For more than a decade, Vintage Blonde Chicago has been blazing a trail as an all-woman band in a musical genre—punk rock—distinctly dominated by men. Adding to the uniqueness of the band is that three of its members are members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Now, the band, composed of four women—Kim Swinton, Linda Martin, Nina Talia and Leslie “Rez” Gaeth—is releasing Afterlife, the act’s first album of original songs, on May 4. Windy City Times talked with Swinton and Martin (who are married to each other) about Vintage Blonde Chicago’s origins, their music’s message of inclusion, being queer performers and more.
NOTE: This conversation was edited for clarity and length.
Windy City Times: Tell me about the history of Vintage Blonde Chicago.
Kim Swinton: All of us have been playing in various iterations for decades. My sister, Rez, plays the bass and keyboards, so we’ve been playing in rock bands since, like, 1980. Then I met Linda a couple decades ago, and she was a singer and guitar player, like me. So my sister and I roped her into starting a new band, Vintage Blonde Chicago. Then we found Nina Talia, who’s on drums and who is terrific. The four of us have been playing for the past 10 years.
What happened is that we were primarily a cover band, playing everything from ’60s rock to ‘90s grunge—Pretenders, Aerosmith, Heart, Bon Jovi, Guns ’N Roses. Then COVID happened and we decided to focus on making an album of original music and recording it. That’s the basics.
Linda Martin: Then we met [late producer] Steve [Albini]. What a great guy. We were looking to record. We had six originals ready to go and had some others, and we were looking for a studio—and we came upon Steve, with his engineer suit and mask on. He was a punky kind of guy and he was warm—and great to work with. It was a really original sound; he recorded on tape so there was no digital, overproduced sound. He gave us a lot of great feedback through the process, and we recorded eight songs in seven days—which was kind of crazy. And then three days before we were supposed to meet with him, he passed away [on May 7, 2024]; it was so difficult. He was such a good guy and his passing was so unexpected. We ended up working with his second-in-command, who mixed our last two songs; it felt like Steve was in the studio with us.
WCT: What is it like to play in a genre that’s so male-dominated? It reminds me of rap, in that sense.
KS: I think it’s so much fun because other women like to see us rockin’ out. The guys really like it, too, and appreciate the quality of the music. We want to make sure that we’re focused on the music, and putting it out there as best we can—emotionally and technically. So I think people really respond to that. Also, there are a lot of people who like that ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s punk rock, and we’re playing new songs in that style. Even younger people, like our nephews, like the band; they grew up on classic rock. It’s great to be breaking the mold a little and putting it out there.
We have a song coming out called “No Girls in the Band.” When we grew up, if you were a woman and in a band, you played rhythm guitar or you were a groupie. So it’s kind of fun because we want to show that women can play this music as well.
LM: As women, we have to deal with men all the time. In our song “In My Way,” we go to the hardware store and men are, like, “Can we help you, honey?”—that condescending attitude. Not all the songs are, like, “we hate men,” though. There are other songs about things that are important during these times, like “Hurricane,” which is about climate change.
WCT: You’re not afraid to step into the political arena a little bit.
LM: We’re sure not.
KS: With “Hurricane,” Linda and I wrote this song together. She had the riff and I played around with some words.
LM: I think that song has its finger on the pulse. Even in Chicago, walking outside with the Canadian fires and smelling that plastic burning… It’s pretty terrifying. And you have the flooding and those L.A. fires—it’s scary stuff. So we wrote that song to try to get how we feel about all that out there. It’s sad that we’ve been talking about this stuff forever but that we can’t seem to get anywhere with it.
WCT: What are some of the other themes that you cover in Afterlife?
KS: All of the songs, even “In My Way,” are tongue-in-cheek but “Alien Message” is about celebrating the fact that we’re the same—we’re all people with the same feelings, goals, wants and needs. That song really speaks to all of the above. The song is couched in this sci-fi world with double entendres, clearly—and it’s about inclusion.
LM: The video for “Alien Message” is very satirical; it’s very Scooby-Doo meets Doctor Who. It’s very silly. Kim wrote that song in 2016—and we know what happened then. And one of the songs that her sister wrote—“Skull and Bones”—says that, underneath our skin, we’re just skulls and bones; it’s pretty dark.
KS: We’ve put out three songs now: “Hurricane,” “In My Way” and “Alien Message.” We’re working on videos for the others.
WCT: Talk to me about what it’s like to occupy a queer space in hard rock. How welcoming is the hard-rock scene?
LM: It’s interesting because I think everybody has been welcoming to us. We don’t make a big deal out of [our queerness]; three of the four of us are queer—with her sister being straight. We’re just known as musicians. In our regular life, we’ve had issues, like everyone else. But I don’t really identify us as a “gay band.” We just happy to be gay, we love rock ’n roll and we have a point of view that we want to share. But time will tell—although, at some point in your life, you don’t really care what people think. We just want to be known for what we do, not who we are.
KS: I think everybody’s been great to us, as far as collaborators and people in places where we plan to play.
LM: Steve had a lot of different interns from [all walks of life]. But we haven’t had any issues.
KS: Maybe because we’re in Chicago!
WCT: And speaking of Chicago, there are lots of summer festivals here. Do you have anything lined up?
KS: We’re going to start lining up our gates after the Schubas party on May 4. So maybe late summer or fall before we have more to share.
LM: We’re ready to play anywhere. Hopefully, some of these promotions will help us get us into some of these places.
WCT: I’m curious: Did you watch the 2010 film The Runaways [about the all-woman rock band with the same name]?
KS: No, but it’s interesting you mention that because we just got a nice review of the album in the Illinois Entertainer. They compared us to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as well as L7.
WCT: What do you hope listeners get from your album?
KS: I hope that people will like the music and listen to it, and I hope they get the message behind it—and it’s a message of inclusion, in my opinion. For the younger folks, especially women, I hope they can see us playing this music and just go for it. In other bands, I played rhythm guitar and lead—and it took me a long time to realize that I could actually do this. I wish I could have been a lead guitarist in 1980, but it didn’t happen; it’s been a real progression to be a lead guitarist, even in my head. There’s a confidence that’s needed to do something like that.
LM: It’s an inspiration to see a young girl pick up a guitar, a set of drums or whatever, and rock out. And rock ’n roll is great therapy.
WCT: And, to wrap up, if you could collaborate with any two or three musicians or producers, who would you want to team with?
KS: Well, Linda and I have the same answer. I’m just a huge Heart fan, and of Nancy Wilson back in the day, and if there was any time when I could play with them that would’ve been a huge deal. I think I’ll leave my answer there.
LM: That’s really hard. I like [Led] Zeppelin and I think collaborating with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant—some of the pioneers—would be amazing.
Vintage Blonde Chicago will hold an album release party at Schubas Tavern on Sunday, May 4, at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased here.