Porchlight Coffee opened sometime in December; maybe early or mid-december but I can’t recall. They don’t normally have shows there because if that were the case, Zack, the owner, would be working 16-hour shifts. From what I was told after asking a mutual friend if they were booking shows, this night was a “special occasion” since Rebecca Redman would a book shows for Zacks band whenever they’d tour in California.

Girl Band consists of three combined superpowers: Rebecca (of Watercolor Paintings), Michelle (of Glass Cake), and Mallory (of Backpack). Not to be confused with themuch older (and roadhouse) Girl Band in San-Francisco.

At this point I hadn’t seen Mallory or Rebecca since last July when they toured up to Seattle to play with iji for Independence Day. I’d missed them since and this was my first time meeting Michelle, whose first time on tour this trip was. I had biked up all the way to Porchlight to meet them, filled with excitement and bike riding energy just to find out that they had ventured over to Hillside Quickies several blocks over. So I walked rather than biked, which led me to feel more antsy to see them.

I met up with them and our friends Amanda and Jason Clackley. We were all super pumped to see each other again but I felt like it wasn’t actually that long since I last saw Rebecca and Mallory. During the few days leading up to their arrival I was filled with such excitement but having that was stifled by the feeling of time constraints involved with knowing I had to work the next day.

We caught up on life, Michelle and I introduced each other, and other conversation took place amongst us as we walked back Porchlight.

Their voices are very powerful. Remember that above mentioning of combined superpowers? That was a serious statement. Mallory, Michelle, and Rebecca’s singing reminded me of how great sounding vocal harmonies and sing-alongs are and that the three of them probably had band practice in the car on the way into town. Also, they only have one guitar! That makes Girl Band the most fuel efficient band I know!

I didn’t think anyone would come to the show. By the end of the night I’d say there were about 50 people that were in that establishment. The acts performing with Girl Band that night were Jason Clackley and Your Heart Breaks and I couldn’t say who’d come to see who. In any case, I was glad that enough people came and donated money to Girl Band so they could afford fuel to drive to their show in Eugene, Oregon, the next day.

I’m unsure of what songs are written specifically for Girl Band but I think most of them are songs of their own bands. Mallory and Michelle’s songs tend to be a bit slower than Rebecca’s, which seemed really funny when I was wondering about whose songs were whose. While editing these I asked my friend Joel, who was sitting next to me, which songs we thought were Rebecca’s. Both of us laughed…

“Yup! That’s Rebecca’s song!”