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ANTI LILITH FAIR   [august 25, 1999]

excerpted review by Tom Murphy, Metalone on-line zine  

Rumor has it that the Lilith Fair auditions for local bands only allowed for hand drums and not a drum set. This clearly flies in the face of any sane world where rock music can thrive and in reaction to such tepid banality, The Pin Downs organized what was called "the Anti-Lilith Fair." Now while I attended the Lilith Fair last summer and was impressed with acts who I hated on the radio (Paula Cole and Joan Osbourne), it seems that some of the more hard-rocking acts led by women were curiously absent.  No L7, no Skunk Anansie, no Sleater-Kinney–only relatively safe-sounding artists.  Maybe there is a rhyme and reason to all of this but with Lilith Fair announcing this year to be its last, you'd think some chances would be taken especially since the first year or two of the fair failed to include bands like Bikini Kill and Red Aunts (acts who really know how to blow the roof off the joint) before they broke up.

The hand drum story sounds a bit apocryphal considering Cowboy Junkies, Liz Phair and Sheryl Crow have been on previous tours but it is indicative of how unfriendly the national music scene has been to women musicians who dare to truly defy convention.  I saw the Red Aunts last performance ever (so they said) in Denver last year and they cast the scales from my musical eyes: they showed me the beauty of unfettered energy and power without having to say you're sorry for being imperfect. Most of all I was impressed by the fact that they didn't for a moment act as though they didn't belong on stage putting on one of the most blistering live shows I've ever seen. This is the spirit which informed the Anti-Lilith Fair on August 25, 1999 at the Bluebird Theater in Denver.

The Anti-Lilith Fair featured four of the best punk bands on the Denver music scene.  Denver is not usually perceived as a hotbed of musical talent but in my not so humble opinion, some of the most interesting punk and alternative bands in the country have been bubbling up over the last couple of years. When you consider what's being played on the radio and you see really incredible bands struggling and playing before maybe a fifty to two-hundred people (the 15th St. Tavern can barely hold a hundred people) it just seems terribly unjust. Nonetheless there seems to be a camaraderie of sorts among some bands and that friendliness was tangible during the course of the night.

The Maybellines opened the show with a song called "I Like a Girl Who Plays Bass" (and who wouldn't?). The Maybellines play a type of garage rock with punk and sixties pop elements.  Their songs come across as light and wonderfully playful yet they have a little bit of an edge which is why they are immediately more interesting than any pop band could ever hope to be.  The lead singer also plays minimalist keyboards.  It's fairly obvious she hasn't come into her own as a performer but she has enough raw charisma to keep your attention (it doesn't hurt that she's also good-looking). Their music reminds me of another Denver band whom I greatly admire, Dressy Bessy. In fact it seems Tammy Ealom and John Hill of DB were in attendance.  Whereas Dressy Bessy are an incredibly polished alternative pop band, The Maybellines have enough hard chords in their music so that they can straddle the fence between pop and punk. There really isn't anything like them out there so comparisons are difficult to make but both Dressy Bessy and the Maybellines (both of whom are affiliated with the internationally famous Apples in Stereo) take hard-edged punk chords, soften them a bit, and then make them more fun and playful–no mean feat.

At one point the Maybellines did a strange cover of "Little TV" by Dressy Bessy but somehow I think that was lost on most of the audience. With an infectiously charming, if tentative and nervous, demeanor, The Maybellines are band to watch on their way up. They weren't the hardest band of the evening or even the most energetic but their tight and endearing melodies made them one of the best. Few bands have me liking them instantly (Rainbow Sugar, Dressy Bessy, The GEDS and the Down N Outs come readily to mind) but the Maybellines couldn't help but have that effect.

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