The Purple Rhinestone Eagle from Philadelphia is a far cry
from the Purple Rhinestone Eagle that now resides in Portland. It’s the
same band, and even the same members, but since moving to the Pacific
Northwest in late 2007 the trio seems to have found itself. Aside from
unsheathing overblown riffs mighty enough to pierce through a dragon’s
still-beating heart, the ladies of Purple Rhinestone Eagle have also
found Portland to be a perfect place for women to… well, rock
unconditionally.
“In Philly we were an anomaly. There was a concentration on the
femaleness and not the music,” says guitarist Andrea Genevieve. “It was
refreshing and inspiring to find this community of musicians who come
from the same background.”
In fact, all-female folk-punk trio New Bloods played a big part in
luring the band to Portland. Both are part of a tight-knit
collective—along with Magic Johnson and Hornet Leg—that
combines social activism with DIY punk. And it didn’t take long for
PRE—which also includes bassist Morgan Ray Denning and drummer
Ashley Spungin—to start playing basement shows and writing new
material, which Genevieve says, ironically, is less upbeat than
what they were writing back in Philly.
In March, Purple Rhinestone Eagle released its second EP Amorum
Tali (Latin for “Talons of Love”), a garage-rock orgy where guitars
dance in the red and the spirits of Tolkien and Hawkwind always
loom—recorded on analog, of course. Genevieve might very well be
the second coming of Hendrix, complete with a banshee wail always on
the verge of coming unhinged. The trio is already kicking around new
songs and will hole up in the studio this winter to work on their first
full-length, which should be released in early 2010.
In the meantime the band is gearing up for another epic six-week
tour, but not before playing a fistful of gigs here, including two this
week. While PRE’s live shows are starting to become the stuff of local
legend, its members have found life on the road to be the next best
thing to life in Portland. “The three of us are really built for
touring,” explains Genevieve. “I think we suffer a little post-tour
depression every time we get back.”