Like many others, I was a big fan of Femme Fatale back in the late 80s. Many of us will have vinyl copies of their 1988 self titled album in our collections and of course who can forget those videos for “Waiting for the Big One” and “Falling In And Out of Love”?!? The album is still one that all fans of 80s rock should own and my vinyl version gave way to a CD copy many years ago. The original Femme Fatale line-up parted ways in 1990 before the release of their second album. Now they’re back with Lorraine Lewis at the helm again, leading an all girl line-up with Courtney Cox and Nita Strauss from the Iron Maidens on guitar, Janis Tanaka on bass, Katt Scarlett on keyboards and Athena on drums.
I’ve been following Lorraine Lewis on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter for many years, and am delighted that she agreed to answer a few questions in the midst of a very hectic schedule that involves not only Femme Fatale but LPL Productions. Femme Fatale recently returned from the second appearance on the Monster of Rock Cruise and appear at the M3 Rock Festival in Columbia later this month.
NI ROCKS - Hi Lorraine, I know you’re a busy lady so thank you for taking some time to answer a few questions for Rock Radio NI. I was wanting to focus on two main things – the future of Femme Fatale and your involvement in the “Ex Wives of Rock” TV series – and maybe a few general interest questions.
Femme Fatale recently with a sensational all-girl line-up. What inspired the decision to go with an all girl group and how did you go about selecting members for the band?
LORRAINE -Hi Nigel - thank you for reaching out!! I decided on the all Femme line-up when I was asked to do MORC 2013 - Femme Fatale has not been “active” for years. The original guitarist Bill D’Angelo passed away 6 years ago and I just didn’t have the heart to replace him and then a light bulb went off - “ALL GRRRRRLS” - So I reached out to the best female guitar played around: Courtney Cox & Nita Strauss. We met at Starbucks in Studio City and decided to work together. Then I reached out to Janis Tanaka who played bass for L7 and toured with pink, added the incredible Katt Scarlett on keyboards, and then the "cherry on top"-Athena! We're a fun badass group of rock craziness. I love these girls!
NI ROCKS - You’ve been involved with a lot of projects since the original Femme Fatale break-up in 1990. What convinced you that the time was finally right to re-launch Femme Fatale?
LORRAINE - It really comes down to the fact that Femme Fatale is what I’m all about. It’s who I am, plain & simple.
NI ROCKS - Amazingly Femme Fatale only released one album, with the second recording (“Lady In Waiting”) being shelved before release. Do you plan to get this album released now or is the intention to work on new material – or both?
LORRAINE –I am talking with F N A Records about releasing it!! Which is pretty exciting.
NI ROCKS – Following the recent second successful appearance on the Monster of Rock Cruise, the next Femme Fatale outing is the M3 Festival. Are there more plans beyond that and any chance of some European dates?
LORRAINE –Yes we are planning to play as much as possible!!
NI ROCKS – The usual drummer in Femme Fatale is of course Athena who is one of the stars of “Ex Wives of Rock” the reality TV series that follows four famous ex wives of rock stars. Unfortunately the show isn’t broadcast in the UK – although we’ve managed to watch the first season online. You’re Executive Producer on the series. Tell us a little about how the whole thing came about?
LORRAINE –Ex Wives of Rock is a blast - I am so excited to have landed it on TV and I hope you will eventually get it in the UK. Right now we are filming Season 3…!! The idea originated with me and my bestie Lisa Brucker. Little by little we built our incredible cast starting w/ Bobbie Brown, then Sharise Neil, Blue Dixon, and finally the cherry on top…Athena!! (There’s a theme here - Got it? Athena is the “cherry on top”!!)
NI ROCKS – Is there any chance of wider distribution of the series?
LORRAINE –The production company we are working with is working on distributions world wide.
NI ROCKS – I interviewed Roxy Petrucci of Vixen last year. You and Roxy were in a band called Roktopuss that I remember following on MySpace a few years back. Was the EP that was recorded ever made available for download? Any chance that there might be more from Roktopuss in the future? – Roxy certainly seemed open to the idea.
LORRAINE –Roktopuss was a great time, and I love Roxy tons. No plans, she is busy with Vixen and Madame X…which is awesome news.
NI ROCKS – Can you remember the first album that you bought and the first gig that you went to?
LORRAINE – The first album was “The Fifth Dimension”….my parents belonged to the Capital Record Club and let all us kids pick out something….strange kid I was, but that song “Beautiful Balloon” is a great song..hahhaha …my first concert was David Bowie & War!!
NI ROCKS – And if we had your iPod or whatever and hit shuffle what five artists might we get?
LORRAINE –Lorde, Motley Crue, Foo Fighters, Britney Spears, Motorhead
NI ROCKS – Thanks again Lorraine for answering a few questions. Best of luck for the M3 Festival. We look forward to more from Femme Fatale in the near future.
LORRAINE - Thank you super much for the interest. Everyone please visit me on twitter @Lorrainekicks , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ILoveFemmeFatale , on the website www.Lorrainecafe.com or Instagram @Lorrainerocks
xxxx
There are a few videos of Femme Fatale playing the Monster of Rock Cruise in 2013 and 2014 on YouTube – check them out.
Here are the classic videos from the 80s.
Check out NI Rocks at www.facebook.com/NIRocks or www.twitter.com/NIrelandRocks
