STREET BEAT FEATURE
X-GIRLFRIEND
“X” Marks The Spot For Rock ‘N’ Roll Fun
by
Tom Lounges
 The best way for a
band to keep night club patrons happy and drinking is to play –– “Party
Rock” –– a solid repertoire of upbeat songs that most everybody knows,
loves and can sing along with while waving their libations in the air.
X-Girlfriend does
just that. Though only a year old, this quartet employs a line-up who
boast more than 15 years of combined experience on stage.
X-Girlfriend has one
up on the region’s boy bands, in that they are fronted by the talented
Tina Dohl, whose robust and powerful vocals where nurtured doing lead
roles in professional musical productions such as “Cabaret”
and “Chicago.”
Having long harbored
a secret desire to sing rock ‘n’ roll, this band has allowed Dohl the
opportunity to step up to the microphone and make that desire a
reality. “This is a whole new experience and I’m having a lot of fun,”
she exclaimed.
Doing big and brassy
roles in stage musicals helped to ready Dohl’s voice for the task of
covering such throaty and raucous rock chicks as Joan Jett, Merideth
Brooks, Lita Ford, Pat Benetar, Alanis Morrisette and Janis Joplin.
It was former
Milhouse bassist Rik Menconi
who convinced Dohl to wrap her voice around rock music for a change.
When Milhouse broke up, Menconi decided to shy away from the heavy
alt-rock style that band had been doing and gravitate more towards the
lighter side of the radio dial.
“I wanted to put
together a band that could appeal to a large cross-section of
club-goers,” he said. Knowing that most popular hits are driven by a
catchy beat (i.e.“Ballroom Blitz”, “I Love Rock & Roll”,
“Talk Dirty To Me”),
Menconi wisely retained his long-time Milhouse rhythm partner,
John Wachter,
since they already had their groove going and were still tight
buddies.
“Once John and I
figured out what we wanted to do, we thought the biggest piece of the
puzzle would be finding a female vocalist that could not only sing the
standard ‘chick rock’ songs, but have the range and versatility to sing
most anything put in front of them, whether it was a originally sung by
a male or female,” explained Menconi, noting X-Girlfriend also covers
Van Halen, Duran Duran, Cheap Trick and others with male singers.
Sometimes one can not
see the forest for the trees. While stressing over finding the perfect
person to put center stage in his new project, Menconi nearly overlooked
his good friend of eight years, Tina Dohl. “Tina turned out to be
exactly what this project needed,” said Menconi. “We knew Tina was a
very talented vocalist, but even more than that, she’s brought something
we feel is really important –– showmanship!”
The task proved to be
finding a steady guitarist with the licks and the personality to round
out the band. After a handful of players passed through their ranks,
they finally hit the jackpot when they recruited
Colin Peterson,
who has been respected on the scene since his decade long run with the
Sound Gypsies.
“I’d known Colin for
some years and had spoken to him about X-Girlfriend on several
occasions, but Colin was engaged in his own female-fronted band, Signal
8,” recalled Menconi. “One evening, John and I went to go see Signal 8
play and show support to what Colin was doing. It turned out to be the
night that their singer announced she was leaving the band. Colin was
suddenly free to do something else and we made sure it was with us.”
Few slow songs are
found in X-Girlfriend’s repertoire. “We stick to the upbeat stuff
because we want to create a fun, energetic party atmosphere for the
people who come to see us,” concluded Menconi. “The bottom line is to
have fun!”
Catch X-GIRLFRIEND next
AUGUST 21 at Angelo’s Sicilian Cart in Merrillville, IN
AUGUST 28 at
CRONIES CHARHOUSE & GIN MILL for “PORKFEST” in Kouts, IN |
