[KROQ Exclusive Interview] Locals Only Band of Verona Proves There’s Still Room For Women In Rock

The female fronted rock band has generally been taken for granted, most commonly due to an ingrained prejudice or the belief that a woman’s voice is incongruous with the testosterone of rock n’ roll.  of Verona, a Los Angeles based band, are out to prove those preconceived notions wrong.

Behind Mandi Perkins powerhouse vocals and heartfelt lyrics, of Verona has quickly become a leading act to watch for in the future.  The band’s first single, “Castles,” has been on popular demand on Locals Only with Kat Corbett, a song that very effectively combines the pop/rock commercialism with modern waves of indie and electro.  There’s also a sense of purity and honesty thriving deep within the band’s core. “It’s very real.  It’s got the richness of classic rock, which everybody in the band really loves, artists like Bowie, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks … with the electro heartbeat of what’s current right now, what’s happening right now and what could potentially happen in the future,” says Perkins.

In an interview with the female vocalist, we discussed how a handful of musicians from Toronto and Brooklyn united in Los Angeles, why the band stresses the importance of a human connection with their music, and if bands like Florence and the Machine and Metric are paving the way by reviving the matriarchal dynamic of rock.

Born and raised in Toronto, a musically savvy and scholastically ardent Mandi Perkins transplanted from Canada to attend UC Berkeley, and to fortify herself as a successful musician. Originally paving her way as a solo artist, Mandi’s career was stonewalled by troubles within her label. After some down time, Perkins was introduced to a youthful musical prodigy from New York in Dillon Pace. An immediate musical bond was developed between the two when they were asked to write for the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack. After missing the final cut, the song flourished online, “…we put it up and it got thousands and thousands of downloads. Probably 100,000 views on the initial video that we put up in less than a week. And we were like, O s**t man, we have something…It all just happened so organically. So we started playing shows in March of 2010 as of Verona.”

“Castles”