Grunge music probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind during the holidays, but the ladies of Hervana are hoping to change that.
“We wanted to do something fun and different,” lead singer Carly Beath says. “It’s the end of the year, it’s the holiday season, and two of us have birthdays on Dec 16. So it seemed like a lot of good reasons to throw a party.”
Beath and her bandmates are holding their first annual December Blowout Bash, featuring performances of their trademark Nirvana covers, lots of classic grunge from the 1990s and early 2000s, and an appearance by fellow rockers blue cougars.
The celebration marks the end of a whirlwind year and a half, all of which started with a single Twitter post.
“I saw a tweet in my feed [suggesting an all-female Nirvana tribute band], and I got really excited by the idea of actually making it happen,” Beath says. “So I pulled in some people I knew and had played music with before in various projects. We started playing together in mid-2013 and played our first show in March 2014.”
The band has lined up a number of high-profile gigs, including playing at the Drake Underground and at WorldPride.
“Playing WorldPride this year was really an honour,” Beath says. “I ran into Laura Jane Grace on the street and had a bit of a fangirl moment getting my picture taken with her.”
Hervana has been vocal in its support of women’s rights, something that Beath sees as being in line with the music and image of their source band.
“Nirvana were really great allies,” Beath says. “They played some really important fundraisers for feminist causes, and Kurt [Cobain] was always very vocal about his support. He said once that women were the future of rock ’n’ roll, so I hope that he would have been pleased at the idea of Hervana.”
December Blowout Bash
Sat, Dec 13
Hard Luck Bar
772 Dundas St W
hervanatheband.com
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