Purple Girls

Rip It Up, Issue 89, 1 December 1984, Page 16

Purple Girls

Russell Brown

It’s a fault of the music scene that the roles assigned to women often tend to be those of band member's girlfriend, door person, etc, or, if they do take the stage, singer/keyboard player/visual showpiece. Bands composed entirely of women are usually only to be found the other side of the sign that reads: Women's Music Look Blue Go Purple are a little different. They fit their five pieces

loud; you can hear what’s going on then,” adds keyboard/guitar player Denise Roughan. Which would seem to be the difference, maybe: "I don’t know, I just think that when we play together we all listen really hard to each other and when I play with other people I sometimes get annoyed because some people don’t seem to listen," opines drummer Lesley Paris. “I think we’re sort of humble, real-

ly," smiles keyboardist/flautist Norma O’Malley. Of course it’s not as if all LBGP are is genteel sweetness and light there’s plenty of sass in what they do; and bright streaks of unorthodoxy like the neatly twisted vocal arrangement in songs like 'Labour Pains’ ("everybody's got a song about being on the dole"). I can’t think of anyone else they sound like when I pass on a suggestion that they in fact sound like everything else all at once they dissolve into

gales of laughter. Pop? “Yes, I think sometimes we could be called that...” says Kathy. Like seemingly many of their fellow citizens, they’re record listeners and say they're in the band for the music, rather than to convey any specific message. They agree that Dunedin is a good place for them to play music and they’ve encountered none of the problems with other musicians or with audiences that might have occured elsewhere.

So what's next for Look Blue Go Purple? Well, they've done some recording with Terry Moore producing at 4XO, they’re writing more songs, there’s an admitted shyness on stage to be conquered ... touring? Touring! The very suggestion throws them into a panic there are jobs, studies... maybe But even if they don’t come and see you, they’re worth seeking out. Because Look Blue Go Purple are, yes... a little different.