PUNK GIRLS ARE COOL

Saw punk combo De Tommies play their 2nd ever show a couple of weeks ago. Young, local and weaned on pop-punk: in most such cases I can be seen fleeing the place after about 5 minutes of Green Day chord changes and ska interludes, but they were great! "How can this be?" you ask, to which I reply, "cuz they're girls!" Yes, my dear reader, a lot of my favourite (post-)punk noises were/are made by women, and this is for a couple of reasons: first, whereas men (myself included) often revert to the same ol' Chuck Berry-riffs as a result of practicing those riffs for years, girls don't waste their time honing their instrumental skills, they just make up riffs they can play straightaway! While male punk rock musicians focus on playing tight, fast, loud and often complicated, the females focus on originality; even if someone can play just 2 chords, she'll play them in an interesting way. In male punk, the whole band is playing the same notes at the same time (or trying to); in girl punk different simple parts are interlocking, creating a much more interesting whole using less "technique". Then there's the fact that the female voice simply has a bigger range and more possibilities than its male counterpart; it's great for using as an extra instrument instead of merely barking the words. So these last few weeks I played a lot of my old grandmapunkrecords by bands that De Tommies have probably never heard of, but that sound like them anyway: the Slits of course (is there a more 1977-adrenalin-inducing record than their Peel Sessions?), Raincoats, Kleenex, Delta 5, Au Pairs (o.k., those last two were half-and-half)...and last but not least, Mo-Dettes. For some reason the Mo-dettes have never received the critical accolades bestowed upon Slits/Raincoats/Kleenex...well, every other band I mentioned. No retrospective CD, no mentions by Greil Marcus or in Rip It Up And Start Again; I guess because of the name (and their Roy Liechtenstein/Pop Art-style record covers) people think they were a Mod band. Well, bass player Jane Crockford was the one who bit a piece of Shane McGowan's ear off back in 1976, how's that for punk credentials?
I've yet to hear their LP, but I really like their 45's that I have. 1979 debut single "White Mice"/"Masochistic Opposite" was distributed by Rough Trade, and sounds as clangy and primitive as anything from that label, but with a bit more melody than their peers. Second single "Paint It Black" is o.k., but doesn't stray too far from the Stones original. I really like the grating Gang Of 4-style rhythm guitar on third (or fourth?) 45 "Dark Park Creeping" from 1980. Like the Slits' Ari Up, Mo-Dettes singer Kate Korus came from a German-speaking country, giving her vocals an ever-so-slight Nico touch. Come to think of it, singing in a language that's not your own is sorta like the vocalist's equivalent to playing an instrument you're not technically adept at!

Mo-Dettes - White Mice
Mo-Dettes - Masochistic Opposite
Mo-Dettes - Dark Park Creeping