Besides that they have the potential to rule the metal scene, they were wearing masks in 2019 before everyone was doing it in 2020. Also, Ivy Crown looks much cooler than the rest of us. Maybe they should have the masks in the merch section. I would buy one and scare the coworkers a little bit. It would make my day. By the way, don’t forget to check out their links and support the band.
If I had been more interested in punk rock in the early 2000s, I would have been Go Betty Go’s biggest fan. Back then, I was a new mom so the only things on heavy rotation were Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer.
It’s going to be alright. Now I love punk rock. It’s not too late to be Go Betty Go’s number one fan.
Thank God that they got the band back together. Go Betty Go’s lineup includes guitarist Betty Cisneros, singer Nicolette Vilar, bassist Michelle Rangel, and drummer Aixa Vilar.
Aixa and Nicolette took a few minutes out of their day to answer some questions. Welcome Go Betty Go to the blog!
Where has Go Betty Go been? Are you glad to be back?
Aixa: We’ve toured all over the US, Canada, parts of Mexico and Europe. We’re thrilled to be back and playing music! It’s a blast.
Where was your first show as a fan? As a performer?
Aixa: My first show was seeing Officer Negative in a church auditorium in Glendale, CA. As a band, our first show was at a 10 years old birthday party.
What led to doing a reboot of “Reboot?”
Aixa: After reuniting we wanted to put out new music as it had been over 10 years since our last record. It was also the first time writing new music since we had broken up.
Will there be new music from you guys in the near future?
Aixa: Absolutely! We’re working on new material now and hope to be recording in the next few months.
Do you think that you will take a different approach to touring than you did in 2005?
Aixa: We’re definitely more mature and try to make more rational decisions. We look out for our health and soul much more than we did back in 2005.
Are you guys superstitious?
Aixa: Nicolette is the most superstitious of us all. She seems to be a little sensitive when it comes to the supernatural world.
Have you ever worked or visited anywhere that was haunted?
Nicolette: I lived in an apartment in MacArthur Park where the previous owner had died right before I moved in. He had lived there for twenty years and his spirit was very much there. He was a troubled man who had lots of issues and died suddenly so he didn’t really understand what was happening. He didn’t like me and would do things to try and scare me. At first, he would unlock the door every time I went out. After confronting the manager and making sure it wasn’t him coming in, I changed the locks and added a deadbolt just to be safe but during the night I heard the click and sure enough, my ghost had unlocked the door again. I scolded him in the morning because I had enough and he never messed with my door again but he’d do other things. I came home one day and there were black footprints on my toilet. Completely unexplained. It was as if a man just appeared out of thin air with dirty shoes and stood on my toilet with his back to the wall. It was creepy but what could I do? I cleaned them up and went on with my life. One day Aixa and I were writing a song in the living room and we heard a huge crash coming from the kitchen. When we went to go see what it was, there was nothing out of place. Things like that were always happening but I tried to not let it bother me. After all, he was dead and I was alive. It was my turn to live in that apartment and he just had to deal with it.–
What do you hope to accomplish this year?
Aixa: I really want to finish writing some songs we’re proud of and make a new record with them!
Does anyone have a bucket list?
I’ve been really lucky to do a lot of what I’ve wanted to do, but since you ask…. I would love to hold and hang out with a baby monkey and one day be able to fly first class on an overseas flight! Ha!
What do you want people to know about Go Betty Go?
GBG is a 100% DIY band. Nicolette does all of our graphic artwork, including merchandise, tour/show flyers and anything else that the band needs graphics for. We manage ourselves and have worked our butts off to keep playing music. At times it’s been difficult, but at the end of the day, it’s been a rewarding experience.
Show some love for Go Betty Go by visiting their links and buying some merch! They have some really cool t-shirts as well as music.
Big Joanie is a British feminist punk band, which includes band members Stephanie Phillips, Chardine Taylor-Stone and Estella Adeyeri.
The quote that Big Joanie has about themselves is very accurate: We’re like The Ronettes filtered through 80s DIY and riot grrrl with a sprinkling of dashikis.
In November 2018, Big Joanie released their album, Sistahs. I’ve been following the band on Facebook for several months. So whenever I get distracted by all of male rock bands, they seem to pop up on the newsfeed – like they know I need some feminist punk music in my life.
Trust me. We all need feminist punk bands like Big Joanie in our lives. I’m always so happy when the members of a punk band are talented musicians and songwriters. I find Big Joanie to be rather charming and intoxicating. My favorite songs on the Sistahs album are “How Could You Love Me” and “Cut Your Hair.”
Please do yourself a favor and check out their music!
Whenever I watch one of Sarah Potenza’s videos on YouTube, I see a bold woman with a larger than life voice, who could absolutely be mistaken for my sister. Well, she isn’t my actual sister but I feel like she’s still a sisterly type figure for women around the world. My daughter used to call women who were not her sisters but just as important, a sister-friend.
She’s had plenty of people doubt her chances for success. Look at her now. She was on season 8 of The Voice. Sarah is playing shows around the world, including an upcoming cruise with Melissa Etheridge. She’s got a new album, Road to Rome, coming out on March 8, which is International Women’s Day. The first single from the album, “I Work for Me,” is available in all of the usual spots – iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, etc. None of those naysayers were right – not one.
Women need a sister-friend who is there to motivate us to get off of our asses and do something with our lives. We need a woman whose voice is louder than the haters.
Yes, and it caused me a lot of pain because girls are not supposed to be like that. So I always felt different.
Did you have positive female influences in your life?
Yes and no. The women in my family let the men tell them what to do, because they came from a time when that was the way it was. My grandmother was not allowed to go to school past the sixth grade. Her father said that girls can’t do anything with that education, so she didn’t need it. She was forced to work in a mill until she married.
However, her husband died when she was in her 30s. So she had to learn to do everything. She had to learn things like how to drive. She got work at a bank as the cook in the cafeteria. She worked at that bank, and at that time women were not allowed to open a checking account without the signature of a man. Can you imagine that? She had to work for a place where she had to have her son sign for her to cash her own damn check.
Has being defiant served you well?
It makes me happy. And I am not sure where I would be if I was more submissive. So who knows.
Where was your first show?
My mom took me to see Bonnie Raitt. I was in the 4th grade. It was amazing.
Have you ever been on a cruise before? How excited are you to be going on a cruise with Melissa Etheridge?
I have. I have done 4 other musical cruises, and they are always great. But Melissa is iconic. She was my idol. So I am really looking forward to this one.
How important was it for you to release the new album on International Women’s Day?
It’s very special to me.
Where do you find such cool glasses? Do you think they would work for bifocals? Asking for a friend . . .
Of course !!!! ha. I get them all over the country. I love to shop for glasses.
What do you want people to know about you?
I want them to know that I really appreciate them taking the time to listen to my music and to spend their hard earned money on my shows and my merch and supporting me.
The year 2001, in my hometown Philadelphia, was my initiation into a world I had no idea that I was not supposed to belong in. My race, gender and passage from the hood did not equate to the sum of Rock artists that were being played on radio and television. It did not add up to what history required Rock‘n’Roll to be on the airwaves, at award shows, on the cover of magazines, in the latest music videos, displayed on CD covers or selling out stadiums globally.
Being a Black Woman in Rock, playing a hardcore lead/rhythm guitar and writing aggressive songs about social issues was not going to skyrocket my career back then, but it did land me on a mission to break glass ceilings and heavy concrete walls at the same time.
How did I get to stages, such as CBGB’S, some desired to know? What led me to produce my 1st EP “Alley Of The Earth” with Kenny Terry and Rosa Lee Brooks (a recording artist who wrote and recorded with Jimi Hendrix) in Los Angles, 2002? The mere notion that I DID belong and this majestic power driven music (that I fell in love with by listening to my mother’s record collection) called me through the voices of my ancestors who created every emotion of “race music” (the Blues and Rhythm and Blues) shapeshifting into Rock-n-Roll.
Learning about Sister Rosetta Tharpe empowered my journey (who lived her last days a few blocks from where I grew up in North Philadelphia). If she is the root of Rock music then I am definitely that flower sprouting out of the concrete sidewalk helping to keep the culture alive; growing and kicking ass in every sub-genre.
The awakening of my Enchanting Rock Goddess Tour gives me the unapologetic energy to celebrate everything I was told that I can not be in the rock music arena when I already am. I have to thank my Roxsploitation Band Ronin Ali and Chris Nelson for being the wings to help navigate me through this rock-n-roll Dream, that is indeed reality.
I had to pinch myself when legendary Rock venues such as The Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles (that I am performing at June 30th), The Bitter End in New York City (where I’ll be performing July 22nd) & the Troubadour in London (where I will rock November 27th) responded quickly to book me. After 17 years of doing this the independent route, my urban legend is starting to take flight as wide as my gratitude. I am here, loud and clear in the name of Rock-n-Roll. Hell yeah!
