Leaders of fem

Sleater-Kinney may no longer be with us – sob – but fans of robust lady rock can take heart. The Hedrons, four Glaswegian gals with an impressively muscular sound, are here to fill the void and save the day.

Just over 18 months have passed since Soup (Drums), Chi (Bass), Rosie (Guitar) and Tippi (Lead Singer/Guitar) met around a coffee machine in a local recording studio but the crew have already made significant waves.
In a support slot at the London Astoria last July, they reportedly rocked Alice In Chains off the stage. They’ve caused wet knickers all round in the music press where comparisons with Patti Smith, Blondie, Penetration, Motorhead, Foo Fighters have dutifully been trotted out. Most significantly, they are, in common with many young slips of things, Big On The Internet.
Their first single, ‘Be My Friend’ quickly sold out last summer thanks to a flurry of interest among their online pals. “I Need You’, the band’s sophomore effort, debuted at number five in the indie charts.
“It’s been great,” says guitarist Rosie. “We started touring before we even really knew each other but we’ve really worked at it. We played 147 gigs in less than a year so it’s nice to see some
response.”
Hasn’t it been tricky touring in a gaggle of strange women? Comedians from less enlightened times would surely have a field day with the potential for backstage cat-fights.
“Well, after a solid six week stint on the road, it’s nice to do your own thing,” says Rosie. “But we’re sensible girls. Even when we’re doing mad drinking.”
When not drinking or touring the earthly plain, the girls have been conquering cyberspace. Recently, they became the first band to play a gig in Second Life, the simulated metaverse primarily inspired by Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi classic Snow Crash.
“Like any of those simulated life things, it’s a complete world,” explains Rosie. “You have your own character and your own money and you buy your own property. So we saw posters going up everywhere on the site and people bought money and t-shirts. They even build us a venue. We actually played the gig in a studio in Glasgow so it was mad watching the playback with us playing in character.”
Soon, further worlds will surely tremble before their mighty racket.
A third single, ‘Heatseeker’ is already available on Measured Records at a computer terminal near you while next month sees the release of One More Won’t Kill Us, their endearingly raucous debut album.
“I always say that people think it’s music made by big hairy men until Tippi starts singing,” laughs Rosie. “It’s just good old raw punk energy. There’s no deep philosophy behind it. We just want you to be out of breath when we’re done.”
Au contraire. That sounds like a very fine philosophy to us.