Out in the Mountains

Virginia and the Wolves,
Vermont’s All-Women’s Rock Band

Sage Russell

Being part of Virginia and the Wolves is
a lot of work. The band members all have
full-time day jobs. They live all over the
state, from Burlington to Putney, and they
see each other all the time: a midweek re-
hearsal, two weekends of gigs a month,
often out of state, and an all—day Saturday
rehearsal once a month. This doesn’t
leave a lot of time for doing the laundry,
much less reading a book or having a so-
cial life.

Being in Virginia and the Wolves won’t
make them rich either. Live bands aren’t
paid much these days. At a recent gig in
Massachusetts, they estimate that they
netted about $35 apiece after all the ex-
penses were paid: paying the crew, travel
expenses, equipment rental, phone calls,
gas, duct tape and the like ("More money
than you’d ever think you could spend on
tape we spend on tape.”).

The obvious question becomes, so why
do they do it? Answers vary, but for most
of them —— Sabine on bass, Sue on drums,

 

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San and Joanne on guitar and keyboards,
and Renne on percussion —— it all comes
down to the music and the audience.
These women take their music seriously,
and they’re good at it. Says Sue, “For me
it’s the physical feeling of drumming. I
started when I was in the fourth grade.
There’s nothing like the feeling of just
working really really hard for something.
There are times when the nights are not
really good. But there are other times
when you’re right there with the music. I
don’t know how to explain it. It’s like
you’re right in the lines of music, and no
matter what you do, you’re right there.
The band is so tight that I can just close
my eyes and sit back and my body just
goes, and I’m not even thinking about it.
And those times — that’s an incredible
feeling.”

Their musicianship and their pro-
fessionalism may be what really set them
apart from other bands, but most people
see their novelty first. This is something
band members are very aware of. Ac-
cording to Sue, “We’re the only all-
women’s band out there right now, and I
think people really like that. Every once
in a while you see that a band has a wom-
an vocalist or a woman guitar player. But
it’s pretty rare to see a whole band, and
roadies and sound people. From start to
finish our whole production is put on by
women.”

They feel that this may help them get the
initial booking ("guy bands are a dime a
dozen”), but has no effect on whether
they’re hired back. That happens because
they play so well together and they’re fun
to dance to. Virginia and the Wolves has
developed a loyal following among both
gay and straight audiences and does a lot
of repeat business at places like Pearls,
and the Charlemont Inn in Massachusetts.

Being a women’s band sets them apart
behind the scenes too. They have no for-
mal leader (although they’re looking for a
manager/booking agent. If you’re inter-
ested, call Joanne at 485-6244), and make
most of their decisions by consensus.
Every member can suggest new songs to
add to their repertoire, and any member
can veto them. Many of them have
played in mixed bands before, and feel
that men tend to be goal—oriented, while
women are just as (or more) interested in
process. This can be frustrating at times
because decision-making takes longer,
but it’s something they ’re committed to.

18

The band is also very appreciative of the
contributions of their roadies (the set-up
people) and sound and light crew. They’re
sensitive to the fact that these women
work as hard as they do, but don’t get the
applause or the recognition. The crew re-
tums their appreciation. Kara, one of the
roadies, says, “I feel like my job is mak-
ing sure that the band is happy. If the
band is happy, they’re going to perform
well. My next job is to make them sound
as good as they are. The other thing thatl
really enjoy is seeing the reception of the
audience and the people having a really
good time. It’s a lot of hard work, but I
really like it. I’m usually exhausted by the
end of the night, but it doesn’t matter if it
was a good gig and the people were hav-
ing a good time and the band performed
well.”

Virginia and the Wolves has been togeth-
er since April 1990. By now they have de-
veloped a repertoire and a following,
come together as a group, and learned
each other’s musical tastes and abilities.
They seem poised to move in some new
directions. Future hopes include an al-
bum, primarily of original material by
San. They would like to play a couple of
festivals next summer. They want more
control over where they will play. They
would like to make more money. In es-
sence, they want to keep doing what
they’re doing and continue to get better at
It.

And while opinions vary, at least some
members want to keep their daytime jobs
for the balance they provide. They don’t,
however, have any desire to be famous,
and feel strongly that fame and glory are
overrated. Joanne says, “I’m sort of over
it with respect to fame and fortune. I’m in
it to play the music and to make it sound
as good as I possibly can, and that’s all I
really want out of it. T'hat’s my satisfac-
tion. I’m not in it for the glory.”

Asked for some final thoughts, Sue says,
“I guess I would want people to know in
general that we work really hard for this. I
think sometimes people who are not musi-
cians go, ‘Oh, you guys are so lucky be-
cause you can do that.’ Like we were born
with this ability. And probably 3 percent
is what we were born with, and the rest -
there’s an enormous amount of hard work
that goes into it. And I think that doesn’t
change, whether it’s a men’s band or a
women's band.” V