Toronto’s all-female surf guitar combo The Surfrajettes made a stop at The Magic Bag Theatre in Fabulous Ferndale, Michigan, this past Wednesday, July 6, and performed before a crowd of enthusiastic fans of their unique style of music.
The band consists of Lacey (guitar), Nicole Damoff (guitar), Sarah Butler (bass), and Anna (drums). Bassist Butler didn’t make the trip due to travel issues and was replaced by Detroit musician Via Mardot for this run of shows.
Evoking memories of Dick Dale and The Ventures with their sound and looking like they jumped out of a Beach Party movie... the band definitely presents as vintage 60’s but their music is refreshing.
Evoking memories of Dick Dale and The Ventures with their sound and looking like they jumped out of a Beach Party movie with their beehive hairstyles and miniskirts, the band definitely presents as vintage 60s, but their music is refreshing. The guitar duo of Lacey and Damoff are marvelous musicians and connect like two pieces of a puzzle when they play. Forget more cowbell, these girls are all about the reverb! Anna was tearing it up on drums; she was fun to watch. Via Mardot did a commendable job filling in for Sarah Butler, but I hope to see Sarah play next time around.
The setlist consisted of original surf tunes penned by Damoff and Lacey, as well as a mix of covers, some of which you would never dream could be played surf guitar style. Hello, "Inna Gadda Da Vida"! Their cover of Britney Spears’ "Toxic" is, well, intoxicating! It was that cover that really garnered a lot of attention on YouTube four years ago and is responsible for over 6 million views and 118,000 subscribers to their channel.
