Temptress goes from metal to something closer to Psych-Rock

Dallas’ female metal band Temptress had just released their first demo EP before the world turned on them.

For around $ 360, the band recorded all three songs they would use to promote themselves in one afternoon at a friend’s recording studio.

The tracks were raw, imperfect, steamy and a perfect signature from a previous project.

You may know singer and guitarist Kelsey Wilson, guitarist Erica Pipes and drummer Andi Cuba from this project, punk-metal band Tricounty Terror.

Related stories

I support

Local

Community

Journalism

Support the independent voice of Dallas and help keep the future of Dallas Observer free.

“It’s not prohibited, but it’s not something that you really want to promote or revive,” Cuba said of its previous group. “It was a good springboard to bring us to this project. But it’s something that’s, like, in the past and best left in the past because we’re so proud of it.

Cuba took the reins of this debut EP, writing the lyrics to one of her most sexually suggestive tracks “Ride of Your Life” – a speed metal-inspired track in which the narrator takes the lead in a sexual encounter, asking his mate if they “are ready for the ride of your life?”

“I wrote the lyrics because in a previous project we were told to be aggressive, aggressive, aggressive, so we wanted to write a song like Motörhead,” Cuba said. “My favorite Motörhead song is ‘Limb from Limb’; this song is very sexually aggressive, but not in a bad way, just like the lyrics are like, “Lover, i want to tear you apart limb by limb.”

While this fast, aggressive, heavy sound may have been inherited from their previous project, the women of Temptress aren’t interested in keeping that sound when they come into the studio to start work on their debut album.

“These songs were written with just the three of us,” Wilson said of the new EP. “Then we had [bass player] Christian [Wright] come up with some songs. So we have this really crazy mix of chill music and really intense music. And then throughout COVID, we kind of phased out the things we didn’t really feel anymore and started working on what we wanted to be in the future. This genre came out like that kind of psych-rock doom.

The band does not intend to remove absolutely everything from this first EP. Hardcore fans can always expect to hear any of those first three songs live.

“We’re going to keep one in the back pocket,” Wilson said. “I think we’ll probably keep ‘Heavy Woman’ in our back pocket. It’s just a really catchy song, and it has more of a rock and roll vibe.

With Wright’s addition to bass, the band became more and more aware of their distinct influences and began to work to bring the sounds together into something that is just a little harder to define than just “metal.”

“What’s great about our connection is that we’re always down with everything else,” Wilson says. “We just have so many different influences, like Erica in different Christian stuff, than me than Andi.”

Pipes goes on to explain that while she prefers thrash punk, Wilson turns to classic rock, Wright likes heavy stuff, and Cuba is a shoe-gauze fan.

“We don’t all have the same ideas,” says Wright. “We are together as one, but not from our past. We’re bringing in more post-rock, which is pretty edgy.

Reflecting on what Temptress worked on in the studio, Wilson says we can expect something that builds on the first EP without repeating what has already been done.

“There are a few that are heavier, but not that much,” she says. “They are a little more complex. And since Christian brought in a lot of lyrics that was, you know, just … I don’t think you could identify more than one thing.

“I would consider myself heavy music. I think it is a term that we are claiming.

“Our level of play right now, we’re not going to piss off because we know what we’re doing, we have an idea and we can make it happen.” – Andi Cuba

Tweet this

It remains to be seen when we’ll actually be able to hear the music Temptress worked on in streaming or physical format, as the band takes their time in the recording process.

“We’re going to buy it first,” says Wright. “Hopefully by the spring of next year we have a full release party. We’ll see how it goes, and hopefully there won’t be an apocalypse by then.

For now, Temptress is focused on boosting their gigs and looks forward to their tour with Austin doom metal / stoner rock band Monte Luna this fall.

While the concerts of this predominantly female group have often been ridiculed by other players and fans of the predominantly male genre, the group say they have experienced it less and less as they have proven themselves to be masters of their profession.

“Our music speaks for itself, and it needs to be taken more seriously, which helps a lot,” Cuba says. “It also has a lot to do with being taken off the stage seriously. What we play – the style, the genre, the way we present ourselves on stage – it’s like we get more respect. We also grew up as musicians. Our level of play right now, we’re not going to piss off because we know what we’re doing, we have an idea and we can make it happen.

At the moment, Temptress has only one show planned in North Texas before going on tour – a free show on October 2 at Division Brewing – but its members say to keep checking their social media accounts because everything could happen by then.

“Give us a big blow,” pleads Wilson. “Listen to the new album. I think everyone is going to really like it, but I also think it’s a lot better live.