Women Who Rock

13 ladies who put the "whoa-man" in Springfield's music scene.

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In an industry dominated by dudes, Springfield has more than its fair share of ladies who have rocked, twanged, sang and screamed their way in to music fans’ hearts. Meet some of our favorites (way better than the Spice Girls).

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Baby B Stiletto and Christine Couture, The Adrenals

They have six tattoos each, near-fluorescent hair colors and amusing stage names—all of which are normal in the punk rock realm. But The Adrenals’ Bethany “Baby B Stiletto” Ziskind, 27, and “Christine Couture” Gaisser, 22, stand out for being women in one of music’s ultimate men’s clubs. Quick, name a female punk musician. If you said Blondie’s Debbie Harry, well... Blondie played New York’s CBGB’s rock club, but it’s a stretch.

What they lack in role models they make up for in guts and attitude. Ziskind says during a show in Las Vegas one of the musicians sharing the bill with the Adrenals was overheard saying his band should go on last because “no one came to see that chick band anyway.” When the crowd roared with applause during The Adrenals’ set, Ziskind rubbed it in by flipping the man off and glaring. It’s likely they’ll be back in Vegas in the spring as part of The Adrenals’ three-month, 69-date nationwide tour. For a band that named its previous tours Barely Legal, Two Chicks at the Same Time and Screaming for Gas Money, one can imagine the possibilities that number provides.

Influences: For women in punk, they give just one: Angie Goodson of fellow local group Unteen. “She’s my hero,” Gaisser says.

Not “Just a Girl” Quote: “[Baby B Stiletto] sounds kind of tough and Italian, and I’m just a little Jewish girl, so it’s funny.” —Bethany Ziskind

Hear the band at: myspace.com/theadrenals