| Black Velvet Magazine: Glam Slut Rockers by Shari |
| These days it seems that less glam bands burst out into the world. Why is that? What's happened to all the make-up dripping, glitzy outfit wearing, poptastic rock acts that pout and preen and pose and make life fun? It's kinda sad that this carefree OTT attitude, look and sound has almost been made extinct in favour of either boy or girl bands or dark, angst-ridden heavy metal. But fear not, because at least one group in Europe is going full speed ahead. They hail from Zurich in Switzerland and go by the name of GUTTER QUEENS. They were featured a few issues back in Black Velvet's "New Talen" section. With the release of a 7" Single, we decided it was time for a more in-depth look at this devilicious outfit. We got in touch with Sarah Mephïst Memphïs, guitarist for the band et voila... everything you ever wanted to know about Zurich Glam Slut Rockers! The GUTTER QUEENS consists of Elvira Tarantella on drums, Jim Juvenile on vocals, Zygi the Wild One on lead guitars, Calmo Sideburn on bass and Sarah. According to Sarah Zygi is "a killer songwriter and the backbone of the band". Zygi and Jim are the original members and founded the band in 1992. Back then they were called Juvenile Crime. Says Sarah "The band had a tough leather image and played dirty Rock'n'Roll. In 1995 they released their first demo, a tape called ROCKAHOLE. I knew Jim and Zygi from the beginning and was always kind of a sixth member, because I helped them with promotion, styling and make-up. When three members decided to part ways with Zygi and Jim at the end of 1998, they didn't want any success and liked the status of a hobby band, that's where I joined. It was a hard time to get the band going through all those years, but we all found it was more than worth it. I knew Elvira from some jam sessions and I always wanted to have a band with her, so we asked her to join - and she did! For some months we had Chris Lakriz from Hollywood Teasze as our bass player, but we all were aware that we needed a steady member - so we found Calmo through an ad and are very happy with him." Why the change of name from Juvenile Crime to GUTTER QUEENS? Sarah answers "First of all the name Juvenile Crime didn't fit... they weren't juvenile no more! Also the image of the band got more colourful and gender-bending. I once said to Zygi 'You guys look like GUTTER QUEENS' and the name stuck ever since." The band have just released a 7" Single TEENAGE WASTELAND. That's all very well and good but not that many people these days have record players. And most shops don't stock Vinyl. So why did they choose to release a 7"? "It's more or less a statement". Sarah explains. "We all dig Vinyl. It's so cool to hold an LP in your hands and look at the nice cover artwork. Sheep Records is actually a Single label and we thought that it would be cool to get a Single out as our first official release. We are aware of the problem that many of our fans don't have turntables, but that didn't keep us from releasing Vinyl. If you look around, bands are starting to produce Vinyl again. The promo Single of Monster Magnet for instance is on Vinyl too. So we're quite trendy!" Ah, ok. Does that mean that we at Black Velvet are old-fashioned then? I guess so... The GUTTER QUEENS have plans to release a second Singel. The track on sale will be HOT IN HOLLYOWOD and it's B-Side will be none other than a cover of David Bowie's SUFFRAGETTE CITY. Sarah talks of the Bowie tribute. "Elvira and I are big Ziggy Stardust fans and we thought of covering Rock'n'Roll Suicide, but somehow this song doesn't really fit, so we chose a more rocking song. The result is awesome!" Thankfullly the band do have plans to release some CDs. "We want to release a four song CD EP for all of you out there who don't have a turntable." Sarah informs. According to Sarah there is no glam scene in her country, but "we do have quite a few Rock'n'Roll bands in the style of Gluecifer or some Punk Rock bands. Therefore our audience is more or less the Rock'n'Roll crowd. What is a GUTTER QUEENS show like? "To be quite honest, it's unforgettable!" she proclaims. "It's sweaty, it's furious and it's glamtastic. Our singer is completely outrageous and we all behave really wild and make a great show for your hard earned money. You won't regret it, I promise! And above all we are beautifully made-up Glam Slut Rockers." Ah, no modesty in this band, I see. Sarah recounts this time 1500 people came to see the band headline the Auditorium Flog in Firenze, Italy. "We played the Flog in October 1999. It was actually our first gig with the new line-up and Chris on bass. He introduced us to Beppe, an italian booker who set up all those great shows for us in Italy. We were quite surprised when we got to the venue, because we didn't expect it that big. Everybody at the Flog told us that probably around a hundred people would show up. They were completely wrong! We were the only band that night and over 1500 crazed teenagers came along just to see us. We had some good promotion with radio interviews, beautiful flyers, great posters and stuff. I guess that's why so many kids showed up. It was a Glam blast!" The band will soon be heading off around Europe on a tour of Italy, Germany, Sweden, Belgium & Holland. There are no UK dates yet but Sarah hopes the band will make it here sometimes this year. We hope they do too. Issue 27, February 2001 (UK) |
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