fur purse – Queer Women in Music

Have you been to a show at Rock Mansion? If you haven’t, you’re missing out! Amy Tyson rebuilt the Dorchester home herself over a period of years and it’s the most welcoming place in town to play a show. She sets up her PA from her home studio in the dining room and it’s an instant safe space for Queers, misfits, artists, and their allies to debut new material, new projects, and show off their talents.

Pam Nicholas welcomes you to Rock Mansion

On December 31, 2019, Rock Mansion welcomed the end of a tough year by celebrating 3 bands and one artist. Up first was New Recording 23, which is Pam Nicholas from Pop Smear, Shiva Speedway, and the current Dowager, and Amy Tyson of Fur Purse and Rock Mansion ownership. They are an instrumental rock project and are amazing. Pam is a force on the drums and Amy Tyson wails on her Ibanez like nobody’s business.

David Champagne played solo next. He was a small package with a lot of heart and I linked here to his web page for more info about his music and upcoming shows with his other projects. Most of his other shows, if not all, are sold out, but you can get a sense of his sound at the link provided.

After a short break came Bicker. According to Eve Belfer-Ahern, Bicker can be described as, “Bicker is me n claire (Passey) (of FurPurse with Eve and Amy Tyson) and Ella from lady pills and Adam from Stompbox and Chris from black cat guitar, FIRST SHOW!!”

Bicker ruled! If you like Fur Purse, watch out for Bicker! I took like 50 photos I swear to God. I wish I had a video, but you’ll just have to keep your eyes open for their next show.

If you want to see New Recording 23 again, you have to bother Amy and Pam to keep it up, which they better!

Holy Ghost was supposed to play, but one of the women, Mary Beth Cahill got sick. Suzanne Hinton says about Holy Ghost, “This will be the first show for Holy Ghost, me and Mary Beth Cahill (we used to have a band called Looker).” I hope to see Holy Ghost come together again in the new year.

New Year’s Eve at Rock Mansion 2020 Flier by Suzanne Hinton

The final band of the night, Argo Arkestra, was supposed to bring the extravaganza with sci-fi covers and the like, but I missed it because I had to leave before they went on. Christopher Carmelovich describes the Argo Arkestra as, “Argo Arkestra is Noell Dorsey (Guillermo Sexo/Major Stars/Beautiful Weekend), Aaron Bennett (Crystal Understanding/Death Shepherd/Planet of Adventure), Ernie Kim (Tristan Da Cunha), me (Planet of Adventure), Adam Brilla (Broken River Prophet), Bear Brown (Ho-Ag/Gun Mother), Tyler Derryberry (Ho-Ag/Planet of Adventure/Squirty Worm), and Brian Church (Tristan Da Cunha, who won’t be there this time).”

There could not have been a better party with a better group of people to ring in 2020. The Rock Mansion 2020 is a place to watch. Words can’t really describe what the Rock Mansion means to me and I hope you have the chance to experience it for yourself so you don’t have to wonder what all the fuss is about. It’s not open to the public,it’s a private home with small private parties, but if you’re nice and get to know these amazing women, maybe you’ll be invited to the next show.

FUR PURSE HAS ARRIVED

So just who or what is a Fur Purse?

Fur Purse is:

Eve Belfer-Ahern – vocals, saxaphone, keyboards
Amy Tyson – guitar
Claire Passey – drums

Bio from Facebook: “Menacing, pubesenct, black hearts.”

QWIMB asked the Fur Purse women some questions about life, love, and the pursuit of fur purses and here is what they had to say:

What brought you to Boston and how long have you lived here?

Eve, Claire and Amy were all summoned to planet Earth at different times, but for the same reason: to be in Fur Purse. Eve arrived in Boston first, having appeared to have been born and bred here. Amy showed up in Boston not long after Eve first appeared, and did a bunch of stuff while biding her time. Claire is the one who is still the most jet lagged.

Why did you form Fur Purse, what brought you all together?

Destiny cannot be denied, everybody knows this! Inexorable forces, that’s what. What more can we tell you? Do you really expect us to understand these forces? That is similar to us asking, “Why are you, Tina, so deadpanning-ly funny?”

Do you think there’s a good scene/community in Boston for queer female musicians?

We think it is amazing!! You go queer female musicians!!!

No seriously, even though we don’t believe in labeling ourselves, we know, enjoy, are amazed and are grateful for the INCREDIBLY strong female presence in Boston Indie Rock!!! It gives us strength and courage!

Why do you think it was ordained 1000’s of years ago that the three of us would end up at these very particular coordinates as Fur Purse? If you don’t believe what we are saying is true, then you probably think Ladies Rock Camp is a hoax too.

Have you noticed any trends in the scene, i.e. is it better or worse now than it used to be?

Based on the analysis of the data we each have been transmitting continuously from the BostonMA area back to our source originations, there has a steep increase in people of the non-male persuasion playing instruments, singing and thrusting their pelvises on-stage in clubs and halls around town. Marked increase. Preliminary analysis points to probable cause/influence as likely being an organization, a camp, if you will, that is for ladies who want to rock.

eve yelling claire drums — Eve and Claire at The Cantab

Are there any artists who have inspired you musically or personally?

Amy: Cindy Wonderfulis someone who really helped light the way for me on this crazy zoom zoom wheee! Eve sends props to all the great performers, like David Bowie, or Boston’s own Deb Nicholson. Claire says The Haggard broke all the rules and changed her dna forever.

Have you been in other bands before Fur Purse?

Do you BFP? What is BFP? This is an illogical concept.

When and how did you get started playing music?

Amy started on air guitar first, then switched to a material, physical guitar at some point, because it’s louder and therefore sounds better. Claire first started on the sewing machine at her mother’s behest. Once she mastered that sewing machine, her mother said she had “earned the right to hit things really hard”. Eve started singing in her dreams, and continues to this day. Shhhh don’t wake her up.

How did you come up with the name Fur Purse : ) ?

Goddammit! It is not what you and some other people think!! How can we ever get that through to you people! We are going to keep protesting this until you believe us!

No – “Fur Purse” is really just a term for a sort of small-ish container into which people put things, in order to carry them around. Like if you were a trader in the 1850’s on the Oregon Trail you would likely have a fur purse. or maybe if you were a fancy lady in out on the town in the present day. OK?

…I think that’s it. Again, if there’s a question you’d really like to answer feel free to add it on.

Yeah here are some questions I think we should answer:

What is best thing about being in band? #1 Groupies #2 Feelings

What is worst thing about being in band? Feelings

What advice would you give to people who want to start a band? Just do it and don’t look back!