Touring with

Spinnerette
around the country was
Mini Mansions; at face value there may seem
to be no connection at all. If we delve further, we find out that Spinnerette front woman and chief
songwriter Brody Dalle is married to Josh Homme.

Homme is the front man for

Queens of the Stone Age
, their current bass player is Michael Schuman. He also
happens to be the singer and drummer for Mini Mansions. Putting the six degrees of
separation aside, they write some pretty catchy songs. The band's style contrasts
vastly to that of Schuman’s other musical forays, and Mini Mansions was quite poppy
and his voice was suited for the task. His voice powers over his other two
band mates, but still retains the clearness and articulation of each note in his
vocal melodies. The set up was unorthodox, with Schuman playing drums
standing up while singing, Zach Dawes on bass to the right and on the left
Tyler Parkford on keys and singing duties. The band did a great job in
warming up the slowly filling Factory Theatre with much of the crowd turning up
early, oblivious to the set times which is good to see - especially for the
support bands.

By the time Spinnerette
had graced the stage, The Factory was well and truly abuzz with excitement. It
had been sometime since many of Brody Dalle’s fan boys and girls had gotten their
fix. In spite of having a child, she was still oozing with sex appeal and her stage
presence was still there. For the songs that Dalle wasn’t singing on, she took
to the edge of the stage getting as close as she could to the audience, bending
down to them and belting out the lyrics in their faces.

The band sounded very
tight, not missing a beat the entire song. A particular stand out was backing
vocalist and guitarist Tony Bevilacqua, who continued to work with Dalle after
the split of
The Distillers
. He provided deft screams that reminded us all that
this was definitely a punk show. The sound of Spinnerette isn’t all that punk and
influences of Brody Dalle’s may be coming through in the music, with some of the
songs having a touch of Queens of the Stone Age about them with their repeated
riff structure. This was expected coming into the show as the album also
contains Alain Johannes, another Queens of the Stone Age and
Eagles of Death
Metal
contributor. Spinnerette played through the majority of the album and
songs off their EP.

At times though the
set felt a little underwhelming, but I guess that happens fairly often to band
who tour on the back of one album, as a lack of material can cause shorter sets.
On top of this, sometimes expectation rides a little too high after such a great
album. In saying this, I did enjoy this show, but I went home wanting a little
more.