LA's Death Valley Girls have been among the most underrated bands on the indie rock landscape for a very long time. They make a head-spun version of psychedelic garage rock that has tons of hooks and atmosphere, and I always feel like I'm being swept away to some other place when I hear then. In 2023, Death Valley Girls released their extremely cool album Islands In The Sky, and they followed it up with the one-off single "I Am A Wave." Now, they've got a new 7" single with covers of two extremely sick classic rock songs.
Stevie Nicks wrote "Sisters Of The Moon" for Tusk, Fleetwood Mac's divisive follow-up to their legendary mega-hit Rumours. Tusk was the moment that the band cashed the blank check that Rumours wrote, getting weirder and more experimental with their sound. Nicks later said that "Sisters Of The Moon" was her account of her own deteriorating health. The song has the mystical sweep of so many of the tracks she wrote for her band. It was a single, but it never became a big hit. St. Vincent and Craig Wedren covered the track on a 2012 Fleetwood Mac tribute. In their version of "Sisters Of The Moon," Death Valley Girls channel the original track's soaring drama, and it's very cool to hear someone lovingly reconstruct it on a DIY budget.
The other cover on the new Death Valley Girls single is a deeper pull. Link Wray, the great '50s rock 'n' roll instrumentalist, recorded his 1971 self-titled album in a converted chicken shack on his brother's Maryland farm. Breaking away from the twangy guitar anthems for which he was famous, Wray dug into the rootsy Americana that groups like the Band were exploring around the same time. "Fire And Brimstone," my favorite song from that record, is a richly funky down-home swamp-groove with urgent vocals that demand to be chanted. It's one of those mysterious songs, like "Spirit In The Sky" or "I Walk On Gilded Splinters," that seems to work in every genre at once. Death Valley Girls turn it into a fuzzy shuffle that faithfully honors the original but sounds distinct from it.
Both of these cover songs are very cool choices, and I like what Death Valley Girls and their friends, including the Entrance Band's Guy Blakeslee and the Delta 72's Gregg Foreman, have done with both tracks. Here's what bandleader Bonnie Bloomgarden says about both of them:
I’m gonna be totally honest initially we just recorded these two songs because they are fun and we like them! But now with hindsight and the ability to see the abundance of synchronicities, messages, signs, and frankly supernatural guidance in both the words and meanings of the songs, and the art we chose to represent this 7” my mind is totally blown.
We recorded the songs and finished the art/several months before I lost my home, my town, Altadena, and my spirit to the Eaton Fire. But, what’s so unusual is that the antidote, or the cure for what became hardcore PTSD, was all in this 7”!
We have been saying for years that words are spells, intention is power, and belief can heal. But after the fire, I stopped thinking that was true. I thought I was dumb to be telling people that all they have to do is shift their perspective to be safe, I thought I had been giving really shitty advice.
I felt stuck, blocked, and unsure if I would ever feel safe again. I thought I would be afraid of fire, one of the five elements, for the rest of my life. That’s when I realized, holy shit, I have to sing and promote this song about fire that basically tells the story of that horrible night. I became terrified of how to proceed with this 7” and in our live set. "Fire And Brimstone" had become one of our fav songs to play. I thought to myself, "What would Tina Turner do?" And I realized she would definitely keep it in the set and use the song to transmute fear into freedom.
At practice, I broke down. I could not stop crying, but my sisters held me. They kept singing, letting me get out some words when I could, but keeping it going when I couldn’t. It was the definition of support, of being held, of sisterhood. It was a long process the healing journey, but it was singing these words together that took me from being totally powerless, to now, a person with a spark of strength.
And that is the exact message of "Sisters Of The Moon"! It is astonishing, but that song became my anthem of connection, and feeling supported. Grieving and surviving a disaster, is a very lonely place. This song is literally about feeling connected! Google says it is about "connecting with divine wisdom and forging an unbreakable bond of sisterhood." I mean, that’s so cool, that’s exactly what I needed!
Both songs somehow "randomly" became the exact thing I needed to start to heal from this terrible time! And as always, if I learn anything helpful on my earth journey, I will share it with you. Here goes:
You will be OK, time heals, I don’t know why. Do not hide from your feelings, experiencing them is the only way out, or through. Exposure therapy works -- but be slow, gentle, and work with someone, find anthems for emotions that make you stuck, and just play those songs as needed, even if it’s 10 times in a row. EMDR is miraculous, find a specialist, it is no longer cost-prohibitive, and believe me, it helps heal PTSD 100% of the time. And when it is time to move on, walk away, cut the cord, know you will always be ok! You are being guided, and you are loved.
Death Valley Girls are currently gearing up for a European tour, with a couple of West Coast dates coming up afterwards. Below, check out both covers, the original versions of "Sisters Of The Moon" and "Fire And Brimstone," and the band's upcoming dates.
TOUR DATES:
4/22 - Lyon, France @ L'Epicerie Moderne
4/23 - Zaragoza, Spain @ La Lata de Bombillas
4/24 - Valencia. Spain @ 16 Toneladas
4/25 - Cabo de Gata, Spain @ Flamin’Go Beach Fest
4/26 - Madrid, Spain @ Wurlitzer Ballroom
4/27 - Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain @ Dadadaba
4/29 - Le Havre, France @ Le Tetris
4/30 - La Roche-sur-Yon, France @ Quai M
5/01 - Paris, France @ Point Ephemere
5/02 - Würzburg, Germany @ Immerhin
5/03 - Berlin, Germamny @ Roadrunners Rock & Motor Club
5/06 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds *
5/07 - Nottingham, UK @ Bodega *
5/08 - Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny *
5/09 - Edinburgh, UK @ Bongo Club *
5/10 - Manchester, UK @ Yes Basement *
5/11 - London, UK @ The Lexington *
7/18 - Los Angeles, CA@ Belasco ^
9/25 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet's %
* with Bella & The Bizarre
^ with Bratmobile
% with the Raveonettes
The "Sisters Of The Moon" b/w "Fire And Brimstone" single is out digitally now, with vinyl coming out 4/25 on Suicide Squeeze.
