Julie Edwards and Lindsey Troy of the thrive on destroying the preconceptions of a crowd.
The duo, armed with heavily distorted guitars and the thunderous drums, began in 2011 and have shared the stage with the likes of Blondie, , Red Hot Chili Peppers, and other notable rock acts. But one of their biggest joys as performers has been winning over the fans of their idols and friends by putting on a show often involving outlandish costumes and the rock and roll that concertgoers would expect to experience at stadium gigs.
“I just feel like we would walk out, and they’d be looking at us, and they’d have a total set of ideas of what was about to happen and literally every single time, we demolished and decimated all those ideas with what we actually did,” Edwards said during an interview earlier this month. “Lindsay and I are just rock and rollers, and it’s very authentic and real to us to put on a high-octane rock show. I wish that (those preconceived notions) would change and I think it was changing, but it was fun to really subvert everybody’s expectations on those huge support tours.”
Despite the years of fun rocking on stage together, the band will bid farewell with their final tour, which began in the fall and has been broken up into sections to spend more time with their children at home. The last hometown performance for Deap Vally will take place at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 9.
“It’s so drawn out, so instead of being condensed in this emotional period, it keeps going and going,” Edwards said. “I think by the time we’re wrapping up North America, maybe it’ll start to really feel real or when we’re approaching the end of the U.K. leg of the European tour. That’s when it’s really going to be like, ‘This is it.’”
As the Edwards and Troy finish up their tour and go out on their separate paths (Edwards will pursue a degree in forensic psychology and Troy plans to do some solo music), they said they feel good about the strides that women have made in music even if it feels like the rock genre could use more prominent women at the helm.
“I was watching the Grammy’s last night and it’s like, music is largely dominated by women now, but it’s not rock,” Troy said. “It’s like a lot of really talented pop stars, female rappers and even in country. It seems like we’re like the one genre where people aren’t really that comfortable with women in it.”
The band has maintained its focus in maintaining a women-only act throughout its years and on occasions that Edwards hasn’t been able to make it on tours. Troy has tapped drummers such as Lia Braswell and Alejandra Robles Luna as a service to their fans, but also to preserve the representation of an all-women group in the music industry, not just as the talent, but in the managerial aspects of it too.
“I can’t help but feel like there’s some kind of static around being an all-female act for industry in terms of like, working with us,” Edwards said. “If you have a man in your band, the music industry is like, ‘Cool I can talk to him.’ I feel like if you’re all-female, they’re like, ‘Look at this badass, angry and heavy female rockers, like, how am I going to work with them?’ I just think there’s some, like, maybe ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’ kind of stuff happening in those relationships that may have given us a stop and start experience in our careers.”
“Where it’s like, you see other bands that are dudes and they just get to be on the same level the whole time, no matter how they’re doing, or how they’re performing,” she continued. “So, I feel like there’s something to that. It’s hard to put your finger on it because it’s so unspoken. No one is going to come and tell me that, ‘I was afraid to work with you because you’re women and you seemed angry or whatever,’ but that’s one of my suspicions.”
While the duo won’t miss the hectic airports, lack of healthy food options on the road and the workload that comes with tour managing, they will miss the interactions with other musicians like sharing a meal with Robert Plant and the more personal relationships with fans abroad.
“One moment that really stands out in my mind is when we were on tour opening for Mumford and Sons in Europe and we were in Lisbon, Portugal backstage,” Edwards said. “A crowd of fans had gathered below the window and were shouting up for Mumford and Sons. The four members then came and stood at the window and sang this beautiful four part harmony-like a cappella song for the fans and the people outside then started singing a Portuguese song for us. It was this incredibly moving, energetic cultural exchange and just like total unity, kindness and commonality. It was a really beautiful experience.”
Deap Vally
Where: Teragram Ballroom, 41234 W. 7th Street, Los Angeles
When: 6 p.m. Saturday, March 9
Tickets: $22 at or $25 at the door the day of the show.
