Chelsea Girls, l-r: Sam, Corey, Allison, Tuesdae
Two decades after hard rock’s glam metal heyday, L.A.’s Chelsea Girls have returned the sassy, head-banging spirit to the Sunset Strip with a vengeance — and a shrewd marketing twist. The seasoned all-female outfit — the Donnas’ Allison Robertson on guitar, veteran drummer Samantha “Sam” Maloney, Nashville Pussy bassist/fashion designer Corey Parks on bass, and star club DJ/singer Tuesdae — has eschewed original material for a slate of vintage metal covers and anthemic rockers at their monthly stand at the Roxy, dubbing themselves a “supercovergroup” in the bargain.
“With the state of the music business today, we were not interested in the same old business model of being a slave to an album and album cycle,” explains Maloney, who’s been tour drummer for everyone from Hole and Mötley Crüe to Eagles of Death Metal and Peaches. “We wanted to skip all that and go straight to selling out clubs by playing the greatest songs we never wrote.”
“We want to put on a rock and roll party for people, knock the crowds out with song after song of hits. If you are looking for a good time and a killer band — with looks that kill! — Chelsea Girls give you the most bang for your buck in this rock and roll recession.”
“I knew Sam through other friends,” says Robertson of the Chelsea Girls’ genesis. “I'd seen her play with Mötley and Peaches and always thought, ‘Damn, she is a bad-ass, it would be great to play with her sometime.’ She called me up one day last fall and asked about this idea she and Corey Parks had been kicking around. I said yes immediately! I played with Corey ages ago when she was in Nashville Pussy and I was really impressed with the concept of the band and the tentative set list.”
Not surprisingly, Allison forges much of the band’s metal edge with a Les Paul Standard, an ax “Gibson gave to me when I was around 19. Due to an accident on an airplane, I was in desperate need of a new guitar, any guitar. It's tobacco burst and I've played it straight for 10 years so it's aged beautifully and molded to my fingers and body perfectly. I dropped it recently (a bad strap-lock job) and thought it was all over but luckily there was no break and with a few neck tweaks, it sounds better than ever!”
“The other guitar I use on-stage a lot is a black Explorer Pro, which I got a few years ago. I am in love with that one! Perfect for some of the harder and faster songs I do with Chelsea Girls, with the fastest neck in the west and killer pickups.”
The CGs’ hard-rocking cover band spirit is as generous as it is malleable, leaving room for a parade of guest stars that has included Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy, Motörhead’s Lemmy (joined by guest emcee Carmen Electra) doing a memorable cover of ’50s rocker Eddie Cochran’s “Something Else,” and Quiet Riot ax man Carlos Cavazo joining the Girls on-stage at the Roxy for a spirited romp through QR’s anthem, “Bang Your Head.”
“Lemmy and Ratt have been so supportive,” Maloney effuses about the veteran rockers who’ve become some of the Girls’ biggest fans. “In this male-dominated industry they are more than happy to get up on-stage with us and sing some songs. We are Lemmy's favorite new band. He is afraid we are going to have a fight and break up over some guy. Little does Lemmy know — he's the only guy that all the CGs would fight over!”
Yet just when fans thought they had Chelsea Girls’ act pigeonholed as Hard-Rock-of-the-’80s-Redux, out strolled contemporary R&B stylist Macy Gray to belt a savory take of Radiohead’s “Creep” at the band’s Roxy stand in May.
Robertson, who’s also presently working up new material with the Donnas, admits she’s had to develop something of a dual mindset in balancing the two bands: “It is really nice to have a catalogue of your own original and be able to go out and play sold-out shows to people singing along to your songs. That is very personal. On the other hand, entertaining people with covers is a totally different high because you can get into a character for each song and forget whether people are going to like it, since chances are that most of them already do!”
As for the sexual identity questions that plague most female rockers, Robertson notes that “because the Donnas started when we were in school, being female was a major issue, whether we cared about it or not. We always thought, who cares? But growing up with that femininity being a constant in our career, sometimes negative and sometimes positive, has made us completely numb to it now. With Chelsea Girls, it’s not even on my mind that we happen to be female.”
Maloney is a bit more philosophical. “Boys pick up guitars to get laid; girls pick up guitars and drums to make music. We rock harder than any band I know, male or female. The problem in this business is that women are never seen playing instruments. The music business celebrates women who dance and lip-sync. We are about to change that real soon!”
“Chelsea Girls are here to show boys, and girls, that girls can play, too! We do it for the right reasons — because we love playing! Whether playing our songs or someone else's.
And the fact that my band is very easy on the eyes is a definite plus!”