And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
While the women of Lez Zeppelin sound like the infamous Led Zeppelin, they aren’t just mockingbirds. Lez Zeppelin plays intense rock while challenging convention.
The all-woman quartet will make a stop April 7 at the Stones Throw as part of their seven-week tour.
The band plays Led Zeppelin note-for-note, in what is described as gender-bending performances.
Steph Paynes, guitarist and creator of the band, said the band Led Zeppelin is traditionally perceived as a particularly male form of musical expression.
“Most of the fans are guys, and it’s seen as macho music,” Paynes said.
That, however, simply isn’t the case, she added.
People often associate loud, fast music with masculinity and soft music with femininity. With influences ranging from folk to Celtic and a broad range of sound, Paynes said the music of Led Zeppelin is actually feminine in a way. The guys in Led Zeppelin even wore long hair and feminine clothes while still maintaining an intense, macho sound, she said.
“The Led guys were gender-bending in their own way,” she said.
But when the women get up to play: “It breaks all the rules,” Paynes said. “It throws people for a loop because it’s a whole new way to do things.”
Paynes said this calls into question why people are caught off guard by women playing Led Zeppelin.
“Why not? Why can’t women do this?” she said, adding that the music of Lez Zeppelin calls into question many social constructs, such as the role of both men and women in music.
But in breaking the stereotypes of who should be playing the intense rock, Paynes said the women of Lez Zeppelin stay true to the original music of Led Zeppelin to do it justice.
“We’re taking a canon of music, and we’re throwing ourselves into it,” she said.
But in their re-creations, the women do bring each of themselves into the music. Paynes said she only plays Jimmy Page’s original solos about half the time, the other half of the time playing in a similar style.
“What ends up coming organically out of me as a musician is very Page-esque . because it’s in the same language he used,” she said.
Lez Zeppelin found acclaim and became the first tribute band to be asked to play at major rock festivals, such as Bonnaroo, according to the band’s press release.
The appeal? Paynes said she thinks people are attracted to the band because of the gender bending as well as the reincarnation of Led Zeppelin. Paynes said the band is not a simple clone or impersonation, and that gives it such an appeal.
“The general spirit we’re putting into the music … lifts it into a reincarnation . or she-incarnation, as I like to say, rather than a tribute,” she said.
What: All-girl Led Zeppelin tribute band
Date: April 7
When: 9:30 p.m.
Where: Stones Throw
Cost: $15. Buy one ticket, get a second free with student ID
Why: “It breaks all the rules,” Guitarist Steph Paynes said. “It throws people for a loop because it’s a whole new way to do things.”