"Musicians Celebrate Women" by Erin Dawley for The Maine Campus (excerpts), April 17, 2000
Bionic Finger is a time bomb waiting to go off. Playing in the Damn Yankee on Saturday, as a part of the Beautiful Project, the all-female rock, punk and folk band blew the roof off with their unique sound and style.
The New York-based group, who has been together for three years, consists of Nan Turner, Alina Moscovitz, Christine Murray and Pam Weis. It is impossible to say which girl performs which task in the band, because they all do the lead singing, and play every instrument at different times. All the band's music is original, and it simply blew me away.
Normally, when you see an unsigned band you expect to be able to say, "They really sounded like Aerosmith" or "That group was comparable to Blues Traveller." But with Bionic Finger that was impossible. They have a sound that is so all their own no one has been able to find a comparison for it. "We just sound like ourselves," Murray said.
The cutting edge lyrics and hard-core, thumping instrumentation made for a style that was 100 percent unique. According to the girls, the only groups that they have been noted as sounding like are the Violent Femmes and Luscious Jackson. However, the members of Bionic Finger could not see the similarities.
The lyrics alone were enough to give Bionic Finger a solid shot at the big-time. The group takes a lot of chances with their words, and it completely works to their advantage. One of their most popular songs, simply yet appropriately titled "Big Dick," is a biting rock melody...Singer Nan Turner belted out "I'm off to serve Jesus right now. I mean, I'm off to serve my husband right now. I mean, I forgot the difference between the two. Who am I? Who are you?" as the audience, made up of mostly women, cheered with feminist power...One tune's lyrics went "Be my 24-hour lover" and another's chimed "I am wrapped up in your...in your sweaty sheets...love me, and I'll forget who I was," as they seemed to plead for the attention of that one special guy. During that particular melody, Turner, who happened to be singing again, spent much of the time running and jumping around stage, and rolling around on the floor. Turner's antics really added to the entertainment of the show.
All the women in the group were constantly making jokes and sexual innuendoes to get the crowd into the show, and their powerful voices kept my attention on them. Bionic Finger had enough energy for the entire room, and got things heated up. At one point, several shoes came flying up to the stage. When I asked the band about this practice, they said it was a tradition that they carry along with their partner groups, Moxie and The Break-up's, who both performed on Saturday. At each show that the three groups perform together, they have agreed to throw their shoes in support of each other.
Overall, Bionic Finger gave a superb performance, and I would throw my shoes to them anytime. They have a cd coming out in May titled "Inner Bimbo." For more information on the group, tour dates or even lyrics, check out www.bionicfinger.com.