Back in the oh so distant days of 2019, The Distillers announced a tour with Death Valley Girls as their supporting act. Having grown up listening to The Distillers, I knew whichever band was to open for them would most certainly be a band I’d be down with.
Unfortunately, most of that tour was canceled after The Distillers’ drummer, Andy Granelli, suffered injuries in a bike accident. I still remember that announcement like it was yesterday.. and although it was a mega bummer, I knew I had to make it a point to catch Death Valley Girls whenever the opportunity came around. And here we are 7 years later!
If I were to describe Death Valley Girls.. imagine the perfect soundtrack to a grainy, pulpy, exploitation film from the late ’60s/’70s: chicks kicking ass and taking names, muscle cars through desert highways, motorcycles in hot pursuit, and a cool ass psychedelic cult just around the bend. Death Valley Girls provide that soundtrack that Tura Satana would have loved.
Before their tour kicked off, frontwoman Bonnie Bloomgarden suffered a vocal injury, but it didn’t slow them down for a second. If anything, they played with even more heart. Don’t get me wrong, I love blasting Death Valley Girls in the car all the time, but god damn… I think they somehow sound even better live. I was blown away.
Throughout their set, you could feel the genuine love and care each band member has for one another and that warmth spilled over into the crowd.
In a music scene that is male dominated and often celebrates toughness over tenderness, Death Valley Girls showed up for us in a different, much more refreshing way.
So I’ll be honest… I intended on going to this show to catch DVG and I had absolutely no idea who the headliner was. When I got there and found out it was Man Man, I started making assumptions based solely on the crowd, which, from my observations, appeared to be made up almost entirely of Phish fans. How could I tell? Easy. Because if there’s one thing Phish fans love more than Phish, it’s telling you they’re Phish fans. Anyways!
I always say I’ll try anything once, and I’m really glad I stuck around for Man Man. I wasn’t sure what I was walking into, but watching them weave together so many different genres (and effortlessly) like avant-garde, carnival punk, cabaret, jazz, and folk into something was a pretty great surprise. Man Man, you just gained another fan.
Highly recommend if you’re into bands like: Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom, Faith No More, Modest Mouse.
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