Whoa, Man! is one of the latest acts to hit our scene and has a mission to celebrate the women of rock. The group is fronted by three of the area’s premier vocalists: Sunny Taylor, Eliza Toth, and Teresa Lyon. They’re backed by a tight group of musicians including Mike Grant (drums), Pete Jacobs (bass), Gary Toth (guitar), Nevera Keesler (piano), and Alicia Pyle (keytar). You might as well consider this a Fort Wayne supergroup.
“Whoa, Man! was an idea Eliza and I talked about back in 2015,” Taylor said. “We always wanted a ‘chick band’ with alternating lead singers. We got things started, but it quickly came to a halt when a few band members were presented with new job opportunities and Eliza found out she was expecting.”
Toth and Taylor continued to sing together on occasion, but it wasn’t until recently that they considered reigniting the band. Over time, the other members fell into place and after the first rehearsal, they knew it was something special.
Together, they perform female-driven music by the likes of Heart, Joan Jett, Janis Joplin, Pat Benatar, and more.
“These are the women we grew up listening to and imitating when we were kids and we absolutely love that we’ll be celebrating their music,” Taylor said.
The band’s first performance will be at the Three Rivers Festival on Saturday, July 13, when they open for Here Come the Mummies. Tickets for that show are only $10, currently on sale through Ticketmaster.
In addition, Whoa, Man! plans on booking more festivals and would like to perform and raise money for organizations that specifically help young women whether through social services, education, or mentoring. This is going to be a fun group to watch!
This Coolidge isn’t silent
If you do plan on making it to the Here Come the Mummies show at TRF, you best show up on time. Also opening for the show will be the Indianapolis-based rock band Coolidge.
This group features members of the ska/punk road-warriors Johnny Socko who performed in the Fort numerous times in the late ’90s. Coolidge delivers catchy, original, post-punk-pop that’s been cleverly described as The Police meet Green Day at a Maroon 5 concert, they all get into a scissor fight, and throw in a horn section. Sounds interesting!
Local bands Hit Wisconsin Festival
A couple of locals will represent the Fort Wayne scene at this year’s Fox Valley Roots Music Festival in Appleton, Wis., on Nov. 14-18.
Old and Dirty and Left Lane Cruiser will both make the trek north to perform at the festival which features bluegrass, hard blues, folk rock, Americana, and everything in between. Their mission is to support Wisconsin-wide music and premier out-of-state talent.
If you’re looking for a road trip, this might be it. If anything, support our locals.
Out and About covers Northeast Indiana’s most interesting music and arts events. Send your announcements to info@whatzup.com.
