Glocks, triangles, stand-up bass & sweet vocals Friday, March 7, 2008 BY IAN SPELLING SPECIAL TO THE BERGEN RECORD
SEE ONLINEThe Lascivious Biddies -- a steadily rising, all-female New York City quartet -- write and perform songs so offbeat, so unique and so encompassing of other music categories that they had to come up with their own name for what they do: cocktail pop.
"Our music is a real mix of genres," lead singer Lee Ann Westover says by telephone from her Manhattan apartment. "It has a lot of the storytelling aspects of cabaret and the chops of jazz musicians, but also the songs are pop formatted, so you get a lot of fun choruses.
"It has a slightly retro connotation, too, which you get when you come to a Biddies show. There's a little bit of that '50s and '60s fun."
She adds, "We spent years and years -- literally five years -- trying to come up with a term, and we finally settled on cocktail pop. I think often what happens is people will say, 'Cocktail pop. Cool. Wait, what is that?' I think it hits people on a gut level, and it's a fun way to tell people what we do. Hopefully they like it even if they can't tell you what it is."
The band -- Westover on lead vocals, glockenspiel and triangle; Saskia Lane on double bass and vocals; Deidre Rodman Struck on piano, melodica and vocals; and Ila Cantor on guitar and vocals -- formed in 2001. They started on a whim, thinking they might give it a go as a Go-Go's cover band.
They quickly developed their own sound, though, and to date have released the albums "Biddiluxe" and "Get Lucky," as well as the EP "Love You Mean It." They've become road warriors and, thanks to their Web site, blogs and podcasts, have cultivated a fervent fan base.
"We used to just tour up and down the East Coast, and in the past year and a half or so we've started going out all over the country and we've signed up with a great manager who's been sending us all over creation," Westover says. "So things have really amped up a lot for us. It's been wonderful to see the country this way."
The Biddies' current tour will bring them to Paramus tonight for a show at Bergen Community College. Westover promises that the evening will be a typical Biddies blast.
"Our Jersey shows have always been a good time," she says. "We're going to play new material people haven't heard yet because we've been doing a lot of writing for an album we're working on."
As a band, they're on the way up, but they still play the occasional wedding, and each Biddie works a side project or two. Westover, for example, writes a blog, interviews bands for a few downtown Manhattan papers and dabbles in design.
"Am I making a living as a Biddie?" Westover asks, repeating a question posed to her. "I always say it depends on the month and the economy. Talk to me now and I'll be like, 'Yeah, it's fabulous,' but come August I might be hustling another couple of dollars.
"But, in general, we're doing pretty well," she adds. "One of the good things about having an agent is we've really been able to take it from being an expensive hobby to being what we do."
Looking for a fancy way to celebrate being in one of the world's great cities? Take it uptown to Feinstein's's at the Regency tonight to see Todd Londagin!
