Written and Photographed By Jack Skidmore

After spending a few hours with Grrl Band on a Sunday afternoon, it's evident that the group loves being together. Beyond just music, the strong friendship between each member is what drives the band to produce songs and deliver high-energy performances. “We kind of just click,” said Louise Jones, the group's drummer. “This band has been the easiest and most fun to play with, ever,” she adds in relation to her past band experiences. 

Group Formation

The current Grrl Band lineup was formed this past spring. It consists of Claudia Santino (singer), Louise Jones (drummer), Kayla Krueger (guitarist), Codi Farmer (bassist), and Camy Corcoran (guitarist). The group began in the fall of 2022 with Codi Farmer and a few of her friends. Farmer and Krueger knew each other from work, which fostered Krueger’s introduction as the group’s guitarist. Farmer said, “One of my roommates, who was in the band, she was like, ‘What? Does she even practice?’ and I was like ‘I'll check out and make sure that she has calluses’ and so I was staring at her hands the entire [work] meeting seeing if I could tell if she had calluses, and she did.” From this observation, Krueger was invited to play guitar with the group. 

As they continued to practice for their earlier shows, Grrl Band quickly observed some missing pieces. “We realized that we really desperately needed a singer,” said Farmer. During a house show at The Blue Dragon, a mutual friend recommended Santino to sing in the band. “I called her over Snapchat and I was like, ‘Hey, so can you actually sing?’ so she did an audition over the phone,” said Farmer. Within a week of her audition, Santino practiced with the group and performed at a Saturday night house show. Not long after, Corcoran and Jones joined the band through mutual friends when a couple of the original members left. 

Musical Influences 

The music that Grrl Band performs — and the artists that its members look up to — have exceptional diversity. Farmer and Corcoran both pull a lot of influence from Pixies. Moreover, Corcoran and Krueger share a love of folk-focused artists such as Neil Young and Crosby, Nash, Stills, and Young. Speaking on her musical direction, Corcoran said, “I was actually going to just start my own psychedelic bluegrass band, but that didn't happen.” 

The general sound of the full band is mostly hard rock and punk-influenced. “Musical influences as a band would probably be all of the super awesome lady rockers that have been before us,” said Krueger. “It's all for them, they led the way,” she adds. Some examples the group provided as collective influences were bands such as Heart, Bikini Kill, Blondie, and Breeders. 

Live Performances

Playing together in a live setting is something that Grrl Band cherishes. “There's other things I feel passionate about, but not in the same way that I feel passionate about music and doing music with my best friends,” said Farmer. The group held its first performance with its current lineup on April 15, 2023. Krueger especially looks back on this day in a highly positive light. “We had all this new content and it was the most fun that I've ever had playing a show,” she said. New members at this show had somewhat nerve-wracking experiences. “I was terrified, and it was really scary for the first two songs. Once I started playing, I was like, ‘this is fine, this is fun’,” said Jones. 

After their first few shows, the band quickly built chemistry and comfortability playing live. They now have a few performance traditions to keep their on-stage presence fresh. “Me and Kayla had this whole knighting, switching bit where I knight her with the mic and we switch and she sings all of “Psycho Killer” and I play the rhythm,” said Santino. 

Since building their fanbase and popularity through live shows, Grrl Band has played at the WOW Hall in Eugene, live on KBVR radio in Corvallis, and a show an entire country away. This past September, Grrl Band road-tripped to Vancouver, Canada, with a few of their friends to play at The Cobalt Cabaret. The band members all look forward to traveling again and playing in different cities. “We've all discussed the idea of doing a mini tour or something of that caliber. Just playing more shows in other places just to have fun with it while we can,” said Krueger. 

Looking forward, Grrl Band expresses their exuberant ambitions. This month, the group will travel to Portland to record an EP with DB Nation. In Eugene, the group continues to put on energetic shows and build its praised local reputation. “It's just for fun and music, and we all love it,” said Krueger.