INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Web-special: Controlled acoustic rage
by Paul F. P. Pogue
Radio Radio
Saturday, Feb. 3
Bitch — formerly of Bitch & Animal, now heading up Bitch & The Exciting Conclusion — has crazy eyes. Like, you-can-see-the-whites-from-the-back-row crazy eyes. It’s one of her selling points.
You can probably tell from her name that Bitch, singer/songwriter/violinist/guitarist/ukelelist, is kind of an angry person. But it’s a focused angry, like laser beams coming from those crazy eyes that make you think maybe she’s the only sane person left and you’re the crazy one.
Bitch, who opened for Melissa Ferrick at Radio Radio Feb. 3, started out with low-key folk rock, but she brought out the fiercely controlled rage as her secret weapon for such songs as “Pussy Manifesto.” (“Manifesto THIS, mothafucka number three: I am TIRED of my genitalia being used as an insult!”) She’s a stage performer of remarkable power, a tightly wound dynamo stalking the stage — dreadlocks flying — and every verse an accusation and a challenge to the audience.
Theoretically, she opened for Ferrick, but really, they turned it more into a dual act, with Ferrick accompanying Bitch’s last few songs and Bitch returning the favor on Ferrick’s set. Ferrick was a quieter stage presence but no less enthralling, drawing rich layers from her complex guitar fingerpicking and filling the room with her sharp, commanding voice. A coffeehouse and indie veteran, she has the sort of urgency and disciplined punch that allows her to control the room, even if it’s just her and a guitar.