Tenth of Always
By Lindsey Floren

Tenth of Always is a little known, but up-and-coming band from Santa Cruz, California. With an all-female lineup that plays loud and rockin melodic music they are catching a lot of attention. This particular show they are opening for another great woman headed band called the Pre-Teens in San Francisco. Kimo's is a bar with a stage upstairs.

I get upstairs just before Tenth of Always comes onstage. They start with a moody rocker "Pathos" and grab the small-but-dedicated audience's attention. Faith Gardner (lead singer/rhythm guitarist) has a vocal edge that speaks to me. Her lyrics seem to comment on the world around her with a welcome frankness. The band has an ability to blend together with their moving lines. Their next song "All Over Again" features Faith starting with a sweeter sound to her vocals until she lets the grit out with the line "But there's this feeling that if I could see just six more days just like this one you could fall in love with me all over again." I like this song a lot and it is available on Mp3.com so I downloaded it. Anyway, back to the show. The girls look so cute up there. Each is cute in their own way.

Faith has bright, and I mean BRIGHT red hair, while Melissa (guitar, backup vocals) has short spiky hair and is so into her music. Shayle (bass, backup vocals) is the shyest of them all and won't speak into a mic unless singing.

Alana, in the back on drums, with purple hair I think at this show...I can never keep track it changes so often. She keeps the beat very well throughout the set, and adds great artsy work on "Mysterioso" and has a great intro on "Earthquake". At one point during the set, Melissa slips behind the drumset and Alana introduces her as their backup drummer and holds the mic to her face as she plays her solo song "I'm not that drunk".

All in all they played very well. If I had any criticism, it would be that they did not talk enough between songs...tuning guitars is important, but so are we, right?

If you want more info about the band, check them out at www.TenthOfAlways.com