Last year about this time, one of the few bands coming to our fair state to perform live was an all-women rock group that plays only Led Zeppelin material: Lez Zeppelin. The venue that presented them was Madison’s own Somerset Abbey. The quartet is made up of Marlain Angelides on vocals, Joan Chew on bass and keyboards, Leesa Harrington Squyres on drums and the founder Steph Paynes on guitars.

Seeing my first interview with the band was with Paynes when her group made their debut appearance at the Abbey, it seemed only right and proper to chat with her again about Lez Zep’s return to that fine establishment. I began by inquiring how things were going for her band nowadays.

Paynes: Well, they will be going better once we really start working (laughter). I mean, it was a year-and-a-half of not knowing what was going to happen, and certainly not working at all; so that was rough, a moment of existential uncertainty. And I think everyone in the world probably had a similar moment in some degree, but for performers — people in the arts and people who depend upon large audiences and large places that pay you only when crowds come — it’s particularly hard.

Q: Was there any kind of a bright moment for you?

Paynes: On the positive side it was like a moment of reckoning, for me personally, I really had to sit and think: “Is this what I want to do—is there anything else I could do?” And I have been through those moments throughout my life a lot, but just not recently as much. A lot of us were faced with: “Well, if this has disappeared, what is there and what do I want to do? And if it comes back do I even really want to still do it?” And in some ways that’s good because you have to discover what your true desires really are again.

Q: Well, other than the esoteric side of things you’re actually coming back to a venue you visited last year about this same time, I believe, which is the Somerset Abbey in Madison.

Paynes: She (Stacy O’Brien) was one of the few places that continued the shows.

Q: What was your experience like up there at that popular venue?

Paynes: Oh, they are wonderful people all around in every way. Their venue is fantastic, they’re just welcoming and nurturing and fun and they made it as good as they could under the circumstances. It was a good dose of positive love for music, love all around, it was great. We were all so happy to just play, we were all so happy to just try and that was what that was all about.

Q: Now that things are closer to normal, what are the shows like?

Paynes: We’ve now started to play a few gigs. Last weekend was fantastic, we had one gig in a theater where it was very lightly attended. All their shows apparently have been lightly attended and that was one done. The next night was a venue we’ve played for 14, 15 years already and I have never seen it more crowded ever. It was sold out two months in advance, people were packed against the wall like nothing had ever happened anywhere. It was insane, it was the exact opposite experience. So what is the norm? I have no idea!

Q: Maybe some place in between?

Paynes: Maybe, or not—or maybe only extremes. I think everybody’s trying to figure it out and it’s uncharted territory.

Q: The last time we talked you were working on “Physical Graffiti” and I was wondering how that turned out.

Paynes: Fantastic, we just played it last weekend and we’ve got several shows lined up to play it. It was really becoming our new show when all of this hit, we have multi-media for it, it’s just the most fun but it’s also very challenging (chuckle) that’s why we like it. It’s playing cuts that no one would ever really play because you have to do the whole record; I mean, who would ever play “Down By the Seaside,” so it’s great to dig into numbers like that. It’s really fun and the crowd loves it—people love that album.

Q: Yeah, very true, and it’s a double album set, too, right?

Paynes: Yes.

Q: That’s what I remembered. Now, with all the multi-media and all the other bells and whistles with that large production, I don’t imagine you could pull it off at the Somerset Abbey.

Paynes: No, unfortunately, but we are coming back to Maine on Dec. 18 for a show at the State Theatre in Portland, which is a bigger venue, and we’ll be doing “Physical Graffiti” there.

Q: Well, let’s focus on the Madison gig, shall we? What can folks expect from your triumphant return there?

Paynes: We are on fire! That’s what they can expect (laughter) — we are so happy to play that we are just bursting with energy and the show have been incredibly energetic and people have gone nuts. So I think they can expect a ‘celebration day’!

Q: Oh, nice one there, Steph! Oh, is the line-up the same as before?

Paynes: Yes, there’s Marlain and Joan and Leesa.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article about that show?

Paynes: Um, I think it’s really just: “We can’t wait to see you!” We’re so happy to be playing for people again and we’re so appreciative of our audience. We can’t wait to resurrect our mutual love of music and Led Zeppelin and joyful times!

Lucky Clark has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.