Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Riot Brides

Here come the Riot Brides



	Photo by Chris Mumford

January 28, 2010

Following a trail blazed by The Runaways in the 1970s, the Riot Brides are out to show that girls can rock just as hard and with as much attitude as the guys who still dominate the rock ‘n’ roll world. Rock is exactly what these women do, with a brash swagger reminiscent of Bon Scott-era AC/DC. Put together by Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy and guitarist Abby Gennet, who previously fronted the New York City-based band Slunt, Riot Brides also includes vocalist Gabriella DeMarco, bassist Erin Soriano and drummer Tuesdai Murgia. They’ll have a four-song EP—released through Pearcy’s Top Fuel Records—available at live shows starting in February, and they’re set to spend 2010 writing, recording and looking for the right opportunity to unleash their act on the national stage. Not bad for a band that has only existed since May 2009. Gennet recently checked in with Live Metal’s Greg Maki to talk about the band, whiskey and dive bars.

Live-Metal.net: I read online that Stephen Pearcy from Ratt helped put the band together. How did that happen?

Abby Gennet: We got introduced through a mutual friend, who found out that he wanted to put an all-female band together. We met, we talked, we had a mutual interest and we went from there. We found the players and just kind of put it together. He’s been really supportive, both musically and financially. In every which way, he’s been in it with us.

How did you go about getting the rest of the band? Was it people that you knew or was it an audition process?

At first, it was word of mouth. The same girl who introduced Stephen and I also knew Erin, our bass player. Erin was pretty much the first person that I met and kind of gelled with, and she was in right off the bat. She’s awesome, she rocks and her attitude was just spot-on. She wants it really bad, which is so important ‘cause some people just get in there to play to have fun. And then there’s the people that really want to work hard and try to make a career out of it. Erin’s a very hard worker, so I knew she was the right girl for the job.

We started auditioning drummers, and my friend Troy was like, “Hey, you’ve gotta meet my friend Tuesdai. She rocks.” He had seen some of the girls that we were auditioning, and he was like, “No, no, no, no, no. You have to meet Tuesdai.” So that was a no-brainer. She really hits the way we needed to. She hits like a guy. I don’t mean to say that in a non-feminist kind of way, but there’s no fluffing involved. She just hits really hard and it’s great.

Once we had that rhythm section together, we started jamming and we started writing a little bit, and we did proper auditions for the singer position. We had lots of girls come through—the good, the bad, the ugly [laughs]. We found Gabby, and she was the perfect mix of attitude and she had a great voice and she has great stage presence. We knew right when she came in that she was our girl.

So that’s kind of how it came together. It’s been the four of us. We’ve gone back and forth between adding a lead [guitar] player here and there. We’ve had a couple different girls come in and play lead but haven’t really found the right match in that department. So we’re pretty much planning on keeping it a four-piece unless someone comes along and just blows us away.

When was this that the band came together?

I guess maybe May in 2009.

OK, so not too long ago.

No, we’re pretty brand-spanking-new. We got together, we just started writing, we’ve played out a bunch and we’re just trying to grow it organically and get out there and play as much as we can.

One of the standard questions for a new band: What are your influences?

Oh god, they’re all over the place. The four of us come from totally different backgrounds. I actually was a big Ratt fan, which was great that we hooked up with Stephen. I was big into the ‘80s metal, so I was really psyched to join forces with him. I like all kinds of music. Classic rock. My all-time favorite is Jimmy Page. I’m a big Led Zeppelin fan, and he’s influenced my playing a lot. But I’m all over the place with what I listen to. Gabby actually used to sing in a hip-hop band. Tuesdai’s also pretty into the ‘80s metal. But everyone has really diverse tastes, and we just like stuff that rocks. Stuff that doesn’t suck.

Are there any previous all-female bands that have influenced you?

You know, there aren’t a lot of all-female bands. There’s numerous bands that have females in them, but The Runaways and The Donnas—



	Photo by Neil Zlozower

And that’s about it.

[laughs] And I can’t say, per se, that I was influenced by The Donnas—I think those girls are great. The Runaways, obviously, they are the pioneers of the all-girl bands, so we’ve gotta give them props. And then there were Joan [Jett] and Lita [Ford] and all those girls who went off and did great things on their own. They definitely were inspirational.

I saw on the band’s MySpace page under the influences it lists “whiskey” and “dive bars.” What’s your favorite whiskey and what’s your favorite dive bar?

Jack Daniel’s, all the way. We’re a Jack band, 100 percent. Favorite dive bar? I can’t speak for the other girls, but my personal favorite is Three of Cups in New York City. Three of Cups is actually a great restaurant with amazing food and it’s not divey at all. But underneath is a kickass little rock ’n’ roll bar where lots of mayhem has happened and lots of craziness has ensued [laughs]. I lived in the city for over a decade, and we spent many a night there. It was quite the scene. Oh, if those bathroom walls could talk! [laughs] Now I’m on the West Coast and I miss it terribly.

Why did you make the move out west?

Oh, we were cold. [laughs] I had enough of shoveling snow. I lived in the city for years and I loved it, and then moved to Long Island to get more space because you don’t really have a lot of space in the city. It just wasn’t our scene out there, so we packed it up and went to the sunshine.

Are you enjoying being just the guitarist in this band and not the frontwoman this time?

I actually am. I’ve really been able to hone my craft. I guess when I was frontwoman I was working more on singing and being the frontperson, and now I’m really focusing on my playing and I feel like it’s made me such a better player. I’m loving the challenge that it’s brought, especially being the only guitar player. I’m a rhythm player. I’ve never really been a lead player. So this has definitely been a challenge because being the only player in the band I’ve had to step it up a little. I’m not really doing a lot of shredding ‘cause that’s not what I do and I’m not gonna go up there and hack it. But I’m definitely doing a lot more riffing. I throw in a solo here and there—more of a melodic solo. I’m not gonna get up there and do a Slash solo or anything. But I’m loving it. I’m still singing, I’m just not the lead singer. I’m doing a lot of backups.

I know—because you’ve got some songs online—you’ve been in the studio. How many songs have you recorded so far and what are the release plans?



	Photo by Scott Uchida

We’ve recorded five songs. We’ve got an EP that’s coming out. We’re having our EP release party on February 6 at the Key Club in L.A. We’re actually only putting four of those songs on the EP. We’re in the writing process, like I said. We’re just writing, writing, writing, and once we get enough, we’ll hopefully get a proper album out. But for now we’ve got a four-song EP that’s kickin’ ass.

And it’s coming out through Stephen Pearcy’s Top Fuel Records, is that right?

Yep. For now. We’re definitely open to other options and so is Stephen. This was the first step, and we’re just gonna put it out there and see where it goes from there.

Like you said, you’ve been playing a lot of shows. What can people expect at a Riot Brides live show?

[laughs] Lots of crotch. [laughs] Someone’s always flashing something when we’re onstage. Erin wears really, really short shorts or skirts. Gabby’s always in fishnets. [laughs] And someone’s always flashing something. It’s kind of funny. We definitely like to dress the part. We like to have fun onstage and get sexy and get rock ‘n’ roll. We drink a lot of Jack. You might get spit on. But we’re always hanging after the show. Just like with Slunt, we’re very interactive with people. We always go out after the show and hang and talk to people and have fun, ‘cause that’s what it’s all about.

Speaking of Slunt, will we ever see or hear any more from that band?

You know, you never know. We’re on—we like to call it a permanent hiatus. We kind of split up because half of us are on the West Coast now and half of us are on the East Coast, and it just physically wasn’t possible to continue. We actually played [lead guitarist] Pat [Harrington]’s wedding last year. We did a mini Slunt reunion for Pat’s wedding, which was a blast. It was so much fun just to get back up and rock with those guys. I miss them so much. You know, never say never. We might do it again sometime soon if the right tour came along or the right opportunity. If Motorhead called us up and said, “Hey, we want you to do this leg of the tour with us,” I wouldn’t say we’d turn it down.

The last time I saw Slunt, you were on tour with Paul Stanley. What was it like being on the road with him?

Oh, it was awesome. He was the nicest guy in the world. We had so much fun. Everyone just treated us so well. We’d walk in to sound check and he’d be like, “Slunt!” He’d always call us out and come up and say hi—super-friendly guy. That tour was amazing for us. I was just at NAMM the other week and probably a dozen people stopped me along the way—“Hey, I saw you with Paul Stanley. That was awesome!” It was such great exposure. That was a really good tour for us.

I’ve seen a lot of the pictures online from NAMM. It looks like you had a pretty good time out there. How was that?

Yeah, we got a little nutty. That happens while on the Jack. We ended up doing some lawn wrestling in front of the Hilton. I don’t know how it got started. I think I might have started it. It was actually really fun.



	Photo by Tom Spano

Looking forward to the rest of this year and beyond, what goals do you have for yourself and for the band?

We definitely want to do some touring other than just the West Coast, ‘cause right now we’ve really been just primarily going around California. We definitely want to hook up with some bigger tours and maybe play for some audiences that don’t really know about us. But right now we’re really just focusing on writing and making music because we need to do that so we can get an album and move forward. You can’t just play the same eight songs every time [laughs]. So yeah, writing, recording, playing out, building our fan base, and just livin’ and lovin’ and enjoying life.

Alright, sounds good.

Yeah. And drinking. [laughs]

I’ve been listening to those three songs you have up on MySpace and I really like what I hear.

Awesome. Yeah, it just really gelled. The four of us are just really on the same page. A band is like a family, and the four of us just clicked on a personal level and on a musical level. That’s so important because you spend a lot of time with the people in your band, and if you guys don’t really get along, then that’s the end of it, as you’ve seen so many times in so many bands in the history of music. You’ve gotta like each other, otherwise it’s really difficult. We just lucked out. The girls are great, they get along and it’s good times.