Encyclopedia of Black Women in Rock Music
I got to see Melissa’s band live a few weeks ago. Here’s the full video from that night. I’d been trying to catch them for a while. I stuck around to see HammerFall for a second time and then got to see all the cameos Melissa did with Kamelot for the finale. She’s a dynamic performer and I highly recommend checking her out of you get the chance.
She’s pretty in person lol 🤓 This band is amazing live.
Band is either called Unity or Trinity. I have been to too many shows without hearing protection so I sometimes miss important things like band names. 🥹 I’ve seen this act at another Punk Black and I didn’t catch the band name the either, although she was a solo act at that time. At any rate, this band is pretty rad.
Edit: Someone clarified that the band is Uniity in my Tumblr tags. So there we have it!
March 30th, 2024
Not sure of the singer’s name, but Pearl is a great live band. Had a hardcore punk sort of vibe, which y’all know I’m partial to. ☺️ Check them out.
I got to see Divide and Dissolve live last month and it was amazing. Definitely check them out if they’re ever touring near you.
It’s not often that I get to sit down and chat with the women featured on this blog, but I was fortunate enough to grab LYNX from Old Blood and ask her a few questions.
Old Blood is a metal band out of Southern California. Their most recent release is Acid Doom, which you can check out here.
And now, on to the questions!
One of the things I’m always curious about is how other black women found themselves entangled with rock music. Can you tell me a bit about how you discovered rock music and what made you want to perform rock music?
I’ve always been a performer – I started acting when I was 2 and music has always been my favorite medium and as I started finding my favorite kinds of music, I always enjoyed the “strong stuff” more than other sounds. But when I discovered metal, the similarities with classical music really spoke to me. As a violinist, I was drawn to the guitar solos. As a vocalist, I was drawn to the power – all this around the ages of 9 and 10. When my neighbor lent me some Metallica tapes (yeah, this was in the 80’s!), I knew what musical direction I’d be taking.
How has your experience been as the frontwoman for Old Blood? Anything memorable happen while performing with this band?
Joining OLD BLOOD has been an incredible experience. The guys are great to work with. Whether we’re hammering out new parts of a song in rehearsal, cris-crossing the nation in Macho Van Bandy Savage (our band van) or hitting that tricky part of that one song at that one bar – it’s always fun. Some shows really stand out in my mind – ones where other women, often black women, approached me in gratitude for being who I am and doing what I do. Truly heartening moments.
What is your creative process when it comes to making albums and performing?
I’m always making notes, as I hear or “find” lyrics in my daily comings and goings. I keep these notes in a binder that comes out when we start composing the music for new songs. I leaf through these pages and listen for melodic cues that draw these lyrics off the page. The song builds from there. Before a gig, I like to do some Pilates along with some focused breathwork and vocalizations to prepare myself for the athleticism of an OLD BLOOD show.
Who are some of your favorite bands to listen to right now?
I’ve been deep in a Mark Lanegan phase for the last 5 years or so, much more after reading Sing Backwards and Weep, his autobiography. When we went on tour in 2021, I got it as an audiobook and his voice became an essential companion for those hours of seemingly endless travel. He passed away shortly before our 2022 tour and once more, his music, written and spoken words served as a tobacco and whisky-stained security blanket in my ear.
Of course, LYNX can’t live by Lanegan alone. Unto Others (formerly Idle Hands), out of Portland is another constant in my auditory library. The 1st 4 cds in my car’s player are all theirs.
Otherwise, I love supporting the local scene and LA has an abundance of mad-talented acts that keep me out late. I saw my buddies in Formula 400 last night with Freedom Hawk, from Virginia Beach and the night before, my friend Margarita Monet and her band Edge of Paradise opened a stellar jam night in the heart of Hollywood. There’s so much good stuff out there!!
What word of advice would you give to anyone thinking about joining a band or getting involved in the music industry?
Give it a go. If it’s something you truly desire, that need will never leave you. It won’t be ignored nor will it die. Learn as much as you can about the industry and what it takes to reach your definition of success. It’s different for everyone, but just don’t let that call go unanswered.
You can follow LYNX on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/lynxoldblood/
So, story time. This group of ladies make me particularly proud. I’ve been listening to rock music since 2002, but didn’t start going to shows until 2009. The only thing I found to go to locally were hardcore shows, so that made up the bulk of what I was seeing and listening to at the time.
One of the things I always wanted to see was black women doing hardcore and metal music on the stage, since that’s what I prefer to listen to, but when I first started going to shows that wasn’t something I ever saw. When I started this blog in 2011 there weren’t a lot of black women in rock in general, but there were almost no black women doing heavy rock music. Alexis Brown of Straight Line Stitch was the only one I knew of at the time.
It’s been an absolute pleasure to see that change over the years, and to have so many women to choose from when I want to dig in and listen to hardcore. Because the hardcore scene was the first scene I ever explored in Atlanta, it always has a special place in my heart, and I love that there are so many black women doing this type of music now.
Like a lot of hardcore kids, I transitioned into metal as my primary genre of choice and most of the shows I go to now are metal shows. And there’s a glut of black women to choose from when I want to listen to metal as well! But I always look fondly on the days of going to weird, out of the way venues (including a random warehouse) to go see hardcore shows, and the women in this group remind me of good times.
Bleed The Pigs (Kayla Phillips) #SeenLive
Replica
Venkman (Lynette Vertilus)
Buggin (Bryanna Bennett)
Hostilities (Larissa Perrin)
Red C (Toni Young)
Picture credits go to their respective owners.
Black Women In Rock 