For the last song of her brisk, strong set at Irving Plaza on Saturday night, Alexis James covered Joan Jetts' "Bad Reputation. A credible version and her back up band, a buncha boys who can muscle up to a hard riff with ease, are Blackheart-y, but the song seemed a little out of place. She played a tougher set than Joanie's hard rock anthem.
Alexis has an album in the can and a heavy duty management company behind her, but I am still not sure what she is. On the strength of this set, I would call her the Lita Ford of modern rock, all her instincts are towards old time metal and if that is the case she is in luck becaise the world has been waiting for her.Talk about a void in the market place.
The lithe, 22 year old beauty played an edgy set filled with rockin' blues riffs and a power surge edge and while she can't dance she can move and she isn't afraid to. The pace is pretty relentless, a swing through six terrific rock numbers with Alexis both acting out and sneering at the victim role, She hits a chorus, "I wanna see you hurt for what you did to me", with confidence, lifting the mic out of the stand, dancing two steps back before shaking her head and wailing to the ceiling. It is good stuff, all power chords and catharcism.Girls could get behind this the way they did behind Alaniis, she could cross in both directions. A metal Goddess in waiting and still a sign of female equality (supremacy??)
Listening to her streaming music, I thought Alexis had a pop sensibility but if she does, it isn't on display here; in front of a cracker band as tight as you can get, she displayed her chops plain and simple. Maybe she is so protean, she checked out the bill (D Generation headlined) and chose her presentation accordingly. Certainly, this isn't immediately comparable to the woman who covered "You Ought To Know" last week. It is telling what her choice in covers was Saturday, isn't it?
If I was her manager, I'd get her on a heavy metal tour; the boys in the audience have been gagging for a metal pin up and Alexis is just the girl for it.
Till then, she is playing tomorrow at Pianos and I'd be really interested to see her play an acoustic set, I think there is two sides to this story. I liked the side I saw a whole helluva lot.