Monday 12th of February 2007 – Lez Zeppelin
A friend from urban, Hollis is very much into rock tribute bands, and previously took us to Sack Sabath (Black Sabath tribute band) which was one of the funniest gigs I’ve been to for sometime. The singer looked and sounded so much like Ozzy Osbourne and he was funny with it too. His shirt had red strings hanging from it every time he outstretched his arms. There was a cheap plastic bat hanging from the microphone.
When Hollis said that Lez Zeppelin was playing this Sunday I got really excited – this time it was at the Mean Fiddler, Charing Cross Road. I like Led Zeppelin so I made my way to the pub to meet some urbanites and you stayed with J, who’s not really into rock and roll, he’s more into dance music. We get to the Mean Fiddler, 5 minutes before the show starts, squeeze our way to the front, near the stage – there were 5 of us – and suddenly I see this mane of soft hair, this womanly figure on stage. I turned around to B and said ‘Oh, that’s a woman!’, then the guitarist comes and, she’s a woman too – it all felt a bit strange. B then started laughing her head off and said ‘Why do you think they are called ‘Lez’ Zeppelin? The penny dropped: Lez -> lesbian? We just looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Led Zeppelin was the ultimate macho band and suddenly I was confronted by these women – I really didn’t think it was going to work. BUT IT DID! They could play their instruments incredibly well, what a treat it was, even though they didn’t play many of my favorite songs (I think they only played about 10 songs), what a performance, very electric!!! To top it all off, the guitarist was doing her solo with a violin stick, next thing I know I get hit on the shoulder by something, it really hurt, then I realised what it was, so I bent down really quickly, fumbled on the floor (no one else seemed to bend down, which was lucky) and there it was!!!! I spent the rest of the gig holding the violin stick – on the way out people were coming up to me and saying I should sell it on ebay! Great night! here’s a review of Lez Zeppelin:
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Four women rockers who took on the music of Led Zeppelin are driving club audiences to a frenzy and,
offstage, whipping up speculation over their sexual tastes with the name of the band: Lez Zeppelin. “We have sort of a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
policy,” says Steph Paynes, lead guitar player and the “Jimmy Page” of the group. “It’s better to keep it all a mystery, and in
the end it really doesn’t matter. What matters is the music.”The New York-based quartet came together almost three years ago with the express purpose of covering songs by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Led Zeppelin. They’re among a small but growing number of all-female tribute bands Spin Magazine recently referred to as “Chicks with Picks,” and include the playfully dubbed AC/DShe, Cheap Chick and The Ramonas.
“It wasn’t like we decided just to do an all girl cover band for the sake of it,” Paynes said in an interview. “It was strictly me lounging on the couch, listening to a Led Zep album and being in absolute ecstasy over the music. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be playing than this.”
Zeppelin’s brash amalgam of hard-driving rock, traditional blues and guitar-tinged ballads propelled the sale of millions of albums and made them one of the top bands of the 1970s. It disbanded in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham.Paynes said the tribute group had been mulling a name for a week or two and when Lez Zeppelin was suggested, there was no question of them not using it. With veteran New York-area musicians Helen Destroy on drums, Lisa Brigantino on bass, mandolin and keyboards and Sarah McLellan on vocals, the group is electrifying. But the question that consistently follows the band around is whether any or all of its members are, in fact, lesbians. “Oh, definitely maybe,” Payne said. “There’s no question about maybes.” “I was aware of what the name might suggest, but that to me was not a problem at all,” she added. Paynes said despite the nudge and wink the band’s name conveys, their audience is not dominated by lesbians. “There is some gay and lesbian following, but it’s mostly just a Led Zeppelin following. Male, female, in every age group,” she said before getting ready for a sold-out gig that night at New York’s Bowery Ballroom.
Her take on the group’s demographic was borne out at the show that night. As the band opened with a thundering version of “The Immigrant Song,” vocalist McLellan delivered the number’s trademark opening wail faithfully and sent the predominantly male crowd into a frenzy.
The audience, including a few amorous Sapphic couples near the front of the stage, did not differ noticeably from that in any other East Village club on a Friday night. Paynes said she thinks many come to see if a group of women can recreate music with such a testosterone-driven sound. “It was pretty daunting to perform this stuff live, even for Led Zeppelin,” she said. “Even they didn’t keep it going once John Bonham died.” After a brief pause, she added, “I guess we’ve got balls.”