Sunday Girl

Jenn Cohen | February 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

by Sheila Broderick

Musically, there were great times in the ‘80s; we had the British invasion of Duran Duran, Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, and our own hits with Madonna, the B-52s, and numerous others.

Denver’s music scene was alive and growing with a force unimaginable, from the synthesized pop-and-rock sound to hardcore. The mohawks, bleached two-toned hair, and day glow took over. There were many different genres, styles, and statements that the ‘80s–way to many to mention here.

What I’m here to talk about is a Denver band called Sunday Girl. Missing those ‘80s chick-rock songs? Look no further; Sunday Girl’s front woman Jody Rodney takes you back, covering the ‘80s ladies’ greatest hits from Blondie to Yazoo. Jody’s vocals are up there with the best of them. This group does a fantastic job with all that they cover, “Our Lips are Sealed,” “Bettie Davies Eyes,” and “The Wait” just to name a few. You can listen to these tracks on their MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/sundaysuddenlyrocks.Love.

I had the opportunity to interview Jody Rodney, and talk about Sunday Girl, consisting of Jody Rodney (vocals), Scott McCombs (rhythm guitar), Marc Willhite (bass), Tony Asnicar (Lead Guitar), Buddy Gould (Drums).

CMB: How did all of you meet? Give me some background.

Jody: I met Scott through a mutual acquaintance (my husband, haha) and began almost immediately to him into joining me in my cover band endeavor. I wasn’t exactly sure how it was going to work out because we were both busy personally and musically, but I’m a very “throw it against the wall and see what sticks” type of person, so I compelled him to start hashing out the songs with me to see if we could get it off the ground. I was at a point where all I wanted to do was have fun playing music for a change, and Scott thought ‘fun’ sounded great, so we decided to add a few more players. I called up Buddy and Marc, who I had known since we had all been listening to these songs the first time around. I don’t think they thought it was going to actually come together until I started rattling off rehearsal dates, and then they were wondering what they’d gotten themselves into. At that point, we wrestled with whether or not to go the keyboard (or potentially ‘keytar’) route, or to add another guitar. Buddy suggested Tony, who had absolutely no trouble adding any flourish the music called for. I sold them on the idea that Sunday Girl might turn out to be a on- off show providing background music for iThrive’s Floralia Festival. But we ended up having a great time at that first show, and after the guys realized there would be an endless supply of beer in the practice fridge and an equally endless supply of great ‘80s-ladies tunes to learn, we decided to keep it going.

CMB: How did you come up with the name?

Jody: The name came from the Blondie song “Sunday Girl.” And although it did not scream “’80s cover band” as much as we had hoped, we think it was better than the Manic Mondays.

CMB: What are some of your favorite bands from the ‘80s?

Jody: Local or national? There was SO much good music in Denver in the ’80s. But I kind of stuck to one scene: I was into everything alternative then, particularly bands like Cage of Reason, Cavity, Dead Silence, Brother Rat. National or global acts included everything from ‘Til Tuesday, Concrete Blonde, X, Blondie, Lone Justice, and for me, a lot of new wave.

Tony added: Black Flag, Flipper, Circle Jerks, Melvins, Angry Samoans.

CMB: How would you describe a live show to someone who hasn’t heard you?

Jody: Sunday Girl is just the right combination of nostalgia and rock. We don’t have a keyboard, so our sound is a little edgier than people might remember some of the tracks to be. But the female vocals are both sweet and hot, and the boys are masters at bending guitar sounds to their will; sometimes evoking the melodies that you don’t even realize you remember, sometimes redrafting them to be familiar, yet current.

CMB: Do you have a CD available?

Jody: No. Our version of The Wait, originally recorded by the Pretenders, will be available on the compilation This Ain’t No Cowtown Vol. 3 (Kings) to benefit Jim Norris, one of Denver’s true music benefactors. And we will also continue to stream recorded music on Soundcloud.

CMB: What is your take on the Denver music scene and what are you listening to?

Jody: The Denver music scene is as phenomenal and diverse and incestuous as ever. There is a bounty of great talent in this town, and you can go out pretty much any night of the week and see great live music. And the weekends bring about a lot of difficult choices. In the last 10 years we’ve all been involved in either country or pop bands, so we’re naturally attracted to acts like The Hollyfelds, New Ben Franklins, Fingers of the Sun, Dressy Bessy and Orange Lola. But we also like to indulge in a little rock and roll with the likes of Hotgun, Landgrabbers and Hawk Attack.

CMB: Do you have any shows coming up?

Jody: Yes! February will be a busy month for us, with a show on the 2nd at Dave and Buster’s (seriously), a show at Bender’s Tavern with rock legends Hawk Attack and blues masters the Informants, and a show on February 18th at the Lion’s Lair with Orange Lola.

CMB: Any final thoughts you would like to add?

Jody: Sunday Girl is a straight-up, good-time, totally rad ‘80s chick-rock cover band just playing music to have a good time, and that comes across in our performance. Come out and rock with us, dance a little, and leave feeling good. Until then, check us out online at

www.sundaysuddenlyrocks.com Jody Rodney
Sunday Girl
[email protected]
www.sundaysuddenlyrocks.com
www.facebook.com/sundaysuddenlyrocks