the music bug after seeing and hearing
'Musicians lifcte. Joan Jett, Patsy Cline, or Blondie. In some cases, as
%yith Jess Cook, the result was a pure urge to perform.
Others, like Noel Beverly, became interested in recording
at, first. Then there were those who were hit viscerally,
■like Carla LaFevcr, who at 14 was hypnotired by the
glowing light of a Fender amp.
3. The participants: Shannon Bedwell — Star Room
Boys, Medaglia D'Oro; Noel Beverly - Blue Stockings,
Wild Gumbo; Jess Cook - Vein; Jen Cwiok - Blue
Stockings, Wild Gumbo; Gennifer Glancy - Le Guano;
Alice Grayson - Jackpot City; Melinda Kershner -
The Carlisles, The Sunny Side Up Band; Carla LeFever
- Groove Side Down; Lisa Majersky - solo performer;
Roxanne Martin - Fable Factory; Laura Moigan - Le
Guano; Kelly Noonan - Jackpot City; Jessica
Slavich - Umpire, Gritty Kitty; Amber Valentine -
Jucifer; Dani Wright - Georgia Overdrive.
4. Jess: One of the reasons I just messed around
with guitar when I was a teenager before I really
got serious about it had a lot to do with the fact
that guys who played music were not very inter
ested in teaching anything. There was this
assumption that you were supposed to date the
guys in the band and not be in the band.
5. Amber: I’ve had, on more than one occasion, the sound guy ask
Fd how my guitar is set up. Ed will of course always say, "Th’s is
Amber. She's the guitarist, ask her." And they'll say "No no no,
where do you want that amp?" to him. Most average Americans who
aren't involved in music picture women playing music with an
aroustic guitar or just singing.
13. Dani: Thais
one thing that I've hated. You see all the country
girls and they're all dressed up I come in a pair of jeans and cow
boy boots. My voice is what I want people to listen to, that's what I
want to touch them not because I do myself up with all this makeup
and look glamorous. That's what I love about Athens. You go out to
see a band, they're net all dolled up...
treatment and respect anywhere! There's a flipside, too, that any
pretty girl who has an ounce of ability can immediately get signed
to a huge contract.’
15. Carla: It's sleepin' theiNvay to the top, that's what they do.
16. Jess: Do you get frustrated with women like that? You see, like,
L7, which I think is a good band, but it's like, why d^ you have to
take your shirt off?
17. Amber: That's a big issue for me. It's been hard for me to sort of
accept the fact that some people are exhibitionists and maybe
that's all right. For me, I enjoy looking sexy but I would never take
my shirt off or flash my ass. I think that's really a cheap way of get
ting attention. But again, part of being a musician^ is being an
entertainer and some people focus more on the entertainment than
the music.
19. Amber The funny thing about it is one of the big dif
ferences between females and males in music, and not all
males are like this, but there are men who get into playing
in a bano to get chicks. I'm sorry but 1 don't think many
chicks get into bands to get guys, ‘cause we can do it with
out having a band.
21. Jessica: You don't have to be de-gendered, you can bring
up women's issues. You can be a woman and still be there.
22. Melinda: But it's almost like having a girl in the band
defines it. Somebody referred to us as an all-girl band and
it's me and my husband and Debbie and her brother! By the
way, T need to go, I need to go home and be a woman and
cook dinner!
23. Jen: There's a lot to be said *or guys who will totally stick up for
us. and we look out for edch other. If I wanna make the guys in my
band brownies, I can do that and be a chick and it's all right. It
doesn't take away from my ability to play.
9. Amber I'm always afraid — Do they think that I'm good at play
ing guitar because I'm good for a girt or am I really good at playing
guitar?
10. Dani: When I started to push to get a record deal in Nashville,
they would ask me, "Are you married? Are you gonna have kids in
the next few years?"
18. Kelly: But that's cool. To me it's all cool. I laugh my ass
off if Mamie flashes her boobs at everybody. Because I'm a
girl in rock, you tend to get more attention and you can use
it to your advantage.
20. Jess: We just want to be evaluated as musicians not as
people wearing breasts and a vagina as opposed to a penis.
11. Shannon: I remember when Widespread played that big show
downtown. I looked at them on stage and said, "You know, if there
were six women in a band lookin' like that, they wouldn't get any
where."
12. Noel: I've had two club owners say, when we were auditioning
for a show, "Well, what do you wear?" We packed up our cars
and left.
6. Jen: I still hear, "Wow, I didn't know what to think, because I
thought all girl bands sucked ard you guys are actually pretty
good!"
7. Kelly: Why do I have to be embarrassed to be in a girl band? I
am, but why? They get a bad name and I see why, lookin' at some
bands.
8. Jess: I always felt like I would be evaluated as a musician by my
gender and not by my skill. Like maybe I'll be put in a lesser catego
ry. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.
14. Amber: Except me. I look like this all the time because I love it.
I would be doing this even if I wasn't in a band. I took like this at
work. This is me. I love fashion. I krow that sometimes when I walk
into a club O' a situation where people don't know me, they immedi
ately think something negative about me... she's obviously a bitch,
or she's a slut, or whatever. But I guess that's more a women's issue
than strictly a women in music issue. But part of my stubbornness
about looking the way that I look is based or. the fact that people
should not judge you on the way that you look. If Dani wants to
show up in jeans and cowboy boots she and I should get the same
24. Jess: I think it's getting a lot better. We are seeing a lot of peo
ple who are moving into the mainstieam who just so happen to be
women and just so happen to be able to play their instruments.
25. Amber: It doesn't matter if someone likes me because they like
the way I play my guitar or they like the way my ass looks. As long
as they buy my record it doesn't fucking matter. As long as you
maintain your integrity and you believe in what you're doing, fuck
anybody else, whatever their reasons are for liking or disliking it.
Funke Sangodeyi and Melissa Link
P!9i*f u>if K US aw you'll HaVe (0V
your poffery back «• a Hast?/
Hey baby, want to paint some pottery?
I‘ll aee to it that you get your masterpiece
back in 2-3 days. You’re special baby..
I’d never make you wait around like
those other guys.
Vofed "Fesf Puffery SfiMio
by Aflan-fa Magazine nn
athens
120 e. clayton st.
706.543.4006
wirfecl Sc M *4off
a pottery playhouse
registered license
•vith this sd
m FLAGPOLE SEPTEMBER 23, 1998