Trethewie, David, 1999, 'The Del-Emmas - Barhop' , Beat Magazine
Giris'n'guitars.  The combination works well for obvious reasons - look at the Cramps, The Runaways and the Go-Gos, not to mention Australian bands like Small Hand Gun and The Boyettes. Add Sydney garage queens The Del-Emmas to the list because they have a unique mastery of swampy, '60s, inflected rork.  This five-track EP features hip-shaking tunes about spice travel, death and men with a reply to Lennon & McCartney's 'I Want To hold Your Hand' called 'I'll let you Hold My Hand' with a jungle beat, prowling bass and some tough sixties style guitar last track features the chorus of the year so far.  'I may not live past 21 but what a way to die!' could possibly be compared to the 5.6.7.8.'s.

'The Del-Emmas', 1998, Inpress Magazine
Who are the Del-Emmas?
"Who gives a rat's ass? Someone hopefully! Four masked mysteries from Sydney who like to play trashy tunes."
What's so good about bad girl rock?
"What's bad girl rock? Who's doing it? Where do ladies like us find it? Sounds intriguing. "
Who's better, The Spice Girls or the Shangri-Las?
"Josie and the Pussycats "
Who is your all time hero?
"King Kong and Nancy Sinatra"
Which song best describes the band?
"Out of our set... Another Beer, Another Wine and Tonight He's Mine or What a way to Die"
What have you most regretted doing while drunk?
"Absolutely nothing ... as we said before, we're wholesome young ladies."

Eastmen, Judy, 1999, 'The Del-Emmas', Beat Magazine
There may be more women in rock these days but ever since the post-glory days of 1950s and 1960s America, all-girl groups have been few and far between. The Del-Emmas aren't American or a product of that golden era. They're from Sydney and they're bringing their girlie garage trash pop to a venue near you in honour of their five track ep, Barhop, which features trash pop contenders 'Rocket Ship' and 'Cheetah Man' and the genre's call to arms if ever there was one, 'Git that Man'. Jo and Kym-Louise talked about forming the Del-Emmas and picking up tours with Mudhoney, Rocket from the Crypt and the 5678s in their first year out...
Given that there aren't too many groups doing what you're doing how's the EP been going?,
'It's been really good actually' says Jo. 'There's been quite a bit of interest in Melbourne, but we've been down there quite a bit and you know, there's a lot more venues.'
'Yeah, for our kind of music, I think it's healthier in Melbourne,' Kym-Louise agrees.
Have you got any plans for more recording?
'We were thinking about doing some pretty soon because a lot of the stuff we're writing now - as much as it's still in the same vein - there's a lot more straight pop songs and we want to get down 'cause the EP...'
'We did that in June last year and it's taken this long to get it out', Kim adds.
'Yeah, it's kind of old to us. We want to get something new out as we've written quite a few new songs' Jo explains.
Is this band something you've always wanted to do?
'Yeah, we've all been in different bands, whether they're girlie pop bands or whatever, but we came together and we all liked the same music and said "Yeah, let's do it!"' says Jo.
There's not much of it around is there, certainly not in Australia...
'Certainly not,' Jo agrees. 'And it's just so sad in Sydney with all the venues closing. We've just been really lucky to get some great supports, which have then given us more work but if we were wanting to get a gig off our own bat, it's really hard to find a venue'.
So how'd you get on so many great tours so soon?
'Well we got one and I think from then people saw the fun of it,' recalls Jo.
Was that with the 5, 6, 7, 8's?
'Yeah, But it's not like we're gonna blow anyone off stage', Jo laughs. 'They think we're really easy and fun and certainly not threatening musically!'. 'I think it's like you said before that there's not much around , not many people doing what we do', Kim adds. 'An all girl thing-you've got the Boyettes down there but other than that, I can't really think of another female band doing that kind of thing. We're theatrical and stuff with the costumes and we hope it's entertaining. We're having a good time'.
I asked a friend of mine if he'd seen you and his response was: "saw them with Mudhoney at the Hi-Fi, loved them, closest thing I've seem to an Australian version of 'The Trashwomen'.
'Fantastic!' We like hearing that,' Kim laughs. 'He must have been at the good gig!' Second night we had a shocker there but it was a great tour'.
Plans for the Del-Emmas
'We just plan to keep writing, going back and doing some more recording, playing shows and stuff', Jo says.
'We're going to take a bit of a break because we've been playing so much it's hard to get a few new songs together', adds Kim.
'We put as much time into the band as we can and if we're playing every weekend, then there's less time to start writing'.
Given your EP title and artwork featuring a tequila slammer juke joint, how's the bar hopping scene up there?
'Oh, it's just so different to Melbourne because there's really only about 3 or 4 places that are really happening', says Jo.
'I saw Beat the issue you just did with all the cocktail bars', Kym says. 'I mean that scene's firing down there. We don't have that. Our bars are the suits, you know? To do something crazy, we're gonna get a couple of bands and do a boat cruise because that's kind of what you have to do in Sydney now 'cause the venues aren't there'.
So when are you moving here?
Laughs... 'I think if we moved there we'd probably all have to share a house with each other and we'd break up after two days'.