The Mechanical Dolls @ The Vera Project, Seatttle, WA
When: March 4th, 2005
With:The Spazms, The Snot Rockettes, The Dead X's
My Grade: Femme Fabulous


Punk Chicks
“Your ink fucking rocks!!” one bystander yelled out during a pause, “Why thank you….” Lead singer Majenta (of The Spazms) cooed back. “You should see me naked.” This was the perfect theme phrase for the night, complete with feminine toying, and unabashed flirting. Chicks rock it.

The one thing I always complain about as a female musician is how few of us there are around.

A show such as this makes me feel proud to be a minority, and even more appreciative of how severely us girls can rock the stage. That old saying just goes to show that girls rule and boys suck (sorry boys, we really do love you...but come on!).

There were four (mostly) chick bands that night.

The first band to have at the stage was probably what I would cite as the most musically-refined band to poise the stage.

They go by the name of "The Dead X's."

The two girls and one guy had some incredibly clever lyrics and a great sound. Clever, clever hooks such as in their song "Suave"

This band's allure lays both musically and lyrically, as their songs contain dandy vocal harmonies and a unique lyrical styling all of their own.

Although I must admit that while their songs were good, the band's image and presence unquestionably needs work. Unfortunately the band members themselves displayed a severe lack of interest by continually spacing off as they blew over their own songs. The Dead X's seemed to be dead themselves, and dreadfully need to work on selling their performance. If you happen to see them (and I would recommend you do, if you appreciate fine song composure), just make sure you lie down and close your eyes.

Performance: 4
Sound: 7
Song/Lyrical Content: 8

Even if you were to lie down and close your eyes, there is no way you’d be able to miss this next band and their high-intensity performance.

Or their looks… the looks of “ The Snot Rockettes”, to be exact.

Sporting that ever-so-popular Betty Page look, these little chicks were punk at its rawest. They also have the raddest little name.

Believe me, they were relentless at selling you their performance whether you were looking to buy or not. Occasionally, one could find themselves debating over whether or not to knock the lead singer’s head into the wall, if nothing more than to lull her into less hyper-activity (Like the energizer bunny on LSD).

Although The Snot Rockettes certainly deliver a high altitude performance (complete with multiple second winds) these femme fatales did have a few blemishes on the face of their performance. Their music is probably their weakest point. Their songs lacked clear hooks, and many of their songs melted into each other. The girls sound almost as though they have yet to define their sound, except for the punk-esque anthems that press through their songs (though even those aren’t all that great).

With The Snot Rockettes you can easily overlook glitches because they are so fun to watch. Definitely note worthy, The Snot Rockettes could very well be the best performance you’ve seen in a long time.

Performance: 8
Sound: 4
Song/Lyrical Content: 3


The Spazms
Q: How many lead singers does it take to change a light bulb? A: Just one. She holds the light bulb up and waits for the world to revolve around her.

And what a world that would be. The Spazms rock, plain and simple. There’s no other way to put it. With lead singer Majenta entrancing the audience, fabulous backing vocals on behalf of the bassist, and an effective guitarist, this band grabbed the audience by it’s balls-pulling, ripping and yanking them until the audience wept for mercy and begged for more. Way to kick ass.

Out of the entire group tonight, The Spazms sported the most musically savvy, concentrated ensemble. The music was catchy, and even made it hard for this journalist/photographer to capture a picture, with all the moshers, and swarms of horny

men vying for any photo opportunities the lovely Ms. Majenta would throw at them.

Aside from some of the best photos, The Spazms were that electrical shock that everyone needed. Their music was pretty well put together, vocals were surprisingly pleasant (like Hole could have been if Courtney could sing on key), the bass and drums completely in sync. I think what sold this band was the ease they showed, that many of the night’s beginners were lacking. The stage was their home, and their home was a chaotic pulse of rhythm, strutting, singing, and more strutting. There was even some heavy mock-flirting between guitarist and singer. Who could ask for a better performance?

“He’s so demanding, ‘More vocals. More vocals.’ God. Listen honey, there’s only room enough for two of us in this band, and I think I qualify as two.” Majenta said of the guitarist. With pleasant banter like this, who could ask for anything better? I’m sure the fellow who professed his undying love of Majenta’s ink could. Some things are better left to the imagination; fortunately seeing this band live isn’t one of them.

Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Song/Lyrical Content: 8


The Mechanical Dollsare okay. Maybe it’s that I have guitar envy. But more than likely this band is just mediocre. The equivalent of the garnish on the side of a main course, pretty, decent, but more like “meh” (insert shoulder shrug here). Don’t get me wrong, these girls aren’t bad, and the fact that they are all gals is really cool. However, there’s just something missing.

Their sets included okay song lyrics, and guitarist/lead vocalist Savanna is pretty on top of her game as far as mastering her beautiful mock-Gibson Les Paul cherry sunburst guitar. However these dolls are more doll-like than they are entertaining rockers. There was more enthusiasm in drummer Valerie (who was more then happy to show off her fancy performance drumming skills to the audience), than all of the other Dolls combined.

There was just a great lack of anything magical.

Overall The Mechanical Dolls just need a little bit more practice in characterizing their sound. Time to disassemble the doll parts and start over.

Performance: 5
Sound: 6
Song/Lyrical Content: 6

Reviewed by: Ms. Missy