July 5–12, 2001

music

About a ’Girl

Undergirl holds a Mirror to the local music scene.

by Patrick Rapa

Step kids: (Clockwise from top left) Winfield, Domanico, Billick and DiCamillo.

It’s easy, and wrong, to mistake loud for angry. When loud and proud Philly rock band Undergirl rattled the Khyber in February, singer-guitarist Amy DiCamillo’s passionate vocals roared overtop crisp, powerful chord changes and savvy drum work that flooded the small room and rattled the drop ceiling. It was impossible to hold an irrelevant conversation in their presence; you had to watch and listen. Some people headed to the bar for cover.

A few more who had come out that night to see Seattle’s The Gossip ventured into the stage area with their beers to see who was making all the racket, then stayed till the end. The same volume-11 fury that can drive people away from Undergirl has a way of reeling them in, too.

There are plenty of noisy bands in town, but some days it seems like Undergirl is the only one playing balls-out, honest-to-Satan punk rock. As a result, finding appropriate gigs can be tricky. "They don’t know who to [book] us with," laughs DiCamillo, sitting on her living room couch with her bandmates gathered around and about 15 Kurt Cobain photos on the wall behind her. She longs for days she’s only heard about, when mixed bills — like the Dead Kennedys with Dwight Yoakam, or Minor Threat with R.E.M. — weren’t unheard of.

Says drummer/band co-founder Frank Domanico: "A lot of people, when they first see us, they’re taken back.… It is aggressive." Some songs are catty, sarcastic shots at local enemies, others come from obvious hurt and longing. But angry? DiCamillo, who writes all the songs, says that’s not the whole picture.

"Sometimes it’s just yelled out that way. Do you think Rage Against the Machine are always angry? Yeah, I guess they are. Or, like, At the Drive-In. See, do you think they’re really angry, or they just sing that way?" Sure, sometimes Undergirl is pissed off, but most of the time they’re having fun up there.

Fun is also a good way to sum up the band’s debut CD, She’s Too Much for My Mirror (on the band’s Scarlet A label). Its spirited, smartass attitude belies the sweat, time and dollars that went into it. With parts recorded as early as 1997 and some final bits mixed as late as 2001, Mirror is a labor of love that was pieced together throughout the band’s history. "Whenever we got the money up, we’d record," says Domanico. The result is a dozen tight tracks of melody and intensity best characterized by "Right People," an echoey, fierce, snide rock song, complete with a real rock solo and plenty of opportunity for DiCamillo to harmoniously scream her head off.

Inevitably, and probably unfairly, the band draws comparisons to other loud woman-led outfits like Sleater-Kinney and Bratmobile, bands that would make for an easy, cohesive rock bill. "You know, I love all those bands, but it’s like you always hear the girls say, ‘I want to play with the MC5.’ You know what I mean? I want to play with the boy bands," says DiCamillo. "I’d love to play with Sleater-Kinney… but if you constantly play in that section, then don’t you think they always see you as a girl?"

In some ways, the music biz both locally and nationally is a boys’ club where women musicians and songwriters don’t get the respect they deserve. "You always feel like we’re the Sixers and they’re the Lakers," says DiCamillo, who seems to relish the underdog role the way Allen Iverson welcomed the challenge in the finals. Still, the "chick factor" has opened some doors, including the band’s appearance at the RCKRGRL Music Conference in Seattle last year.

At the center of the band is always DiCamillo’s charisma, a mix of worker-like dedication and snarky rock-star posturing. These days, Undergirl is a tight and tightly wound rock machine, something DiCamillo admits wasn’t always the case. "I thought we were not a good live band at all for a long, long time." Now the band practices regularly at Red Square (bassist Annah Winfield’s West Philly apartment/occasional music venue) and concentrates on playing one song after another to give their live show the sort of fever pitch you hear on Mirror.

Guitarist Matt Billick makes a point of egging DiCamillo on, "You don’t spit at anybody anymore." He laughs, but he’s not lying. "It’s been a while since you tossed a drink at anyone. I think you’re slipping."

DiCamillo’s not ashamed. "I do this little thing where I gargle the water and I think it’s really cool because I can get distance and spit." (Maybe showmanship runs in the family; her little brother Brandon is a regular on MTV’s Jackass.)

"Yeah, it’s not anger," says Winfield, "I think she’s just going nuts more than anything."

Undergirl has undergone a few lineup changes and endured a confusing local music environment since it started a half-decade ago. At a time when it seems like Philly’s indie scene is really taking off, the places to play are at an all-time low. Domanico somberly laments that venues like Upstairs at Nick’s, the Upstage and Sam Adams’ Brewhouse have all closed without being replaced.

"It’s hard all over for musicians," says Winfield. "It’s not just hard to be a girl, it’s hard to be in a band." So why do it? The smiley Winfield appreciates the simple pleasures: "You want people to be able to hear your [music] and, hopefully, like to dance around to it."

Undergirl will perform a record-release party Sat., July 7, 10 p.m., $6, with Lefty’s Deceiver (this is bassist Ed Hogarty’s last show with the band), The Holy Fallout and 1929, Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888.

Download Undergirl songs free from our Hear Here page!