The Venomous Pinks

You can call them a girl band if you want to; they don’t mind. But a better descriptor for the all-female Phoenix-based band the Venomous Pinks would be based on the kind of music they play, and that is punk rock.

The Venomous Pinks were until recently a trio consisting of Drea Doll (guitar and vocals), Jukie (drums and vocals) and Gaby Kaos (bass, guitar, vocals) and they rocked pretty hard with that line-up, as can be heard on their recent release, an EP called Exes & Whoas!

Drea Doll has a voice that often recalls Joan Jett and some of the songs on Exes & Whoas!, like “No No No” and “Can We Go!?” definitely have the perfect mix of punk and pop that strikes a chord with Jett fans. There’s some harder stuff on the EP too, like the thrashy “Never Say Never” and “Do You Wanna?,” a track that features Roger Miret from the legendary hardcore band Agnostic Front.

Now the Venomous Pinks have turned things up a notch with the addition of guitarist Corrie Zazzera. With Zazzera already adding to the fun of the band’s live shows (see gig list below) it will be interesting to hear how the follow-up to Exes & Whoas! sounds with even more ferocious guitar.

We wanted to find out a little more about the Venomous Pinks so we sent them a few questions by email; below are their answers, given exclusively to AXS.com.

The band was a 3-piece when you recorded Exes & Whoas! but you’ve since added guitarist Corrie Zazzera. How has this changed the tenor of the band?

Drea Doll: Adding another guitar has made us bigger and louder in our sound.

You’re in the process of writing the follow-up to Exes & Whoas! Where are you at with that?

Drea: We aren’t in a time crunch to put out a record that sounds rushed. We are in the creative process right now. There are a couple of songs lined up.

Jukie: We’re also learning how to write with a new member. It has always been just the three of us for so long; we are learning to use everyone’s creative input.

Drea: Corrie has definitely been a great asset to our song writing.

Did you learn things during the making of Exes & Whoas! that’ll make it easier for you next time in the studio?

Drea: Yes! Write and learn your lyrics before you go into the studio. That will be my goal for the next album. LOL!

Tell us about your session with Heavy Metal Television.

Jukie: It’s a DIY process. It was fun and a learning experience.

Gaby: My accent comes out when I get nervous and have to read in front of a camera.

Corrie: We had a lot of fun and we would definitely do it again!

How did your relationship with Roger Miret begin, and what made you decide to feature him on “Do You Wanna”?

Drea: I got a call to do back-up vocals on the last Roger Miret & the Disasters album. I ended up asking Jukie if she wanted to come. So we went down to the studio, laid down vocals on a couple of tracks and Roger liked our vocals. We basically kept in contact over Facebook. I thought of asking Roger to sing on a song because I thought it would sound really cool. I grew up with the mentality of “If you don’t ask, you’ll never know,” so I asked and he said yes!

Will you be looking to get on a national tour, maybe when the next record comes out? Ideally, who would you like to tour with?

Jukie: Yes, the goal will be to get on a national tour to help support the first full-length album. I’d love to tour with Joan Jett, Foo Fighters, KISS.

Drea & Gaby: Joan Jett, Social Distortion, TSOL, Alkaline Trio, Teenage Bottlerocket, Agnostic Front.

Corrie: Anyone that wants us to support and wants to have fun with a bad ass girl band!

Can you give us your take on the state of the local music scene?

Jukie: It is alive and well. It would be awesome to see more diversity on line-ups.

Drea: There’s something happening in Phoenix so it will be cool to see who breaks out next. - AXS.COM

Punk rock comes in all shapes, all sizes, all colors, and all genders. Originally, it was a badge of courage with the ability to supersede all of the aforementioned labels, but somewhere along the way, it has segmented itself like other aspects of society -- probably because of the stupid human brain, but that is another story altogether.
What's important here is the simple fact that The Venomous Pinks are a punk band. Not a "girl" band or a "chick" band, but a punk band, and on October 17, they will celebrate the release of their second EP, Exes and Whoas, at the Yucca Tap Room.

Even in this day and age, when anyone with a thousand bucks and a cassette recorder can put out a CD, the second EP for a four-year-old band is no small feat. Better yet, people around town seem to actually like The Venomous Pinks (as they should) and are excited about this release. Drea Doll (guitar), Gaby Kaos (bass), and Jukie (drums) have created a powerful five-song offering drenched in frustration, attitude, and East Coast-style punk panache. With the recent addition of former Dames (longtime local punks who also featured Drea Doll) guitar player Corrie Zazzera to round out the sound, these musicians are ready to take the next step in their evolution.

The Venomous Pinks rose from the ashes of the Dames and Janitors of Anarchy (JOA), two local bands that had better-than-average runs in the Phoenix music scene. The Dames, having played as far away as legendary NY venue CBGB, were probably better known than Janitors of Anarchy, but as Drea remembers it, "Me and Sue [from JOA] were like, 'There's not really a girl punk band anymore' because the Dames had died and My Doll (which, along with the infamous NLSF was another Drea project) had died, so 'we should start a punk band' and around April 2010, we placed an ad in New Times and said we needed a girl drummer."

This is how they found Jukie.

"Their ad had some key words in it that pulled me in. One was 'all girl,' one was 'bad ass,' and one was 'punk rock,'" Jukie says. "And I was like, 'Fuck, yeah. Let's do this.'"

After one practice, they were ready to take on the world and played out within three weeks of getting together. After a particularly spirited gig opening for John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols band, Public Image Limited, at the Marquee Theatre in October 2012, Sue decided to leave the band, and it was a no-brainer to add Gaby Kaos to the mix on bass.

"I played bass and upright for a long time in different bands, and I had the gear, so . . .," says Gaby, who prefers guitar but likes playing bass in the Venomous Pinks. Gaby is heavily involved with the AZ Kaos punk rock webzine, which is definitely worth your time checking out. Zazzera made her debut with the band at a recent show opening for O.C. punk brats (with graying hair) Guttermouth and rounds out the quartet with another talented yet snarling guitar.

Gender aside, the "Pinks," as they are often referred to, like to confront things head on, which is an admirable quality for any band. They wanted to have Roger Miret, legendary lead singer of Agnostic Front and current valley resident, sing on the EP, so they asked him to do so. Miret met the gals down at Villain Recording where "Exes and Whoas" was recorded and sang on two songs.
"Drea had sung backup vocals on the last Roger Miret and the Disasters record and did a great job on that and she asked me to come down and sing on their record, so I said, 'Sure.' I sang on two songs. The record sounds great," says Miret, who was on the road to Disneyland with his family when we spoke.

"They're really great girls and deserve what is coming to them. Their songs are good and the put passion into them," added Miret, and he's dead on with his assessment. Not a bad guy to have in your corner at all.

So Friday night (because that makes it all right), expect these women to bring the rock and the roll as they share the stage with girl and boy band, Scorpion Vs Tarantula, man band Grave Danger, all-female Descendents cover band, Des and the Cendents, and boyishly handsome band, Swapmeat. It's a 21 and over show, but the first 40 folks to show up will get a free copy of the new EP, so get out there early and enjoy yourselves. The Venomous Pinks will certainly be enjoying themselves so join in the fun. - Phoenix New Times

by Lenore Lanova
Senior Editor

Last Saturday, The Venomous Pinks unleashed their new EP to a crowd of expectant fans at the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe. The Phoenix punk rockers have been making the local scene a little bit rowdier since they hit the circuit a few years ago. This new EP, Exes & Whoas, marks the second release from the band and, let me tell you, the Pinks have stomped leaps and bounds in just these few short years.

Their 2013 EP (Three in the Pink) revealed a feisty punk band with tremendous promise. Exes & Whoas shows that promise realized. All five tracks are fierce and fun. And perhaps more importantly, they are delivered in slicker style, but with the fiery energy we’ve come to expect. Exes & Whoas makes Three in the Pink sound a bit like amateur hour. I don’t know if it’s the result of their heavy performance schedule, but the years of heavy rocking has transformed The Venomous Pinks into true professionals. And, as I sit here writing this on the Saturday following the Friday night release, I can honestly say I’ve listened to this album nearly nonstop since I got my hands on it.

For quite some time now, The Venomous Pinks have been making their way as a power trio featuring Drea Doll on guitar/vocals, Gaby Kaos on guitar/bass/vocals, and Jukie on drums, but they recently added Corrie Zazzera on guitar after a month of summertime jamming. Earlier that same summer, the trio recorded Exes & Whoas at Villian Recording with Byron Filson in North Phoenix.

The EP opens with “Never Say Never”, a track certain to have you fist-pumping and shouting on repeated listens. Roger Miret of Agnostic Front joins in on the vocals for “Never Say Never” as well as the song “Do You Wanna?” Drea and Jukie helped with backing vocals on Miret’s last release and Drea decided to ask for some help in return.

By “No No No”, the second track, I was hooked. Exes & Whoas is badass. It lives up to the reputation The Venomous Pinks have acquired from their active involvement in the local punk scene: hard-working and hard-rocking. - Yab Yum Music

That passion can be seen in their latest video, a simple but well-edited performance clip full of lots of head banging and a bevy of dancing fans. It debuted on BlankTV.com, an independent punk rock video channel and already has garnered more than 8,000 YouTube views in less than two weeks. - Nicki Escudero

...if these ladies keep busting out killer sets and opening for their biggest shows they are going to eat away at the fanbases of their male counterparts and put a stranglehold on the Phoenix punk scene - Phoenix New Times

The track "Leather" (my second favorite song) has a Ramones-meets-Joan Jett sound. While "Mantis" - my favorite track - hearkens back to more of a Guttermouth style. - Yab Yum

"The Venomous Pinks (a band comprised of three beautiful ladies) melts off faces with a high-energy punk show. " - Phoenix New Times

"the Venomous Pinks are three gals from Phoenix that don't take shit from anyone. They are a really great band, too." - Punk Rock 77 thru Today