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About the band:
The Debs are back in town on Saturday night at The Outland Ballroom for the first time in almost three decades. The maverick, all-girl band emerged from the Springfield music scene in the late '70s with '60s girl pop harmonies and Ramones-esque power chords. For three years the Debs wrote great songs and toured the Midwest, letting the chips fall where they may. And with the help of their friends Fools Face, The Mistakes, and The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, who invited them to open for big out-of-town shows, the chips were falling in all the right places. That isn’t to say the Debs merely got lucky—listening to their songs on MySpace.com now, they sound like one of those early CGBG bands forever immortalized in punk rock history. And that wasn’t too far off. Iggy Pop’s famous manager, Danny Fields, flew from New York to see The Debs play at the Blue Note in Columbia. But the band broke up shortly after.
On Saturday, the Debs will perform with Katie Coffman on drums, Terry Cone on lead vocals, Kris Garnier on guitar and vocals, and Marion Painter on guitar and vocals. Drummer Peggy Smith is the only original member who couldn’t be reached for the reunion. The Debs will be followed by an awesome Springfield supergroup, The Sympletons (featuring members of The Symptoms and The Skeletons: Jim Wunderle, Lou Whitney, D. Clinton Thompson, Joe Terry, and Lloyd Hicks).
About the show:
with The Sympletons
Where: Outland Ballroom
When: August 15, 9 p.m.
Price: $10
Interview:
I spoke to guitarist Kris Garnier on the phone from her home near Woodstock, N.Y. Kris will also perform a solo set at the Magic Bean on Monday, August 17 at 9:30 p.m.
When’s the last time the Debs played together?
Kris Garnier: Oh gosh, that would be sometime in 1980. I moved from the area a long time ago. I went through Springfield once about 14 years ago and saw everyone briefly. But it’s really been 30 years since we have spent any good amount of time all together.
How did the Debs form?
KG: I had heard that Terry Cone played bass in a band with Annette (Weatherman) and Patty Hicks, but they broke up…I was friends Jim Wirt from Fools Face at the time, so we decided to put a band together with Terry. We were very punk and we played a few gigs at fraternities. It sort of fell apart and Wirt went on to play with Fools Face and we thought, “We want to start a band and we want it to be all girls.” Then we heard that Katie was learning to play guitar and Peggy was learning to play drums, so we said, “Let’s do it.” That’s how it came together and it just evolved. We built a following and we were getting gigs all over the Midwest.
Did you guys run into many obstacles or jerk promoters who didn’t take you seriously because you were a girl band?
KG: Yes! There are a lot of stories. We would be on the road with a station wagon and a U-Haul with all our gear. We would take our own PA and amps and set up. The craziest gig was in some little hillbilly town in east Missouri. We showed up and the owner of the place was chasing Peggy, the drummer, all over the bar trying to kiss her. Then we got on stage and the audience was mostly men. I don’t know what they were expecting, but they were like, “Take your clothes off girls, you’ll sound better!” They were hoping that we’d be something else.
But all in all, we had a lot of very funny experiences and I feel blessed. Not to be trite, but in the '70s, to be in an all-girl rock band in the Midwest… it was really empowering. It has really shaped these past 30 years of my life.
What have you been up to since the Debs?
KG: I live in upstate New York just a mile away from Woodstock. I have been raising my son who is 18 now. Musically, I’ve done a lot of things. I lived in France and I was a street musician. I lived in New York City and composed music for avant garde ensembles…But after I landed in Woodstock, I really focused on raising my son. That was just really important to me… I also did a thing here called Garage Rumble. It was a battle of the bands for upstate New York teenagers. I wanted to do it because I had so much fun when I was a teenager traveling around and being in bands. I wanted young people be in front of industry professionals, a big audience, and a great stage. It was really inspired by being in the Debs.
What was your favorite place to play in Springfield and what were the shows like?
KG: What’s funny is that Springfield was never our big spot. A lot of our friends weren’t old enough to get into bars because we were still teenagers. We played at SMS (now MSU) at the big arena there. It was a really fun gig and we had a good reception. But we really had a big following in Columbia, Mo. and Lawrence, Kan.
I heard that Iggy Pop’s manager flew out to see you play in Columbia, but the Debs broke up soon after that. What happened?
KG: Well, I left. It was for a variety of reasons. I went to England…I guess I just had a gypsy heart and I wanted to see the world. It just didn’t happen…We were pretty young and we had a lot of success pretty quickly and I guess it just ended. And that’s why it’s fun to do it again.
(I then spoke to Terry Cone on the phone a couple days later right before she picked Kris up from the airport.)
Have you been in other bands since the Debs?
Terry Cone: Yeah, I played in the the Pepper Cats and the Widgets. And I sing back-up harmonies for the Dog People.
Why did you decide to re-unite now?
TC: You know, it just kind of fell into place. I actually hooked up with Kris through Facebook of all things. She said she was coming to town and I said, “Well, we ought to play.” Or she said it. I can’t remember who said what. But it’s been a fun process.
I listened to the two songs on MySpace and they sounded great. Where did you record and were those songs part of an album? I can’t find a Debs discography online.
TC: No, we just did a little CD with five original songs. I don’t even know if we ever sold any of them or even tried to. It was for the historical process. Our friend Terry Wilson helped produce it.
How did the Debs go from being a local powerhouse to attracting regional and national attention?
TC: One thing that really was beneficial was that the public television station did a little feature on local bands. They would have bands come in and play. We got to play nine songs and we got a little video tape of that. We had musician friends all over the place and and in fact I think it was D. Clinton Thompson and Lou Whitney from the Sympletons who played it for Danny Fields (Iggy Pop’s manager). That was fun to meet him and have him come see us. But we didn’t get signed or anything.
What are some of your favorite bands you got to play with?
TC: We opened for the Daredevils a few times in Joplin, Columbia, and Kansas City. We played with Fools Face, the Mistakes, and the Dog People. Then there were some bands we met on the road, like the Regular Guys, Duchamp, etc.
What can we expect at the Ballroom show?
TC: We’re going to have fun and enjoy the process. The harmonies are really fun. Marion (Painter) is a great singer and bass player. Katie (Coffman) is playing the drums now and she really hits them hard. These past few months rehearsing have been a ball.
