Recap and the future!

Let me start by wrapping up 2004, and saying what an amazing year it was! In November, one of my bands, Coronados, went on a South American tour, hitting Argentina and Uruguay. The main attraction was the annual B.A. Stomp! This garage and rock and roll festival was headlined by the amazing Defectors from Denmark! What a bunch of cool guys! We partied with them a lot, and Coronados got to perform with them twice. In addition, we played with Argentinean surf combo Los Kahunas, Historia del Crimen, and two bands featuring Buenos Aries’ grrrl extordinare Patricia (Las Bambolinas and She-Devils)!! I can’t tell you what an amazing two weeks I had meeting bands from our label, No Fun Records, drinking tons of vino rojo and shopping, shopping, shopping! Our home base for the tour was

Buenos Aries, which is truly one of the most amazing cities I’ve ever visited. Coronados plan to return to South America this fall, hopefully to Brazil, with our new label mates, Detroit’s Hard Lessons!

The Sirens wrapped up ’04 with a big New Year’s Eve Craptacular at the Lager House. Special guests included metal band Wolfbait and rock and roll gods the Skeemin’ No Goods. We were joined by a special guest, our friend Jackson Smith, who lent his guitar talents to a few songs. Next up for The Sirens is our first European tour! Next month (April 9-24) we’ll be touring France and Switzerland. The first week of the tour we’re on our own, and the second half we will support Nashville Pussy and The Bellrays!

Now on to 2005! My greatest musical discovery this year has to be the glam rock outfit Robin Black. Our Canadian and U.K. rock fans surely know about Robin and his band of Intergalactic Rock Stars, but the kids in the states have yet to be so lucky. I stumbled upon the band by chance when my friends in Detroit band, the Capitol Cities were asked to open for Robin Black at

Call the Office in London, ON. I tagged along for fun, and was totally surprised and floored when I saw Robin Black live. I heard great things, but I had no idea it was going to be so amazing. Even with a stripped down stage set up, the band was on fire. Robin is ever the showman, and is a rock star in every sense of the word. His band is dynamite. Lead guitarist Killer Ky Anto totally stopped me in my tracks with his staggering stage presence and awesome chops. The whole band kills, and they are all super sweet guys. After that first show, I was totally hooked.

A few weeks later on a snowy-as-hell Tuesday night, The Sirens were set to open for Japanese pop stars Shonen Knife at the Magic Stick in Detroit. We had new songs, new outfits, a new drummer and we were totally ready to kick ass. We did our thing (after a whirlwind set by Seattle’s Visqueen), and afterwards I hightailed it over the Canadian border (5 minutes down the road) to Windsor to catch the Capitol Cities and Robin Black once again. The show was held at the small but super cool Phog Lounge. I arrived (still in my Sirens getup) just in time to catch the last half of the Capitol Cities set. Robin Black was up next, and they put on a bad ass performance, with plenty of songs from their newest CD “Instant Classic.” For the second time, I was dragged on stage by Robin to sing backups for their cover of The Sweet’s “Hellraiser,” which was funny because less than 2 hours earlier I was on stage in a different country playing the same song with The Sirens. Robin Black and the band are currently on tour in Canada in support of “Instant Classic,” so go see ‘em! Tour dates can be found at www.robinblackrocks.com.

Back in Detroit, that weekend was the sixth annual Hamtramck Blowout. This year I debuted my newest band, The Vamps! This five-girl blues rock outfit played our first show in January, and by Blowout time we had a pretty good buzz about us. We played the New Dodge Lounge around 9 p.m. on Saturday night, and then we all busted over to the K of C Hall to catch the show of the weekend — the Hard Lessons! Words cannot describe how much I love this band. They have youth, energy, talent and amazing songs. The trio consists of Gin on guitar and vocals, Ko Ko Louise on keys and vocals and the Anvil on drums. No other woman in rock and roll right now has a voice like Ko Ko. She literally stops the show every time with her spine-chilling pipes. The rest of the time, the crowd sings along enthusiastically to every damn song these kids have. Watch out for their new record “Gasoline” this spring on Ann Arbor’s No Fun Records. My other favorite Blowout performances throughout the weekend were given by rockabilly trio the Koffin Kats, the Avatars, the Muggs and the Sights.

Up next in Detroit, the very first Motor City Music Conference! Over 400 national and local bands and artists will perform throughout the city April 20-24. Check out all the details at www.motorcitymusic.com. Other big shows this spring include Queens of the Stone Age at St. Andrew’s Hall on April 3, Devil Doll and burlesque star Kitten Deville at the Belmont on April 28, and electronic duo Adult at the Magic Stick on May. On May 28, the Vamps will be lucky enough to open for the Hard Lessons’ big CD release party for “Gasoline” at the Magic Bag in Ferndale with the Nice Device and the Dead Bodies.