NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) - "I'm seeing a coming all-girl-band trend and it will be led by the Cocktail Slippers. They are the perfect role models for a new generation. They're talented, they understand Rock and Roll is a craft and they work hard at it, and they never stop wanting to learn and improve. They've got soul
and they're the best." -
Little Steven
Norway's premiere all girl band The Cocktail Slippers are ready to make their mark on the U.S. music scene with the release of St. Valentine's Day Massacre (April 28, 2009 on Wicked Cool Records). The new album features a bunch of superb rock tracks written and produced by the band. The Cocktail Slippers also invited Steven Van Zandt to contribute, and surprisingly he did. Steven ultimately wrote and produced the title track and 'Heard You Got a Thing For Me.'
St. Valentine's Day Massacre showcases what the press has called 'the perfect mixture of sweet & sour, combining girl group harmonies and sass with gritty rock 'n' roll fervor to produce a high octane hybrid that should have all the hep cats dancing.'
The Cocktails Slippers began nearly eight years ago after a two year stint playing in a garage rock band called The Barbarellas. They recorded their first record Rock it! in 2002, and it was followed by their 2007 Wicked Cool debut, Mastermind. During the last 18 months the band has added a new guitarist and drummer while tirelessly working on their new album. All five members of the Cocktail Slippers write songs and produce their own material.
St. Valentine's Day Massacre was recorded in a converted bomb shelter in Oslo, Norway and was not without its challenges. As lead singer Modesty Blaze explains 'Imagine this... You have been working towards a record for three years. The band has taken time off work, rehearsing the songs, the studio is booked. Everything is ready. And then, five days before starting recording in the studio, the drummer calls the other members to tell them she has to quit the band!.....So what do you do? We couldn?t, and wouldn?t cancel. In the last minute a friend of ours stepped in and did the drums on the first takes.
Fortunately, it didn't take long before we found Bella Donna. She is a GREAT drummer.'
Once the Cocktail Slippers hit their stride in the studio, there was no stopping them. Armed with lots of good material to choose from and a solid line up, the band started recording the tracks that would become St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
For only the third time in Wicked Cool history, label head Stevie Van Zandt has gotten directly involved in the production of a record (the first two times were the Chesterfield Kings' last two albums).
Steven tells the story:
'We were hanging out with the band listening to the new songs and everybody was in a good mood because we knew the girls had taken their thing to another level. Somebody said they only needed one or two more songs to complete the album and one of the band asked me if I had anything laying around.
I played them the idea I had for 'The St. Valentine's Day Massacre,' and they really dug it. Somebody said it would make a great album title and somebody else said now all we need is for you to come to Oslo and produce it.
So I did.
The night before I fly to Oslo I'm lying in bed thinking about girl groups past and present and where the Cocktail Slippers fit in. I decide they're really quite unique but they do have a trace of the Shangri-La's attitude once you get to know them and how it would be cool to bring that out, that young girl/street theater thing, somehow on the album.
Just as I'm drifting off a melody comes to me. Now as every songwriter knows, here's the moment of truth. Every bone in your body is telling you not to worry you'll remember it in the morning but you know that's the demon part of your brain lying to you so the angel part of your brain makes you get up, very much against your will, and wake up and find the tape recorder and get that thing down.
Just when I'm leaving for the plane the next day I checked it out and I had this line repeating, kind of a hypnotic groove, it reminded me of the Jaynettes 'Sally Go Round The Roses,' so I grabbed the tape and split.
When 'Valentine's Day' turned out so good, I told the band I had another idea for a song and they were enthusiastic about it so I arranged it right there on the spot writing it chronologically as the song unfolded.
And that was 'Heard You've Got A Thing For Me.''
'Working with Steven was great,' said Squirrel. 'The first thing he said when he arrived at the studio was that we needed balloons. And soon the studio was filled with 100 helium heart shaped balloons! It was inspiring.'
According to Sugar Cane, 'He pushed himself as well as us to our limits during recording and made us work harder and be better than ever before. He is a great mentor and we are very fortunate to benefit from his talent and experience.'
"I didn't know it was possible to learn so much and get so much work done in so little time. Sleep was a luxury we could not afford, and playing guitar solos at 5 am is actually one of my best memories from this recording session," said guitarist Rocket Queen.
The Cocktail Slippers have earned an immense boost of support from music fans worldwide in 2008. The band headlined Teen Vogue's sold out 'Rock Meets The Runway' event in New York. Teen Vogue's event was an all-girl band search which helped foster interest and participation in rock and roll.
Everyone involved felt the Cocktail Slippers were the best example of a female rock band, and those were terrific compliments considering the first-rate judges at the event. Two notable examples were Jason Castro of American Idol and Genya Ravan of the first ever Girl Rock group Goldie and The Gingerbreads.
The tremendous 2008 for the Cocktail Slippers is also reflected with their involvement with Rock Band 2. 'Give It To Me,' from the 2007 album Mastermind, is currently featured on the game, and available now for free download to RB2 gamers.
The Cocktails Slippers' reputation as a live band is renowned among fans around the world. The band loves playing live and is always up to whatever comes their way. Once in a small Mexican restaurant in The Netherlands the band played the entire concert standing on three dinner tables. That same day they did a concert in Antwerpen State Prison. 'We had dressed up as the Beagle Boys (when they are locked up). In between the songs we made suggestions about how the prisoners could escape. We were a bit worried if they would think it was funny or not, but luckily they did,' said Modesty Blaze.
'We are extremely happy about the outcome of the record and we are proud and excited to present it to the world early next year,' said Rocket Queen. Now that the band has finished their most incredible album, and have an ambitious plan to support it, 2009 will only mean greater heights.
