Vicki Peterson (lead guitarist of the Bangles) and Susan Cowsill (with her family’s band the Cowsills since the age of eight) are currently tilling the fields as the Psycho Sisters, and it’s given them rare perspective on making music that many lesser talents would lack. Their debut album, Up On The Chair, Beatrice is out now via the RockBeat label. Peterson and Cowsill will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with them.
Peterson: The first full-band Psycho Sisters rehearsal took place sometime in late 1991 at Uncle Studios in lovely Van Nuys, Calif. The rooms were small and had seen better days, but the place was run by our friend (and future Continental Drifters bandmate) Mark Walton and had a certain beer-sodden, rock ‘n’ roll charm.
Susan had grown up in a band with her older brothers, and they ran the show; she sang what and when they told her to. My experience of band government was chiefly Life By Committee, sharing all decisions equally, running things ostensibly as a democracy. This was different. This was the Psycho Sisters, and after performing as a duo for a few months, Susan and I were ready to try and put a band together. We gathered a few friends and set a date at the rehearsal studio.
That first night presented a potential danger zone—how were we, two women who had never really been the leader of the pack before, manage to keep control over our well meaning but over-enthusiastic side guys? We were determined to be benevolent overlords who called the musical shots—but how to do this with force and grace? We ruminated over pre-rehearsal martinis at a nearby restaurant (one of those neighborhood places that has a toy train coursing around the ceiling perimeter) before finally devising a sure-fire weapon against pushy male bandmates.
Yes, of course, we’d say. Suggestions? We’d love to hear what you think of this arrangement. Feel free. Write it down. Why, we’ll even provide a box for you. A suggestion box. Without a slot.
