Female Fronted Bands

Some Of The Best American Bands Playing Today

Little Bean and I have been listening to a lot of non-USA rock and roll lately between The Warning, Band Maid, Lovebites, etc. etc. (Whatever is in the water in Japan these days creating the rock/metal scenes there, we should bottle that.)

Then a buddy of mine posted a list of his all time favorite rock bands and singers and it occurred to me that there wasn’t any current bands on his list. And by current, I mean 21st Century.

So, as a thought experiment, we created a group of requirements and listed our own top ten list of bands we’ve been listening to.

Here’s the rules: Female fronted, American, founded in the 2000s and have at least one album released.

Ready? In alphabetical order -

Alabama Shakes - Soulful blues rock led by the unmistakable vocals of Brittany Howard, who by the way, is now apparently in a metal band?!

Burning Witches - Ok ok, yes we know that technically they are Swiss in origin. But new lead guitarist and Philly native Courtney Cox is awesome and has really leveled them up! Fine, fine, we’re breaking our own rules.

Dead Sara - Before she was the new singer in that minor band nobody ever head of, Linkin Park, Emily Armstrong was/is the blistering front woman of Dead Sara. Full disclosure - I like Linkin Park, but I’m going to get in trouble for saying this. She’s better in Dead Sara.

Holy Wars - You ain’t seen nothing until you witness Kat Leon perform, as we did last fall. On stage she’s a raging tornado. Off-stage, she’s the kindest soul.

Larkin Poe - More American roots than hard rock, sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell still manage to melt faces and do it with a slide guitar!

Linda Lindas - Ranging from ages 14 to 20, the Linda Lindas are loud, quirky and raw - sometimes they are pop, other times punk. All we know is that the kids are alright!

Major Moment - Intense wall of sound rock/metal from this Boston-based outfit, with Sasha Razumova providing an Evanesence-style smoothness to their sound. Little Bean will be interviewing them soon!

Plush - What’s there to say about this high energy, pure rock outfit. We saw them last year and they are Little Bean’s favorite band. Little Bean adores bass player Ashley Suppa and has interviewed her.

Turning Jane - Some punk, some raging vocals and a whole lot of attitude from this all-female four-piece. You’ll be hearing a lot more from them soon!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Formed in New Jersey and led by Karen O, this band is the veteran among the group. Part punk, part fashionista, park art project, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs may be one of best indie bands to ever grace a college radio station.

A couple notes to add to this list. First, Halestorm was founded, technically, in 1997 when Lzzy Hale was 13 years old. She’s amazing, but just missed the list cut off. Three bands, Haim, Paramore and The Pretty Reckless meet the list’s requirements, but we’re just not familiar enough with their music, yet. Sorrowfuse is a great new band, but haven’t put out a album yet.

What do you think?

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Today’s Interview By Uma postponed: Speaking of one of those bands, Holy Wars… a couple weeks ago we had scheduled Interviews By Uma with Kat Leon of Holy Wars to drop today, here, and at Manchester Ink Link. Sadly, Kat and her band are based out of Los Angeles and out of respect for the tragedy that’s unfolding there, we decided to hold the interview until we hear back from Kat. She’s posted some information about how people can help over at her Instagram, so we’re relieved because at least it appears they are safe. So, stay tuned, and once we can talk with her, we’ll get that interview posted!