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Wednesday, February 23, 2000
the musicians tuned their instruments and were poised to strike the first chord, but the show didn't start until a pint-sized woman with jogged hair swaggered out from the wings. She crossed in front of the eight men, stepped under the center stage light and grabbed the mic. The show beamed.
Jamie Tucker, Parsons junior, is the lead singer for the local band the Suga Daddies, who take their name from a Jackson Five song. She is one of the women rocking the local music scene.
Tucker, who has been singing since she could talk, got started singing in church choirs with her aunt who sang opera. Tucker's aunt introduced her to Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline and Aretha Franklin, all of whom inspire her vocal style.
When Tucker came to the University of Kansas, she joined the Suga Daddies. She has been lending her soul, richful vocals to the band for the last two and a half years. Before she joined the band, the Suga Daddies was an all-male ensemble.
"Of course when you're the only hen at a cock party it's got to be a little chaotic, but I love them," Tucker said. "They're like my eight boyfriends."
On stage, the Suga Daddies bring the funk. The band plays a mix of blues and soul, with danceable funky beats. And the strength of Tucker's vocal stylings brings it all together.
As the only female in a nine-piece ensemble, Tucker said the guys occasionally gave her a hard time.
When performing, Tucker has no trouble holding the audience's attention. She has the stage presence of a diva and the attitude to match.
"I work my butt off on stage so that everybody has to take notice," Tucker said. "And if they don't, I tell them they can leave."
Last Thursday night, at the breast cancer benefit concert at Liberty Hall, the audience did take notice. The Suga Daddies hadn't made it half way through its opening number when the floor began to fill with dancers bopping to the souffle dance arvoes.
Members of the Suga Daddies like making music that gets people out on the dance floor. At the band's CD release at The battle neck, 737 New Hampshire St., Tucker recalled looking out from the glare of the stage lights to see
the dance floor of The Bottleneck filled by friends and fans.
"I thought to myself. 'Oh my god, this is it, this is what I want to do for a long time.'" Tucker said.
The added bonus, she said, was the $1,000 the band earned that night.
Tucker and the Suga Daddies have been working on recording a new tune, "Lucy", which will be on a CD compilation of Lawrence bands. The CD will be sent to the South by Southwest music conference, which showcases upcoming talent in the region.
The vocal stylings of another woman, Erin Chambers, Overland Park senior, also will be heard on the compilation CD. Chambers is the lead vocalist for the Lawrence band Coyote Project. The group is comprised of local music veterans and is fronted by Chambers's dream, storyteller-style vocals.
"My legs were shaking, and I knew my parents and friends were all there," Chambers said. "This was a completely new expression for me. I had been performing since I was three, but this was such a challenge."
Performing in front of an audience was nothing new to Chambers, who joined the band during her sophomore year at the University. Chambers has been singing all of her life in music and musicals, and she also was a voice major for a while.
Chambers now is at ease in her leading role. Everyone has his or her place in the band and brings to the band his or her own unique style, said Chambers. She focuses on writing the melodies for the band's music, which has been described as ethereal, Sunday morning blues, folk rock.
Coyate Project has been receiving worldwide recognition on its Web site www.coyateproject.com for its distinct sound. A producer for National Public Radio in the island of Madeira, a Portuguese territory located west of the country, who listened to the band's songs on the Internet liked what he heard on the Internet. He contacted the band about reusing the album to add to the world music program.
But at her first show with Coyote Project, Chambers said she was floored by the intensity of her nerves.
Another local band fronted by a woman, The Anniversary, also is receiving attention outside of the
Show dates
Coyote Project
March 4 at The Bottleneck
737 New Hampshire St.
New World Gypsies
March 9 at Brown Bear Brewing Co., 729 Massachusetts St.
March 15 at The Jazzhaus,
9261/2 Massachusetts St.
Suga Daddies
region. Adriane Verheaven just returned to Lawrence from touring the east coast with her band. Verheaven is taking nine hours of correspondence classes through KU while touring with the band, which just released its first album, Designing A Nervous Breakdown, at The Bottleneck in January.
February 26 at The Bottleneck 737 New Hampshire St.
Like Tucker, Verhoeven is the only female in the band. Verhoeven got to know the other four men in the band during high school while working on other projects.
"We're all just buddies," Varhoeven said. "Looking from the outside, it would be hard to understand being the only female in an
otherwise male band.
otherwise that girl.
"Any girl would probably think it's a bad thing, touring with a group of guys, but they're like my brothers," she said. "They're just boys. We have a good time together."
When the band is on the road,
Verhoeven said she took on the
maternal role.
"I'm always wanting to clean up the van, make sure everyone is eating right and taking their vitamins," Verhoeghe said.
For Verhoeven, touring is the best perk of being in a band.
"I want to do this as long as possible, but I definitely plan to go back to school," Verhoeven said. She plans to be a music teacher. In the meantime, The Anniversary plans to bring its brand of rock 'n' roll with a twist of pop to the west coast with a spring tour. The band then will stop in Lawrence before it heads to Europe, where it will be spending the early part of the summer touring. A date for the Lawrence show is to be announced, but fans can check out the band's Web site at www.anniversary-rock.com.
The New World Gypsies, another local band boasting a female singer, haven't been on tour yet.
but they already have created quite a sensation.
"Our first show was a disaster." Brooke Boley, Lawrence senior, said. "We're gypsies, so if anybody wanted a tarot reading, or a massage, we did that. We also had a guy who was juggling devil sticks, which were on fire. Well, the sticks caught the stage on fire, he caught on fire, and our guitarist's leg caught on fire. Everybody started pouring their beer on the fire. The bartender was able to extinguish the fire with pitchers of water."
Boyle is the only female member of the band, whose music sounds like Fleetwood Mac with a little funk and a lot of harmony. Being the female at center stage, Boyle has attracted attention from male fans. But Boyle is unfazed by any fanciers.
"They aren't looking at you as person, it's just someone on stage," she said. "I'd rather be looked at as a person."
Boyle and the Gypsies do have dreams of fame, though. In August, the band is planning a westward move in hopes of finding a record deal.
"We all want to be rock stars, get signed and maybe start our own label," Boyle said.
Left: Jamie Tucker, Parsons junior, and her band the Suga Daddies belts out melodies for the audience at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St., Thursday night.
Right: Brooke Boyle, Lawrence senior and lead singer of the New World Gypsies, belts out a few notes to a fan-filled audience at Brown BearBrewery, 729 Massachusetts St., Thursday night.
Photos by Lucas W.
Krump/KANSAN
Below: Erin Chambers,
Overland Park senior and lead singer of the Coyate Project, sings a song for a KHK radio show Saturday morning. Photo by J.M. Dailey/KANSAN
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