The Faders
Teenage runaways: Take three sexy, punky teenage girls from London, turn their guitar, bass and drums up to 11 and whaddaya got? The female Busted? Sugababes with instruments? Green Dayglo? Destiny's Chav? Even better - you've got The Faders, three ridiculously youthful rock chicks who know their way round a mixing desk, and can tell a whammy bar from a karaoke bar. They sing, they play, they even pout, but they don't do choreography, and they're not planning to fade away like so many other girl groups before them. Guitarist and vocalist Molly Lorenne (17), bassist Toy (19) and drummer Cherisse Osei (18) got together early last year and, with true teenage impatience, lined up gigs, management, record deal and producers in the time it takes The Stone Roses to agree on who's going out for the Rizlas. Their musical influences range from Led Zep to Miles Davis to India Arie, but the trio have come out sounding like classic girl-rock bands The Runaways and The Bangles.
Girls aloud: Cherisse paid her dues playing drums with various dinosaur rock bands, surrounded by sweaty, middle- aged metalheads, and decided it was time to hook up with hotties like herself. Meanwhile, Toy was studying songwriting at the Brighton Institute and playing fey, folksy tunes for the cross-legged brigade. Molly was working at Accessorize in Victoria Station, but she was dreaming of other accessories, such as picks, pickups and pedals. She had already sung in jazz groups, but the call to rock was too strong, so she jumped at the chance to form a girlie powerpop trio and become England's answer to The Donnas.
Pogo a go-go: The three began rehearsing in Cherisse's bedroom, perfecting their punk attitude on such songs as Jump, No Sleep Tonight and I Don't Mean Maybe. "We wanted something that incorporated all our influences and was also fun," says Toy. "The songs are about personal experiences that every teenager goes through," adds Molly. "They aren't about trying to get some bloke around the corner." As it happened, there were three blokes around the corner: Brian Rawlings, Mark Taylor and Jeff Taylor, collectively known Metrophonic, who took an interest in these teen tunesmiths and took on the task of producing their debut album. Having already worked with Bowie and Britney, the Metro boys knew exactly how to get the best out of these rock babes.
Princess charming: All three Faders have vastly different musical tastes, but they all share an undying admiration for Adam Ant. They've even adopted Adam Ant's line "ridicule is nothing to be scared of" as their band's motto. When the album hits the shops - and the charts - there'll be no one laughing at these ladies.
Kevin Courtney
