The Von Bondies put the past behind them with a pair of new leading ladies

By Selena Fragassi
Published: February 3rd, 2009 | 7:00pm

In the five years that have passed since the release of 2004’s acclaimed Pawn Shoppe Heart (Sire Records), Detroit’s Von Bondies has discovered the cost of trading in relative success for a series of personal heartbreaks. In that time, founding members singer-guitarist Jason Stollsteimer and drummer Don Blum have been embattled in bitter divorces from lovers and friends (you may recall the tabloid coverage of Stollsteimer’s 2003 bar fight with Jack White), not to mention band members and record labels. But as the band looks forward to releasing the hotly-anticipated Love, Hate, and Then There’s You (Majordomo Records) on February 3, things are starting to look up again, and Stollsteimer believes it has everything to do with newly-inducted members Leann Banks (bass) and Christy Hunt (rhythm guitar).

“We’ve had 10 members in the band since 1997, and the whole idea is to upgrade the band if we change members. Leann and Christy are definite upgrades,” says Stollsteimer, who is sitting in a freezing car in the Motor City, while Banks — on the other end of our three-way phone call — is enjoying the vacation sunshine in Florida. “All of our reviews for the last six or seven years have said — and it’s very homoerotic so I like it — that ‘Don and Jason have an orgasmic explosion on stage, while being book-ended by two ice queens.’ The other girls never moved, or smiled, or anything; So Leann and Christy add to the orgasms. It’s this four-way now of musical tension.”

Twenty-five year old Banks, also from Detroit, had only briefly heard of the band before she caught the attention of Stollsteimer who asked her to try out after seeing her perform in other local acts. “I hadn’t really seen [the Von Bondies] before. I’m kinda young, so I was just entering that scene and going to shows at the time they were getting big,” she adds. “Going into it — knowing they were a national act — it was a bit stressful and nerve-wracking at first.” Her worries soon became an afterthought as the band came together in the studio and recorded Banks’ contributions on “She’s Dead to Me,” and “Chancer” overnight. The two songs displayed her powerhouse talent and became seminal material for Then There’s You.

“With a lot of the older songs, the bass lines were simpler, rawer,” Banks says. “Sometimes the older songs are a bit more fun to play because it’s pure energy. But these newer songs are good too, because it actually can show how we’ve grown.”

It’s a maturation process that the band prides itself on, but one that their label wasn’t too keen on in the beginning. “When we turned in the record to them originally, they said ‘no’ to it and made us go back and work on it more,” says Stollsteimer. “We turned in another record six months later, which also was rejected. Finally, I just asked, ‘What’s the problem?’ and the exact words were ‘It’s not emo enough.’ I said, ‘Good, because we’re not an emo band, and I want off the label. It took two-and-a-half years and thousands of dollars to get out of that record deal.”

At the same time, Stollsteimer was also battling through a divorce that left him not just emotionally tapped but creatively as well. “When I was going through the divorce, I just stopped playing guitar,” he says. “I wasn’t feeling too happy. But now, [playing is] my driving force and my drug of choice — everything else has always been a distraction.”

Romantic relationships aside, Stollsteimer notes how ironic it is that women are the ones who keep him inspired professionally. “I like the chemistry of being in a mixed band. Most of my friends are women, and I actually get along with women better than men,” he says. “Me and Don are pretty feminine as it is, so we like to only have tough females in the band. I think Christy would stab me if I pissed her off enough,” he laughs. “But really, being a female musician it’s tougher in a male-dominated society, so they have to be tougher.”

Banks is quick to agree: “I guess growing up in Detroit you have to have a sense of toughness about you. As a musician, you want to let people know that Detroit is not messing around,” she says, noting how much this idea becomes apparent in the band’s live show.

“There’s a sense of passion about it. You know, I just love playing, I love performing. It’s almost a high to see the people getting excited because of what we’re presenting to them. Everyone always looks like they’re having a good time — even if there’s only 10 people.” For a band that’s ever-changing, it’s nice to know that once the ice queens leave, there’s still a way to warm their fan’s hearts.

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