Band of the Month: Sixty Watt Bayonets

English noise rockers prove that there’s no singing too loud

By Sarah Collins
Published: June 30th, 2009 | 7:00am

WHO IT IS
Vocalist Penny Bayonet, guitarist-vocalist Will Bayonet, bassist-vocalist Billy Bayonet, and drummer Mike Bayonet.

LOCATION
Reading, Berkshire

FILE UNDER
Strokes-style garage punk fronted by fierce female vocals.

IN A NUTSHELL
UK ladies with pipes are old news, but Penny Bayonet is no Adele. Her shouting and wailing has a depth even Beth Ditto can’t beat. Backed by an all-out rocknroll band, Sixty Watt Bayonets are intense to the point of exhausting.

Penny met Will at the University of Reading. “I would sing in my room,” says Penny, “and Will would hear me down the hall and say, ‘You sing too loud.’” The two started playing together for laughs, recorded a demo, and ended up on the radar of the manager of the Killers. The little boost of support got them played on LA’s KROQ and a fan base started to form. “We really didn’t think anyone would like it, because it seems a bit different to us,” says Penny.

Their growing fame makes the pseudonyms necessary. “I’m a teacher, so I’m trying to separate my teaching career,” says Penny, who teaches history to high schoolers. “We were a collective, and we were trying to name it as a collective.” Their fans are also a part of the collective, and the band’s work with Girl/Boy/Revolution fanzine has started creating an alternate, female-friendly community that they can be a part of.

“There’s not many female bands in Reading,” says guitarist Will. “There’s many sort of men playing prog rock.” Though Sixty Watt Bayonets play the kind of four-to-the-floor garage rock Reading is known for, Penny’s bluesy crooning and shouting make female presence undeniable, and leave the band a little left out.

“We wanted to go against the scene,” says Penny. “We didn’t like prog rock.” Sixty Watt Bayonets chose to focus on the other side of the ‘70s, and the punk influence can be heard in both their music and their singing.

“I secretly wanted to be in a ‘60s girl group,” says Penny, “but there wasn’t a lot of that going on, so I started mixing it with newer sounds.” The years spent singing along to Gladys Knight & the Pips and Sam Cooke are also audible in Penny’s singing — half punk howl, half blues growl.

Will brought other inspiration to the band. “I think punk was a big influence from my side,” he says. “I really like to be quite punk and aggressive, and Penny really likes having the melodies. Sometimes, it’s kind of noisy.”

Noisy, sure, but all good art rock should be.

WHAT’S AHEAD
Sixty Watt Bayonets will be releasing their first EP, Pounding Hearts, Fighting Words via Broken Tail Records and Velocity Recordings on July 18.

MORE INFO
Sixty Watt Bayonets official site
Sixty Watt Bayonets MySpace

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Sixty Watt Bayonets are Venus Zine’s "Band of the Month" for June 2009. Visit Venus Zine’s Sonic Bids page to submit your profile for coverage consideration.