Walter’s was the jump off Sunday afternoon. You could hear it in the shouts from the crowd as they cheered the bands. The Cons! Dot Dot Dot! Electric Pearl! Red Diamond Pistols! Shades of Brown! Wishful Moon! Walter’s was packed despite the venue becoming a literal sweatbox where the lack of adequate air conditioning was so contemptuously and irresponsibly inadequate that the 103 temperature outside was actually refreshing. The M.C. even made light of the heat suggesting it’s par for the course in rock and roll. Well, not really. It’s par for the course for clubs who take their patrons for granted. But that didn’t quell the enthusiasm of the performers or the crowd.

If you talked to the young performers at Sunday afternoon’s Girls Rock Camp Houston showcase about their experience, you would have heard similar reactions. They were all ecstatic to be there on a real stage, practice was the best part of the camp, the experience was a lot of fun, and they all made great friends. Their nervousness and excitement was no less than that of the crowd who hooted and hollered with the best of them. Sure, the crowd was made up largely of friends and families, but there were also many people who came to the show simply out of curiosity and to support the young women.

The big question on everyone’s mind was how the performers were going to do. The assignment seems simple – write, arrange, and perform one song in 5 days. That may seem pretty easy to folks who don’t make music but, one has to remember, there were varying levels of musical skills and members who’d never worked together. Throw some adults together under those circumstances and you’d have a trainwreck, not to mention the possibility of fisticuffs. That kind of internal band struggle thankfully wasn’t apparent at GRCH - working together towards a common goal seemed as natural as strapping on a guitar and kicking hiney. That says a lot not just about the girls themselves but also about the organizers and the parents who clearly understood that music isn’t competitive but collaborative in nature.

Now, what about the bands you say? Well, ok, admittedly it was a mixed bag. All the bands were good and fun but a few stuck out. Dot Dot Dot started off the evening. They had some nice vocals and a decent melody, but the thing that was awesome was the guitar solo. The guitarist started to do a sort of solo but then just said forget it and went far out with this great noise solo that sounded like she was channeling the Velvet Underground at their most noisy and crazy. Next came Wishful Moon who reminded me a lot of the first Shaggs record (which I consider to be classic) - kudos on the drumming. Shades of Brown has solid harmonies and the lead singer earned some solid points for jumping up and down and riling the crowd for the finale. Red Diamond Pistols slammed with a dual guitar attack. Electric Pearl followed and they were probably the most fun. That was mainly due to their guitarist who easily was the MVP performer of the night. She just had this smile plastered on her face and this manic enthusiasm that just cried “Oh My God, this is so awesome!!!” that made you want to just give her the Dio metal sign with no less enthusiasm than you would give Ronnie James Dio himself! When they handed her a prop guitar to smash at the end of the set, well that was just too much! Watch out for her! Oh yeah, and their music was pretty cool too. Kind of this Krautrock minimalist structure of A-maj to E-maj (How do I know this?  There was a person in the crowd holding up A and E in rhythm for the band). The lead singer also had this cool disaffected kind of delivery that contrasted nicely with the rest of the music. Last were The Cons whose enthusiastic performance was perfectly summed up by the keyboardist rushing to the stage and falling painfully on the edge of the stage as she missed a step. She grabbed her ribcage and grimaced then sucked it up and hit the stage in true punk rock fashion. Awesome! The band also earned points for having multiple parts on the song - starting off with a slow introduction then breaking into a faster second half. Cool. More importantly, I found myself humming their tune on the way home.

So, I would call this inaugural Girls Rock Camp Houston a huge success and hopefully the program will continue in years to come. This town sorely needs it. Sure women are ubiquitous in the music industry these days (Lady GaGa, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Rihanna, etc.) but I can tell you from talking with musicians in various genres in Houston, people wonder “Where are the women performers?” I’m talking even your most brutal manly grindcore and metal bands asking this question. So, hopefully this camp helps get more women on stage because as one burly tattooed grindcore guitarist once told me “Girls on stage is just cool.” Indeed it is.