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Fanny
Walked the Earth |
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“When we got together for rehearsals on the songs, we realized how good
it sounded when we played. I had questions, because I did not know how
good we would sound. We had not played (together) for over thirty-five
years, but there you go there is that life size bag of experience. We
were good thirty-five years ago and everything we knew how to do back
then, we knew so much more now.
We have experienced much more. We have experienced much more. I
was thinking am I rusty, but what I didn’t realize is I have more to
bring to the party. We sounded great. There is something to say about
the camaraderie of working with people whom you have known for so long,”
says Brie Howard Darling in talking about Fanny Walked the Earth formerly
known simply as Fanny, the first all women band to be signed by a major
record label. June Millington, Jean Millington and Brie Howard Darling
(then known as Brie Brandt), the original members of the band reunited
to turn out an unbelievable Rock record that has electrified old fans
and newer fans alike.
Continuing she says, “One of the things that we brought to this record,
which was different from the first four Fanny records is this record is
all original. There are no covers on this record. That was a first for
the Fanny women.”
The self-titled album Fanny Walked the Earth boasts numerous solid
songs, including one “When We Need Her,” that is heralded as somewhat of
an anthem for women.
Brie Howard Darling explains how having this all-star cast of women join
Fanny Walked the Earth on the album came about, “The very first person I
thought to have on as a guest was Sherry Hagler who is now Sherry Taylor
and she is from the group Birtha who were our contemporaries at the time
back in the seventies. They did a couple of records on Dunhill Records
and they were fantastic and they were our friends. That happened while
we were making the album and we were back east at the studio where we
were recording.
When Dave (Dave Darling the producer and Brie’s husband) and I came back
from the east and we were doing overdubs I called Patti Quatro and Alice
de Buhr and I asked them if they would join us on this record. Alice
doesn’t sing, so she played double drums with me on the song “Walk the
Earth.” It was amazing and that created a bond. I feel very, very close
with Alice now. I know her
so much better than I did before, although we lived together years ago
in the Fanny days in the early seventies.
When I asked Patti Quatro to join us and I let her know I wanted her to
sing and to play on something she was very excited about it. She started
suggesting other women. She suggested Kathy Valentine and that is when I
thought of having The Bangles come on board. Patti also suggested Cherie
Currie. Kathy and I had met before and Cherie I did not know at all, but
Patti made me feel very comfortable about Cherie and she told me she is
a sweetheart. She was and she still is an enthusiastic wonderful person
to know and to work with. She is fun and she has an amazing amount of
energy and charisma.
I didn’t just want to have people that other people have heard of, but
also to shine the light on women who have been working all of their
lives and who contributed really early to women in music and really
never got as much attention. I called up Genya Ravan from Goldie and the
Gingerbreads, which was one of the early Rock and Roll girl groups (1962
– 1967). They recorded a single. That is the difference between their
contribution and Fanny. Fanny was the first all-female, all girl group
to record a full LP for a major record label.
Then there were some women I knew who were doing it back in the
eighties. I got Sherry Barnett from the Mustangs on “When We Need Her,”
and then a really good friend of mine Teresa James who I was in the
group American Girls with in the eighties. I just pulled people who
influenced me personally and who were part of the music scene, whether
they had they did not have the light shone on them or they had a lot of
light shone on them. I love that is how this went down. Alicia Velasquez
is on there as well. I think we have a good representation from the
mid-sixties to groups that came out of the eighties.
Patti had two bands, Pleasure Seekers and Cradle and they were doing
their music right around the same time as Fanny. It was great when Patti
joined Fanny in 1974. Patti is wonderful.
I had known The Bangles twenty-five years ago, because we were on the
same record company and we were managed by the same guy Miles Copeland.
I looked up their website and I wrote an email saying, Jean, June and I
from the band Fanny just finished recording the tracks for a brand new
record after fifty years. We have a song that is about women and we
would love for you to join with us on it. I sent it on their website and
Vicki Peterson answered me.
She said I would love to join you on that. You guys were the pioneers
and you inspired us. Then she said can the other girls join me? I said
ya’ (she really lets her enthusiasm show).”
The conversation segues back to the song “When We Need Her,” and Howard
Darling talks about originated, “Jean and June and I got together and we
were watching the (2016) election and it was so shocking to me. It was
not what I expected. What I learned from that is I only know what I
want. I learned that what I think is reality is just my reality. I was
just so surprised to see that the country voted that way. I was taken
aback completely and that is what the first verse is about.
For women and for me it was a very dark moment. It just made me
feel that after everything that has happened (her voice trails off) and
for a long time people have been working for equality for that outcome
to happen was surprising to me.
The message (of the song) is to be there for each other and to show up.
One door closes and another door opens. This brought attention to
everybody and the women’s march happened. That is what the second verse
is about. We are stronger together and if we stick together we will be
heard. That is where the second verse came from. That is the message and
it is not a hardcore message. It is my experience.
When we asked people to sing, they showed up so willingly and they
wanted to be a part of that message. That means a lot to me, because it
means that the message is getting through. I think if this message gets
heard, it will speak for a lot of people.
The song started out with me thinking about my relationship between
myself and my mother and my daughters. There is a connection. I was
thinking about how sometimes I call upon my mother’s wisdom or kindness
or strength when I have to make a difficult decision.
Of course my mom and I were as different as night and day, but
everything she was is still with me.
I realized while writing it that all of the women that I have
known and some women whom I have never met affect who I am today. I can
call upon their experiences, accomplishments and contributions to help
me to muster up the courage to take on the responsibility of being the
best that I can be. I am still working on it and I need all of the help
that I can get.
As women with a goal we can call upon those women who went before us and
who are still making changes for all of us now. They stood up and they
stand up for who they are and for who we are. This is what I have
learned, everything that we do and that we don’t do we will pass onto
the future generations of women. That is the message in the line “We’re
all in this together.” Everything we do and that we do not do affects
future generations. It is time to step up!
This is an amazing time of awareness of people. It is a great time to
have a format to speak from.”
When asked why she decided it was a good idea to reunite as Fanny now
known as Fanny Walked the Earth, she says, “It was attractive initially,
because I realized I wasn’t ready to give up my Rock and Roll shoes.
I still had a hunger for it. When June called me and asked if I
wanted to join her and Jean, to play the Fanny portion of the tribute
that was being paid to her I said yes, because I just wanted to play.
Initially, it was just the opportunity.
(Editor’s note: Playing at the
tribute provided the inspiration for the band reforming)”
Throughout our conversation Brie Howard Darling peppered the
conversation with references to having a life size bag of experience
upon which she can draw, so we asked her if that also affords her the
opportunity to be more emotive while singing and playing.
“I can only speak from my point of view, because I don’t know if it is
easier for Jean or easier for June, but for me it is yes. After
everything that I have experienced it is much easier for me to tap into
what is really important to me.
When I was sixteen and I first met Jean and June I was having a ball. I
had an opportunity to play with the girls and it was great. I got to be
in a band, which made me important in my mind, because I wasn’t popular
in high school. I discovered that playing in bands was a safe place for
me to go and where I had automatic friends. I had a purpose. Until then
I was just an unpopular kid in school. I was from a minority family. My
mother was Filipino and my father was European, we were the only
non-white family in a town of 5,000 people and I felt that. When I
didn’t recognize it on my own, I was informed about how different I was.
I think kids were just as surprised having someone that different in
their school, as a friend or a classmate and they were responding
honestly, but how they responded was very hurtful. I was made aware of
how different I was.
I wasn’t comfortable and when I was fourteen I was in my first band and
for Rock and Roll my race didn’t matter what color I was. I was singing,
playing and having fun with my bandmates.
That is what counted. I never felt that in any of the bands and
situations that I have been in since I was fourteen years old and here
we are fifty-four years later I have never felt that unacceptance of who
I am.”
With some sandpaper in her voice, a bit of gravel and lots of bite Brie
Howard Darling belts out “Lured Away,” backed by lighter, more melodic
background vocals on the chorus.
She talks about the song, “A lot of people have told me after listening
to “Lured Away,” that they can totally relate to what I am talking
about. That is I might be in my sixties, but it doesn’t mean I am done
yet. Part of where that
song came from is my wanting to do something still in the Rock and Roll
format. I wasn’t sure what it was, because I didn’t get as many calls as
I used to, to go out on tour or to go do a video or a recording.
It didn’t mean that I didn’t want it still. I am a little
embarrassed to admit it, because you are not supposed to still want
those things, but I don’t know who according that is. You aren’t
supposed to want those things at this point in life. You are supposed to
be happy with what you have and you have already done it. When we got
the record deal with Blue Élan Records it was confirmation that I still
get to do what I want to do. That song is about looking up and realizing
that you are not done yet. You still have something to say and you want
to express that you are still valid. I think that is the message that
people like.
One of the things that we get to draw from our life size bag of
experience is we get to look back and see that is true.
Some of our greatest losses have opened the door to another great
experience in life. There is always another door to open. I can’t wait
to see what the next one is (you can hear the enthusiasm in Brie’s
voice).”
As for juxtaposing Brie Howard Darling’s raw vocals with the lighter
vocals on the choruses, “It was my idea, but that is just the way that I
wrote it. It wasn’t a plan. It wasn’t thought up. It is a song that
pretty well came out in one solid piece of work. It was pretty well the
minute the lyric came to me, “I’m
not starvin’, but I’m kind of hungry,” the rest of the song wrote
itself.
With the apologetic chorus or what is a lighter treatment of the melody
it is like someone is taking a stance and saying this is what is going
on and at the same time (the person) is saying I am sorry for the
changes that you are going to go through, but I am going to do what I
need to do. That is just something that happens organically.
I think at one point in your life, which is where I am at right
now you have done so many things and you have this huge bag of
experience that you can draw from.
Not that I can always do this, but I don’t have to preplan a lot
of things, because I’ve done that before or I have seen that before or I
have said that before or I have felt that way before.
I get to pull from this really
big life size bag of experience that I have. I like that.”
June Millington also wrote and co-wrote several songs on the album
including “Not My Monkey,” and Dave Darling also co-wrote some of the
songs.
“One song I really had fun writing is “Love Farmers.” I wrote the melody
and the lyric. “Love Farmers,” is about accepting that sometimes a
relationship, of any kind, just doesn’t work out. All of the seeds that
you plant just don’t grow. Not everything you plant grows and not
everything you start turns into your hope for what it could be. You just
accept that and move on. It is sad, but it is realistic. I think you
keep some of everything that you experience, but hopefully some of the
pain from when something doesn’t work out eventually fades away. I think
it is a human condition that we all experience and that is what I like
to write about. It doesn’t
have to be obvious what exact story I am telling, but I want it to be
something that everybody can feel and relate to,” she says.
As the interview draws to a close Brie Howard Darling sums up what her
fans of sensed about her for years and really speaks to the heart of who
she is, “Something that is very important to me as a performer, I don’t
want someone to listen to me and be in awe of what I can do, I want them
to go, I get that, I feel that way. That is important to me as an
artist. Something that a (person) can relate to first hand is important
for me. I want to share experiences with people. I want to tell people
about my experience and I want to share it with them. Hopefully, that is
what they take away from some of the songs that I write. I am more into
that than a song that preaches what to do or how you should feel. I
would rather tell a story or relive an experience that I am sharing or
can share with somebody.”
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The
song begins with a strong downbeat on the drums, served up by Brie
Howard Darling (led vocalist) and with the Millington sisters clearly
demonstrating that time has not eroded their abilities as musicians,
with Jean on bass and vocals and June on electric, slide guitar and
vocals and in fact there is a spellbinding guitar solo. If listening to
the three of them play is not enough to get you excited, they have an
all-star cast of singers backing them up. How about this, three members
of The Bangles, Vicki Peterson, Susanna Hoffs and Debbi Peterson? On top
of that Cherie Currie, the former lead singer of the all teenage girl
band The Runaways, Patti Quatro, Teresa James (also plays piano), Sherry
Barnett, Alicia Velasquez, Kathy Valentine, Wendy Haas-Mull and Genya
Ravan also sing background vocals. 