The origins of Ladysmith were not planted in an ice cream store in New Hampshire, as popular legend portrays, but in a Pizza Hut in Houston, Texas. And although Aerosmith is known as “The Bad Boys from Boston,” none of Ladysmith’s members are male, nor are they from Boston. And they didn’t sell 140 million records worldwide, don’t hold the record for most gold, platinum and multi-platinum by an American rock group, didn’t bag four Grammy awards or land nine #1 hits.

The seeds of Ladysmith were planted by Eve Tyler, a waifish vocalist who cut her teeth with popular regional goth band The Melody Creeps. When their music was dismissed by goth ‘zine Tormented Inside as “bombs falling softly in a graveyard,” the band broke up to spend more time in inconsolable misery.

Built like a brick doll house, Flo Perry spent seven years convincing her parents to sell their Hummel figurine collection to buy her a guitar. They relented, in return for her promise that she would stay away from boys and devil music.

After saying goodbye to their food retail day gigs, Tyler and Perry were joined by bassist Tung Hamilton, who was equally anxious to avoid a career in the rewarding field of manual labor. Hamilton studied music in college, where she met drummer Zoey Kramer, who had recently changed her major from Applied Narcotics to music.

The four hooked up, adapted a heavy sound and hit the local clubs. After being cited as “thin, like Dick Van Pattern’s hair,” by a local rock scribe, the band realized their sound was a few feathers short of a whole duck. The girls added on guitarist Brat Whitford, an accomplished stringbender whose riffs helped to unclog the band’s musical chimney.

Naming themselves “Ladysmith” from a book of 19th century American poetry Whitford had stuffed under her speaker cabinet for balance reasons, the group hit the club scene like a hurricane. The band was quickly signed to Carrumba Records and released their self-titled debut disc. Ladysmith established the band’s hard rocking blues-soaked sound as the group toured relentlessly. The girls earned critical praise for the abilities, with It’s Only R&R magazine touting, “Ladysmith has fallen from the upper tiers of the talent tree, and hit every branch on the way down.”
Ladysmith’s sophomore effort, Get Your Yings, showed the start of the band’s long collaboration with producer Jill Douglass. Yings yielded a barrage of radio hits, including “Same Old Thong and Pants,” and a cover of “Elaine Kept-a Bowlin’.”

It was Ladysmith’s third album, Boys in the Attic, which shot the group into the ionosphere of fame. The follow-up album, Chicks, launched the hit single “Back in the Sidesaddle” and continued Ladysmith’s reign as the queens of hard rock tribute bands.