Sunday: Girls Rock Camp Showcase At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Marc Brubaker

All Together Now: Girls Rock Camp Houston's 2011 alumni sing "Don't Be Afraid to Be Weird."

​Girls Rock Camp Houston showcase
Fitzgerald's
August 7, 2011

Now available for your viewing pleasure: Our GRC showcase slideshow.

The six bands formed at this year's Girls Rock Camp Houston filled the upstairs area at Fitz Sunday afternoon with a youthful energy that Aftermath hasn't experienced there since high school, when music was new and full of life. Members of Neon Green Machine, Turquoise Foxes, Ragdollz, Silver Dragons, The Distortions and Murder on the Boulevard all proved that a week of teamwork, learning and dance parties can empower young girls both on and offstage.

While the girls were getting ready after their run-through, Aftermath tried to help out as much as possible, but came to realize that the girls didn't need it anymore. They'd blossomed into independent, self-assured rockers.

​The first band to perform, Neon Green Machine, even practiced some breathing exercises they learned earlier in the week at the Punk Rock Yoga workshop to rid themselves of pre-show jitters. After we ran through the lyrics a few times backstage with NGM - the band we 'counseled' for the week - we took our place in the crowd to watch them perform their song, "Summertimes."

Of course - and we might be a lot biased - we thought that it was the perfect opening song. The lyrics are catchy and fun: "Costa Rica, Canada, China, Hawaii - everyone around the world, COME ON LET'S PARTY!" By the end of the song, the audience was bouncing up and down and throwing around a beach ball that had appeared out of nowhere from backstage.

​After NGM, the Turquoise Foxes were up. The first thing we noticed was that Isabella, the lead singer, has a beautiful and cherub-like voice. It was also super-rad to see Cameron, whom we'd helped out at drum sectionals, channel all of her boundless energy in her Chuck Taylors.