The ladies of the all-female AC/DC tribute band Hell’s Belles have some big shoes to fill in rocking out classics such as “Back in Black” and “You Shook Me All Night Long” all while in front of a largely macho, AC/DC-worshiping audience.
“We get men in there because they basically want to see if we can pull it off,” says bassist Mandy Reed, the band’s only original member. Formed in Seattle in 2000, the quintet, who’ll play Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar today, includes Jamie Nova doing Bon Scott’s and Brian Johnson’s vocal duties, lead guitarist Adrian Conner (of Adrian and the Sickness) as Angus Young, rhythm guitarist Lisa Brisbois as Malcolm Young, and drummer Melodie Zapata as Phil Rudd. Reed is the band’s Cliff Williams.
From listening to their disc, We Salute You, it seems the ladies pull it off quite well. “I rock out a little harder than they would, but I can’t help it,” says Reed. “When a crowd is going nuts and you’re playing AC/DC, it’s just reverberating though your body.” Well, we salute you, ladies. Oklahomos and ESE open.
Fri., April 21, 9 p.m.
This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2006.