Saturday night at a packed club in Nashville, TN. A crowd of all ages stands shoulder to shoulder, jostling for position and room to dance. The Queens of Noise have just kicked off their set, roaring into the opening line of their cover of Ain’t Afraid, a tribute to Jessi Zazu of Those Darlins’, the band’s late mentor and guardian angel.
Forget everything you think you know about teenage girls.
In fishnets, cut offs, and platform boots, these five girls are proving that hard rock is alive and well, and that the future of post-punk is safe in their hands.
This reality is a far cry from the Halloween costume dreamed up a few years ago after an impromtu viewing of the rockumentary The Runaways.
In 2016, Inspired by Joan Jett and her badass teenage band, five barely teenage girls gathered in a basement to learn the title track of Queens of Noise, The Runaways’ most popular album. It went well, and they decided the song would be a fitting name for a tribute band.
Fast forward a couple of years, and the young women of Queen of Noise are well on their way to making their own mark on rock and roll.
While they still sprinkle their sets with hard hitting favorites that pay homage to the women that paved their way, The Queens originals, often rendered in three-part harmony, paint a picture of life in 2019 with all the rage and beauty that entails.
Since 2017, The Queens of Noise have appeared in nearly every major rock venue in Nashville, played festival mainstages, and won contests, as well as headlining The Women’s March Nashville for a crowd of 16,000.
Why?
Because it’s impossible to watch these girls leave it all on stage and not feel like everything, everywhere, is going to be ok. Even if that means they have to burn it all down.