Penny Dreadfuls

The seeds of the all-female Los Angeles alt-rock quartet the Penny Dreadfuls were originally planted in a Californian high school, where two friends (drummer Andrea Sanchez and guitarist Melanie Makaiwi) often discussed one day starting a band. It wasn't long before the duo placed an ad in an L.A. music paper and found singer Anna Chaffee and bassist Chimene Gonzalez. The new group realized that they shared the same goal — to form a compelling rock band that would be appreciated on its musical merits, not for being all female. They began gigging on the West Coast, opening for such acts as the Afghan Whigs, Morphine, and Redd Kross, and began gaining the interest of record companies. Their first release was a seven-inch ("Sooner or Later") which also appeared on the Triple X Records compilation It Came From Beneath L.A. The group eventually signed with Restless and began work on their debut album with producer D.C. Herring (Satchel, Throwing Muses, etc.). Before the album's release, another single came out, the intense rocker "Fodder." Eventually their self-titled debut was released, which earned unfair press comparisons to such past female groups as the Go-Go's and Hole.