Thelma and the Sleaze by Daniel Jackson
Founder, singer and lead guitar player of Thelma and the Sleaze, Lauren “LG” Gilbert has talked about how to be “sexy and scary at the same time.” To do it, LG once told World Cafe, “you have to not take yourself too seriously, so it’s safe for everyone, first and foremost.”
Over the years, the touring members, mostly queer women, have been honest about their own desire to feel safe. When LG, who grew up in Illinois listening to hard rock and riot grrl bands, moved to Nashville for school on Music Row, she took all that energy, along with inspiration from bluesy artists like Beth Ditto, and turned it into sexy, scary, shredding southern rock that’s also safe for everyone.
Comradeship as women (as exhibited in Thelma and Louise) and in queer spaces can be full of sexual innuendos, so it’s no surprise so many Thelma and the Sleaze songs are full of them. Just read any random song title. But there’s something Sacred as Hell — to quote the band’s 2020 album title — about rocking out to live music in formerly bigoted and misogynist spaces.
They’ve recorded at legendary studios from Joshua Tree to Nashville. But the band is known for touring non-stop, everything from sold-out shows to small towns, for months at a stretch. When she was starting out, LG knew throwing down for live shows would be key to the band’s success, because even without “serious training,” she said, “I do know how to go crazy.”
LG’s singing and shredding are as raw as ever, and the live shows are always full-throttle. The tour for their latest album, Holey Water (innuendo intended), was with members Bailey K. Chapman, the drummer and also a visual artist; Liliana Jones on keys; and Livi Dillon on bass. The lineup may change but the message is the same: Women have been part of the southern music tradition forever. What’s changing is the way it’s perceived. It’s sexy, scary, crazy and whatever else it wants to be.
Thelma and the Sleaze perform 8pm Thursday, February 22 at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach and Friday, February 23 at Winterland Six in Jacksonville. thelmaandthesleaze.com winterlandpresents.org ~ Carly Cassano
