FEATURE
HOT ROCK CHICKS
Bring Eyeliner & Attitude To Chi-Town
by
Tom Lounges
“Chick Rock”
–– has come a loooong way since the mini-skirt wearing sex kittens of
the Sixties.
Today’s female
rockers are independent, spirited and chock full of attitude.
Hence the reason
corporate sponsor Maybelline, chose to herald their summer fem-rock revue ––
Liz Phair, The Cardigans, Katy Rose
and Charlotte Martin –– as the “Chicks With Attitude Tour.”
  
Cardigans’ vocalist
Nina Persson
explained “Chicks With Attitude”
will span the entire month of August and the first week of September.
The Cardigans are third on the bill, before show closer Phair. Former
Miss Teen Illinois
turned chanteuse, Charlotte Martin, opens each date.
“We’re ready to get
out there and bring our new music to people,” Persson said, speaking of
the band’s fifth and newest global release, Long Gone Before Daylight,
for Koch International Records.
Except for a few
select dates in the U.S. last May, including one here in Chicago, The
Cardigans have not toured America since the late 1990s.
“We were not working
for a while after the last record [Gran Turismo],”
she explained. “At that time, we had been a band for ten years, and we
all wanted to take a little break.”
Persson made a solo
album during the group’s hiatus and credits the experience for making
her appreciate The Cardigans more than ever.
“I think that because
our success had come quite easily for us [in Europe], that we started
taking things and each other for granted. Taking this break was good
for us to do. That break made us more focused and unified as a band I
think and that shows on this new album.”
After enjoying
tremendous media accolades in 2003 for her impressive four song debut
EP, In Parenthesis,
fresh-faced Charlotte Martin is totally stoked about her first
full-length CD, On Your Shore,
to be released via RCA Records on August 10.
The only carry over
from the pre-view EP is, “Your
Armor,”
because 27-year-old Martin found herself in a prolific songwriting
stretch last year, while working with her producer and boyfriend, Ken
Andrews.
The only non-Martin
composition on the new 13-track CD is her moody take on the Rolling
Stones’ chestnut, “Wild Horses.”
“That’s a song I’ve been covering for a long time. I love it, so I
wanted to include it,” she explained.
“I live full time in
Los Angeles, but I go home about six times a year,” said the Charleston,
Illinois native and former teen beauty queen. “I grew up in a small
Midwest college town and was scared when I moved to L.A. I didn’t know
anyone, so I spent my first year there inside my apartment. All I did
was sit and write songs.”
The
emotionally-charged songs birthed by Martin’s isolation, landed her a
record deal almost instantly upon venturing out to local “open mic”
nights. Martin’s songs struck a nerve with industry-types who caught
her performances. Without even trying, Martin created a buzz about
herself and soon found herself locally famous.
The soul deep
emotional scarring present in much of Martin’s lyrics contrast her
well-scrubbed, girl-next-door looks. “I don’t look it, but my musical
roots are goth,” she crows. Martin credits a former Eastern Illinois
University roommate for turning her on to artists like Joy Division, The
Smiths and The Cure.
Her inspiration was
born of Bauhaus and Robert Smith, but Martin’s sound borrows from
another brooding beauty, Tori Amos. Though not derivative of Amos,
Martin is likewise an accomplished pianist with an ethereal voice, who
writes songs that are simultaneously light and dark, soothing and
thought provoking.
Being a former
Miss Teen Illinois
does not affect Martin’s goth street credentials. “I was never popular
in school. I did that [beauty contest] to prove to myself that I could
do it,” she dismissed. “It was to prove something to myself.” Once she
took the crown and left others in tears, Martin walked away from the
pageant life forever.
Also sporting beauty
queen looks, is 17-year-old, Katy Rose. The Los Angeles native’s debut
CD comes complete with the attitude-riddled title, Because I
Can.
Rose’s original
compositions convey the same kind of emotional experience found in that
of Martin’s and fellow tour mate, Liz Phair.
“Liz and I did a
brief tour last year, which was fantastic,” recalled Rose, who performs
second on the Maybelline bill. “Liz, Charlotte, Nina and I all get on
wonderfully. We aren’t joining in together for a song [at present]...
but you never know what new developments tomorrow may bring!”
Rose found it hard to
pinpoint when she knew music was her destiny. “I don’t know if there
was ever a precise moment when the heavens opened and I knew that music
was exactly what I wanted to do with my life. It was almost fate
really, because I come from a very musical family and have always been
an avid writer. One day when I was about 13, I just combined the two.”
The roots of this
blooming Rose run deep. “There are many albums and artists that have
inspired me,” she sighed. “The Velvet Underground, the Beach Boys, the
Beatles, Jeff Buckley, Nick Cave, Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey...,” she
continues.
“At this moment,” she
continued, “the first track on Ladies And Gentlemen: We Are Floating In
Space, by Spiritualized is affecting me most. It sums things up sweetly
and simply –– ‘All I need in
life is a little bit of love to take the pain away. I’m getting
stronger today’.
Truly, that is all any of us really need. Everything tangible is
secondary!”
Attitude?
Sure thing! There is certainly enough of it present when these “chicks”
speak, but all three have it well balanced with equal parts soulfulness
and intelligence. |
