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-Greg’s Take-

Imagine for a moment, the Go-Gos wielding knifes and running around with reckless abandon.

Ok, in all fairness, I’ll tone it down a notch and just go with calling Essex-based My Heroine a kickass all female hard-pop band.

That sounds fair enough and less scary.

If we swapped the frilly dress, bubble-gum attitude style of the generic “girl band” with leather jackets, passionate vocals and a drummer with a badass haircut, we’d get these infectious gals.

With a sound all their own (seriously, I can’t think of any other band that sounds like them) Emma, Giverny, Georgie and Alex set fire to the preconceived notions anyone may have about an all-female band. If you think you’re going to encounter some dainty chick-rock, you’re going to get a leather boot to the face.

While each have a hand in forming the tight harmonies, Emma handles the lead vocals with a uniquely soulful approach to rock. She also plays rhythm while Giverny shreds through Heroine’s addicting riffs on lead. Sorry guys, but Georgie’s bass is heavy in awesome and rocking enough to put most of you to shame. There’s no holding back this solid rhythm section. But where would they be without Alex? She is one of the more fierce female drummers this side of Kittie.

“So Greg, let me at em!” you might say. And I must warn you to slow down just a hair. With the release of Driven To Distraction My Heroine is poised to take center stage. They deliver hard-pop with fun and exact precision. “Be With Me” takes you by surprise the moment Emma chimes in. her light voice slings out passionate lyrics, creating an interesting self-contradiction that stuns. It caught me off guard at first, but works really well. Heroine’s sound is almost an internal dark vs. light played out well in what seemingly shouldn’t even mesh. It is a style made easy by these very talented ladies.  But it is with that I am hesitant.

Do they have my support? Oh, you better believe it. Will I allow them to make such an awesome record as this and disappoint me? I’m fragile. I’ll hold off saying they’re as great as I think they are until I hear what comes next.

Until then, I’m going thoroughly enjoy My Heroine via a heavy dose of their debut EP Driven To Distraction.

-Vincent’s Take-

Over the years, from Wanda Jackson, through Joan Jett, to Hole, women have written important chapters in the great book of the Rock. In a world where, frankly, let’s face it, sexism exists and has always existed and in which, in most of the cases the role of a woman was “away from the stage.”

But, you know, it is the rebels who eventually make themselves stand out from the thousands of other bands. And that’s why My Heroine seem to be able to pervade legitimately inside the (overestimated, most of the time) myriad of male colleagues in the scene (they also won the Essex Battle of the Bands in 2012, touring and gigging in Wales and England). My Heroine is a four member commercial rock band composed of only  women, Emma (vocals/guitars), Giverny (vocals/guitar), Georgie (vocals/bass) and Alex (drums) based in the Southeastern part of the United Kingdom, who after two years together, have released their debut EP Driven To Distraction.

The first thought that comes to mind listening to the first song on the album, “Be With Me” is “Dave Grohl on hormone therapy would sound exactly like this,” and this thought never leaves. Is this good or bad? I really think good, because I believe in good old Dave, as a person, musician and as a composer. In fact, the thing that strikes me most is the ease of composition the English quartet exhibits. From catchy melodies, definitely commercial oriented, to purely hard rock palm mute riffs, they make it appear like this mixture of genres is the most natural course. Indeed, still listening to the songs “Spit It Out,” “Breathe,” “Show and Tell” and ” I’ll Be Your Heroine” you can actually see that My Heroine is absolutely comfortable playing within  a wide range of sounds, without letting the dichotomy between hard rock and pop go astray and, let me tell you, it is not everyone’s cup-of-tea.

Drive To Distraction, whilst facing songs that are continuously taking different directions, there is a feeling that everything is on a single straight road. The lyrics are never off-key, even if while developing within the same song sudden and unexpectedly, showing that My Heroin firmly realizes the way to go, all while crossing may busy roads and passing through dozens of tunnels

Driven To Distraction is ultimately a great debut EP that demonstrates how the language of music does not follow just one direction. It is expanding, changing and walking away from any preconceived cliché. My Heroine, pardon the term, kicked their male counterparts in the music business in the balls with their debut.