Thelma and the Sleaze helps pack up Flat Burger Society

I know what some of you are thinking: “Sleaze Rock is so turn-of-the-century.” First of all, you’d be wrong. Sleaze is a vibrant genre of post-Glam that has retreated a little closer to the dark corners of the petri dish from whence it came. What’s it doing there? Undergoing some really interesting and increasingly international evolution, actually.

But the Sleaze that most people think of (Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Faster Pussycat) is still a direct descendent of the Glam Metal tributary that wed the visual outrageousness of Slade or New York Dolls with the driving crunch of Motorhead and Black Sabbath.

Searching for a “girl sleaze-band” equivalent to Thelma and the Sleaze turns up such popular acts as Canadian rockers Boneyard, Swedish groups Thundermother and Vanity Blvd or Finland’s Vanity Ink (no that is not a typo — lots of focus on vanity up in Scandinavia, I guess.)

But Thelma and the Sleaze stubbornly doesn’t quite fit that mold. No, that’s not quite right either…They DEFIANTLY don’t fit that mold. They’re Southern to the bone and queer as the day is long, and if they took a musical 23 and Me test, nobody would be shocked to discover that the band is the lovechild of Bonnie Raitt and Alice Cooper.

If you absolutely HAD to put on your ethnomusicologist’s hat (whatever that might look like), you’d have to go all the way back to 1976 and the release of the Runaways eponymous debut album. The in your face sweaty sexuality and utter abandonment of niceness and restraint are genetics of Rock ‘n’ Roll that, thankfully, survive to this day in groups like Thelma and the Sleaze.

(And either in the States or across the Pond, you can can catch three of the four original Runaways on-fucking-tour here in 2023 — Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Cherie Curry!)

But seriously, this band has a bluesy swagger and drawl that makes the deviant both delightful and digestible. And your chances of catching them live in the Berkshires again any time soon are dwindling.

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Thelma and the Sleaze is an independent all-female, queer southern rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. The group is the brainchild of lead vocalist and guitar player Lauren “LG” Gilbert and features an evolving cast of A-team players to back her up for an unforgettable live experience.

LG is the embodiment of hustle. As the driving force behind Thelma and The Sleaze, she is the songwriter, the visionary, the take-no-shit-from-anyone front woman that is single handedly keeping rock and roll alive. Thelma and The Sleaze has been touring the US for years building a legion of fans, affectionally called her creepers. The growing social media presence, the hit podcast, the features with Yamaha Guitars are really all the result of her incredible songwriting, visceral guitar playing, and the guts to deliver on her vision of what Rock and Roll should be.

LG has also launched two successful seasons of their Podcast “Queen of Shit Mountain”. Each episode features legendary musicians such as Tanya Tucker, Brittany Howard, Juliana Hatfield, Kate Pierson, Lori Barber, Patty Schemel, Mary Ramirez and Margo Price.

PRESS
Premier Guitar Rig Rundown 2020
Rolling Stone Magazine “Hands Off” Feature
Nashville Demystified Podcast 2019
Nashville Scene 2020
No Country For Nashville 2018
Miami New Times 2018
Premier Guitar Magazine
She Shreds Magazine Showcase
Please Kill Me Interview
November 2016 LADYGUNN photos and interview
March 2016 Palm Beach New Times
MAY 2016 NPR World Cafe