The Little Debbies
Words: Colin Kincaid
The idea of four women decked out to rock-fashion nines hitting the stage to grind out a rough-edged combination of rock, rockabilly, punk, garage and surf sounds is pretty ... sexy. Sorry, that's reality. For guys, it's tough to put that image away, and just concentrate on the music. And for jaded music fans and hipster snobs alike, it's also tough to ignore the suspicion that such a thing might be a little, erm, shall we say ... prefabricated?
But drummer Tina "Teen Laqueefa" Ferrell, bassist Erin "The Black Mamba" Nolan, and guitarists/vocalists Michele "Nobody You Know" Lane and Milka "Khan Yi" Ramos came together to form Orlando's Little Debbies out of the purest intentions - they just wanted to tear it up.
"We all played in different bands over the years," says Nolan. "We all knew each other from hanging around, seeing each other's bands play, supporting each other. And we just decided to get together and jam.
"Instantly, the first day we got together, it was like 'ooh, this could be really good.' And ever since, we've just been in love with each other."
After a few months of rehearsals, The Little Debbies started playing local clubs this past July, and quickly became something of a sensation around the Orlando original-music scene. Certainly, some of the attention came due to the fact that they were four outgoing ladies playing loud-ass music together - it may suck that there are fewer enough women playing rock music than men to make an all-girl group something of an exotic anomaly, but it's also true.
"There are so many women that have been playing that don't get close to the recognition they deserve," Nolan counters. "And that's something we all understand - we don't agree with it, but unfortunately, that's the reality we we live with."
Scenesters who look deeper will find The Little Debbies' uniquely eclectic sound. Seemingly composed of equal parts of just about every edgy rock style to come along since the white folks stole R&B, it's an unpredictable style, one that might stand in direct contrast to the narrow target-marketing employed by trend-savvy bands these days, but one that's infinitely more interesting.
"I like to play what feels good and sounds good," says Nolan. "We call our music 'mutt rock' because we're a bunch of mutts, all from different ethnicities - we look like a Benetton ad. And we play what we like, and we like a little bit of everything. It's cool if other bands wanna call themselves punk or emo or whatever, but we try to encompass a little of all of it, and hopefully it'll come across to an audience that will appreciate it as well."
The LIttle Debbies open for the Misfits at Orlando's Club Firestone on Saturday, December 6. They'll also be at The Peacock Room in Orlando on January 9.myspace.com/thelittledebbiessnacks