The Free Range Chix
X for Xtra sass and ’tude.
BY JOHN GINN
L
adies, are you (be honest now)
no longer a spring chicken?
Do you look in the mirror and
worry about those encroach-
ing lines and creases around
the eyes, those few extra pounds that have
settled in, seemingly forever, like rude
guests that refuse to leave no matter how
bluntly you hint that they’re not welcome?
Do you worry sometimes that, well, you’re
just not the young woman you used to be?
If so, the Free Range Chix have an im-
portant message for you: Get over it!
Believe it or not, you’re fabulous. If you
want proof, just look at how well the Chix
are doing. No spring chickens themselves,
they’re something much better: They’re
Chix, damn it. Chix with an X. Free Range
Chix to be precise — four funny, spirited
women who’ve put in their time at the fam-
ily roost. Now, in middle age, they’re plan-
ning to start having the time of their lives
three years since Six Women with Brain
Death. You started out because you enjoyed
making music together too much to quit.
So, what are your goals now?
Chix: Entertain women. Have fun. We’d
love to earn money, to be able to travel
around and do our thing all over, but fun is
definitely up there, equal to everything else.
If we weren’t having fun, we wouldn’t do it.
WHC: Entertain women. But you cer-
tainly don’t mind if men like you too?
Chix: Oh, no. Not at all! Men do like us
because they either live with a woman, or
they have in the past, so they can “get” our
songs just as much as women do. A lot of
couples come and nudge each other, “See! I
told you so! I am not the only one!” We try
to make sure that everyone who comes to a
show goes away with a smile on their face.
We have a lot of audience participation, and
we’re not above going into the audience if
we have to get the audience going. You
Chix: Pat Kight (director of Six Women
with Brain Death) has been wanting to help
us put together a show, but if we did we’d
want to perform it ourselves. We wouldn’t
be looking to franchise it. The Chix are too
unique! (singing) “Ain’t nothing like the
real thing baby...”
WHC: This is an amazing week for the
group. Nancy is appearing in Albany Civic
Theater’s production of The Seven Year
Itch, Stephanie is releasing a solo CD Stay
Chix: No, because a lot of it flows right
back. A lot of the songs that Vicki wrote for
one of her albums she decided worked bet-
ter as songs for the Chix. And a couple of
Stephanie’s songs on her CD are now Chix
songs, too. So even though it might be a
side project, in a way, a lot of the energy
does stay in the group.
WHC: Thank you, ladies. Just one last ques-
tion. What’s the feather in your cap, the crown-
ing glory where you say you can call it all good?
Get over it! Believe it or not, you’re fabulous.
singing, dancing, and making audiences
“laugh until they pee.”
With songs like “I Feel Fifty,” “Warrior
Babe,” “All Women Are Beautiful” and
“Menopause,” the Chix have been taking
their mission of laughter and empowerment
to mid-Valley audiences for more than three
years. They’ve had sold-out shows at the
Majestic Theatre in Corvallis and the
Albany Civic Theater but they’ve also
played conferences, fund-raisers and birth-
day parties — it doesn’t matter to them.
Wherever a woman needs empowerment or
an audience needs to laugh, that’s where
you’ll find the Chix — roaming where they
please, proud and confident and humor-
ously taking crap from no one.
And men, if you think the Chix message
isn’t for you, guess again. The Chix are
equal opportunity satirists, always willing
to lampoon themselves, too. In one song
just for men, coincidentally enough called
“Song for Men,” they generously reveal a
female trade secret. Just as you’ve always
suspected, you truly are damned if you do
and damned if you don’t. So you might as
well laugh about it.
In alphabetical order, the Chix are Nancy
Beaudry, Barbara Case, Vicki Hannah Lein
and Stephanie Long. Each woman brings a
vastly different life experience to the group
and the songwriting process. They met as
cast members of Albany Civic Theater’s
2002 production of Six Women with Brain
Death, or Inquiring Minds Want to Know.
That show turned out to be so much fun that
once it was over, the women found it almost
physically impossible to not continue with
their music making. As they prepared for the
release of their first CD, Free Range Chix -
Unclogged, and an upcoming benefit per-
formance for Hurricane Katrina victims, I
was able to get the Chix to settle down for a
brief question and answer session.
WHC: I can’t believe it’s been, what,
10 • WHAT’S HAPPENING Corvallis
shouldn’t come to a Chix show and expect
to just sit there.
WHC: Your show is very funny, but
there are other shows out there —
Menopause, the Musical for instance —
that try to cover some of the ground you do.
Have you thought of bottling the Chix and
distributing it?
in the Dream, Vickie is releasing a book,
Step Into Your Greatness, the group is re-
leasing Unclogged and you are performing
in the Katrina benefit. You all stay very
busy. With all the side projects going on, is
there ever any fear that the group will suffer
for it, that all that energy should have gone
into the Free Range Chix?
Chix: (in unison) Oprah. (breaking into
laughter). That’s what we always say; once
we’re on Oprah, that’s when we’ll know
that we’ve really made it.
More information about Free Range
Chix, including video and music clips and
song lyrics, can be found online at
www.freerangechix.net
■
Sw ee t H o me
H a rm o ni es
The Brody Lowe Band’s
sophomore release.
By Alana Yankus
T
he Brody Lowe Band, an interesting piece of the
Corvallis music scene, released their long-awaited
album this summer to the delight of friends and fans.
The nine-track disk entitled Everyday Afterwards is a more
serious work with themes ranging from family issues to
semi-political and social commentary to everybody’s fa-
vorite: love – requited or otherwise. Variety extends into the
vocals as guitarist and singer/songwriter Brody Lowe shows
off his ability to work the rock-y edge and softer stylings.
Everyday Afterwards is a combination of traditional BLB
sounds fans will recognize and some newer elements picked
up as the band grows and matures. One BLB staple, the sud-
den, mid-song style change, is present in several tracks such
as the revamped “Laugh Out Loud.” These sudden changes
may seem uncomfortable at first, but keep listening for
flashes of brilliance. Overall, the band maintains their Jack
Johnson feel, but there are Sublime moments, possibly influ-
enced by Lowe’s recent side project, the Sublime-y Evelate.
By far the most compelling and poetic track on the album
is the haunting love song “Paper Cut from a Photograph.”
The simplicity and earnestness of the opening line is some-
thing rarely found in music today. It begins “If I only had one
wish, it would be for you to come and wake me from my slum-
ber as you crawl into my bed.” What makes these words so
wonderful is their very honesty, which provides the opportu-
nity to express these kinds of sentiments without sounding
schmoozy.
But what makes the track phenomenal is the ending.
Imagine groups who were masterful at layering harmonies
like The Mamas and the Papas or The Beach Boys and you
might get some idea of the beauty at this song’s end. Lowe’s
talent clearly shows with harmony heaped upon harmony
finishing out “Paper Cut” leaving the listener in awe.
This talented foursome has been laying low for a while,
but their star is on the rise. With the success of this album
and the added support of radio play, expect great things. In
the meantime, buy Everyday Afterwards at Tower Records
or locally at Happy Trails in downtown Corvallis. And, as al-
ways, cds are available at every show. For tour dates, info and
mp3’s check out www.brodyloweband.com