Diary đ â60s garage rock, Female Species
The story of two sisters and an album that wasnât released for nearly 60 years
Graceâs Diary is a monthly series of personal stories and deep-cut discoveries by TSCMLâs Editor-in-Chief, Grace Lilly.
Girl drummer, girl guitarist, girl bassist
The other day I stumbled across an all-girl band called Female Species and decided I had to tell you about them. I heard one song (âStop and Think It Overâ) and loved it, looked them up, and fell in love with their story.
Sisters Vicki and Ronni Gossett started Female Species as teenagers in the â60s but didnât release an album until 2021âŠ
âThis is the story of two sisters who nurtured a dream for half a century and never let it die.â
Southern California, 1966: Vicki Gossett was a 16-year-old high school student living in Whittier, California when she decided to start a band. She had seen The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan show two years prior in 1964 and was inspired.
âI want a band thatâs just like The Beatles, only itâs going to be all girls.â
It wasnât until one fateful day that she actually got started â she was riding home on a bicycle and was hit by an uninsured drunk driver. Luckily, she was mostly uninjured and since her parents werenât interested in pressing charges, they decided to accept $200 in cash as compensation for the accident.
Vicki decided that was âthe perfect time to ask for a new guitarâ and thatâs how Female Species officially began.
Her mom, Loretta, came up with the name Female Species, and Vicki recruited her 14-year-old sister Ronni to play bass and coach the other members of the band â Dawna Snow (keyboards), Linda Peters (guitar), and Michelle Molner (the first of many on drums).
To avoid the hassle of learning popular radio hits, the self-taught sisters decided to write their own songs. The result was a collection of psychedelic-infused pop songs featuring wild keyboard solos from Dawna Snow and smooth, melancholic vocals from Vicki (see âTale of My Lost Loveâ and âYou Need Meâ).
After their drummer left for college, the girls put an ad in the newspaper to find a replacement. This is where things get really wild⊠Who answers the ad? The one and only, Karen Carpenter (pre-The Carpenters).
âThis gal calls and says, âYeah, my name is Karen. Are you still looking for a female drummer?ââ
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