Celebrating the Pride Season
Regional events bring community fun
page 29
Music Scene
Wainwright ‘releasses” new CD
page 29
In Memoriam
Yolanda King
page 23
Noted . Notable . Noteworthy . LGBT News & Views
Volume 22 . Number 2 www.q-notes.com June 2.2007
Coming to a town near you:
Lez Zeppelin
All-girl Led Zeppelin cover band
taking America by storm
by David Moore . Q-Notes staff
Ifs true — thafs their name. Really. They
are called Lez Zeppelin. And quite probably
for all the reasons you’d think; they’re all
women, they perform a hard thrashing,
rockin’ reinterpretation of the classic metal-
rock band Led Zeppelin and they may or may
not be lesbians. Maybe some of them are.
Maybe some of them are not Who knows?
“Definitely Probably Maybe,” says Steph
Paynes, the lead guitarist and founder of
the group.
Tearin’ up the town: grrri group Lez Zeppelin plays
Charlotte, Carrboro, Charleston, Winston-Salem and
Greenville.
Photo: Michael Goldberg
“Would you say that aU the members of
your band span the spectrum of society?” I
ask innocently.
“You’re very clever,” Paynes chuckles. “1 like
the way you’re trying to dance around the
issue — but ifs just not something we talk
about. It’s not important. Ifs about tlie music.”
“But you kno\\^’ 1 continue, “that witli a
• name like that you will forever be asked that
question, right?”
“Yeah, I kno Paynes offers. “But it was a ’
no-brainer. When we came up with the idea
we were like,Tfs perfect!”’
“Did you come up with the name?”
“1 did. Guilty on all counts.”
According to Paynes, Most Lez Zeppelin
audiences are kids between 14 and 23 who are
utterly into Zeppelin and love the music. “This
sound touches a big swatch, that crosses age,
gender barriers and sexual orientation,”
Paynes confirms.
The band boasts four members: Paynes
who plays guitar, Helen Destroy on drums,
Lisa Brigantino, who performs bass guitar,
mandolin and keyboards, and Sarah McLellan
is the vocalist.
Paynes is talking with Q-Notes via phone
from a cafe in New York. Within a few days of
our conversation, she and other members of
the band are headed for Germany and a gig
in Hamburg.
“We’ve been to Europe once before,” Paynes
explains, “earlier this year in the winter. Now
we’re headed bade to do a couple of gigs and a
bunch of festivals.”
“How did the European crowd react to
women performing Led Zeppelin?” I ask.
“They loved it! They ran saeaming over the
border (lau^s). The audience was
very enthusiastic it was primarily
hardcore older Zep fans. At first they
were stunned — I tliink it took a
while for them to get their head
around it — but tliey turned out to
be very supportive.”
Paynes initially formed Lez
Zeppelin in 2004. Prior to the for
mation of the group, none of the
women knew each other.
“I just put the word of mouth
out. I told every one I knew and
they had recommendations. It was
surprising,because it was easier to
get the group together than I
thought.”
Cover bands exist en masse. There are
numerous groups that make a tidy sum off
performing the music of other musicians and
bands and remain in relative obscurity — but
Lez Zeppelin is something different.
For Ae uninitiated. Led Zeppelin was an
all-male, English rock band who formed in
1968. With their heavy, guitar-driven sound,
the group is regarded as one of the first heavy
metal bands. TTieir rodc-infused interpreta
tion of the blues also incorporated rockabilly,
reggae, soul, fimk, jazz, classical, Celtic, Indian,
Arabic, folk, pop, Utin and country.
Lez Zeppelin’s re-channeling of their dassic
hits with a rocker grrri sensibility is a win-win
combination: the music is hot and so are the
performers.
“Do you have a big gay and lesbian follow
ing?”! ask.
“The name of the band draws interest
from the gay community^’says Paynes. “In
some places where there is a larger gay and
lesbian community there is a following. But
our audiences are predominantly a mix, really.
We’re always happy to see the gay community
come out, of course.”
Paynes confirms that Lez Zeppelin has
played the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival —
Mishfest — and were surprised by the response.
“I was curious to see how the band would go
oven’says Payne. “Over 50 percent of the audi
ence was lesbian and a lot of the performers
were acoustic. It was the kind of event where the
Indigo Girls would go over like gangbusters.
“We’re definitely not acoustic, but we were
blown away. People were absolutely crazy.
Being women and playing this music is very
powerful — it’s very heavy. It’s something the
world hasn’t had. Having women pull it off in
the way we play it and to have people love it
like they did, is stunning.”
In May, Lez Zeppelin moved past being just a
cover band and released their first CD. Their self-
titled debut was produced by Eddie Kramer, who
had previously worked with Led Zeppelin.
“He was absolutely amazing,” says Payne.
' see hard on 5
Gay youth
murdered in
Greenville, S.C.
Twenty-year-old attacked outside
nightclub on ‘teen night’
by Donald Miller
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Openly gay
University of
South Carolina
student Sean
Kennedy was
attacked outside
Brew’s Pub May
16 following an
altercation that
had occurred
inside the busi
ness just a short
time before.
According to
friends that were
with Kennedy at
Brew’s, 18-year-
old Stephen Andrew MoUer had confronted the
group about
Kennedy’s sexual see murder on 5
Sean Kennedy died fol
lowing a homophobic
attack outside Brew’s
Pub in Greenville.
Anti-bullying bill in NX. Senate,
marriage amendment stalled
Success for School Violence
Prevention Act expected in Senate,
marriage amendment outlook
unclear
by Donald Miller
RALEIGH — Thanks to the extensive
lobbying efforts by EqualityNC, the anti-bul-
Action on the hill: two bills affecting the
LGBT community were at the fore in
late May.
lying bill, the School Violence Prevention Act,
passed its third and final reading in the
House 72-47 on May 24, marking the very
first time in N.C. state history that a pro
equality bill has passed either chamber in
the General Assembly.
The bill, which will direct local school
boards to adopt policies to protect public
school students from bullying and harass
ment, will now go to the Senate where it is
expected to pass.
“We believe that it will pass,” says
EqualityNC Director Ian Palmquist, “though
we have some work to do to get it through.
Then it would go to the governor for him to
sign, and it would become law.”
Palmquist is upbeat that N.C. Gov. Mike
Easley, a Democrat, would sign the legislation.
Another bill drawing a firestorm of atten
tion during this legislative session is the North
Carolina marriage amendment (H.B. 493-
Defense of Marriage).
see legislative on 5
Congress asked to review DADT
page 13
Rudolph hate blogs from prison
page 24
Kennedy had gay best friend
page 15