The Black Widows may be 1,432 miles from the Pacific Ocean, but the surf rock influences of Southern California have seeped into this Midwest female empowered band. Digging deeper into the sounds of Corinne Caouette (guitar/vocals), Pamela Laizure (bassist), and Kim Mancini (drums), you’ll find a heavy dose of Motown and garage rock that blend for a wave of wily surf-roxotica music and fashionable uniformity.
The history of surf rock culture hearkens back to the 60’s with white t-shirts, aloha shirts, and trucker hats. Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii opened eyes to surf clothing that was no longer just functional but fashionable to wear on the streets. The style has transformed into a life statement that represents freedom, the respect of nature while breaking the rules, disregarding others’ opinions and what the world thinks. The Beach Boys cultivated the cohesive uniform on many of their albums with striped shirts and white pants. For the Black Widows, they mix the attitude of that past with the showmanship of James Brown and the all-female Motown choreography and harmonies of The Supremes and The Shirelles. It’s an un-mappable partnership of sound, feeling, and aesthetics.
Kim Mancini’s earliest memories of self-identifying style came back in middle school when she was invading her mom’s closet. Her mom was a single mom and it was a time in her life when she was going on dates. She put a lot of effort into her hair and clothes to look good. Kim saw her mother in a higher light and was drawn to that. Many of her earliest memories are figuring out a style and way to wear clothing to stand out with effort and intention.
Proximity of a thrift store sparked the earliest influences for Pamela Laizure growing up in Mankato. When her friends were old enough to walk around and explore, they perused the thrift store. She started buying and wearing old man pants and work shirts. At the same time she had been raiding her dad’s closet. Her dad worked at an oil company and wore overalls and work shirts. This grew into her style to wear intentionally baggy and oversized clothes. Later in high school she’d learn to cut off the sleeves and sew up the sides to make tank tops and weird dresses with safety pins. She got into punk, which pushed that narrative and style with lots of patches, buttons, and even learning screen printing herself at home.
Corinne Caouette’s fascination with fashion started very early. Her mother would joke that it started pretty much out of the womb with a dress up bin of clothes in her closet. Corinne was changing her clothes all day long based on her moods and characters. Sometimes it was a squirrel costume, sometimes a princess dress, and then she would just be naked for half a day running around finding things to wear.
She also had the luxury of seeing her parents play in bands on the weekends when she was a kid. The babysitter would come over and her mother would walk down with go-go boots, big earrings, and crazy makeup. She learned the rhythm by watching her parents deliberately dress up for shows, grumble about it at times, then perform mixing in that look with the music. This reinforced the ability to change clothes based on role, job, and feeling in her life.
“I always loved the expression of it and the idea of being a chameleon. I think it's really powerful how we can change ourselves so drastically with just changing our clothes. I’ve always been interested in fashion. I’ve never been into the vanity of labels but more interested in it as an art form.”
— Corinne Caouette
The Black Widows each have personal fashion icons that have contributed to their own styles. Kim is drawn to Francoise Hardy and her 60’s breakout as a leading figure of the ye-ye wave, a genre of pop music associated with the rock and pop from the United Kingdom and United States. Kim accredits the women in French films having this appearance of confidence with form fitting clothes. They all have this elegance of awareness with body types and being secure in what body shape they have.
Corinne goes back to spending event Friday night out at Paisley Park in high school. There was a religion about it, and going to the church of Prince meant experiencing Larry Graham (Sly and the Family Stone), Chaka Khan, Lenny Kravitz, and all these world class musicians show up after 1am to perform. The showmanship of Prince and his friends was so impactful. They would have matching outfits, unique choreographed moves, and towel dances throughout the whole night. Watching Prince was inspiring because it looked so effortless for him. The style and free-form individualism of him was mesmerizing and all felt united in the stage design, the band, and the outfits.
Finding three matching outfits can be tricky for the Black Widows. Sometimes they can find matching pieces at thrift stores, but most of the time they find stuff online. The sparkly pink suit jackets come from Forever 21 and have that instant pop of color.
Corinne is wearing side-slit black shoes found at a thrift store that have a western vibe with the textured back heel. She leans heavily into veganism and animal rights, which is always a factor when purchasing clothes. The black denim pants and black tank top also come from thrifting. Black is always the safe base color in all of their outfits. Her gold hoop earrings complete the outfit and intention of keeping the sparkly pink coat as the main feature of the outfit.
Pamela’s boots were purchased from a friend. They tossed in the buckle and chain separately, which can be moved from shoe to shoe. Her black denim pants comes from Buffalo Exchange and ironically the brand is Joe’s Jeans. Joe is her fathers name and learning of her childhood wearing his clothing, brings some irony in what she pillaged as a child.
Her earrings are hot pink glow-in-the-dark plastic wings. Pamela only wears these wing earrings and has many of them in different colors because she losses them often. The lone ring comes from her partner’s mother, whom found it in a market in Mexico City.
Kim’s strappy heels were purchased for a wedding from Anthropologie. She likes the store due to it’s eclectic options, bold colors, and interesting patterns. The pants come from Madewell, a spinoff from J.Crew. She loves that you can bring in any worn jeans, purchased from anywhere, and they will give you a $10 gift card. The company reuses the denim in a sustainable way.
Even though there is uniformity in their outfits, you can see the individual sparks of their looks. From the elegant simplicity of Corinne’s fit in the tank top and pants, to the messy spiked punk hair and road loved boots of Pamela, to the sophisticated french heels of Kim, the Black Widows achieve a distinct uniformed palette. They also each have an element of a tomboy vibe, a dynamic duality on gender ambiguity.
“One thing that I like about us wearing this unified matching outfits is that we become this cohesive thing. Instead of focusing on one person, you are presented with the group first. We usually start with instrumental songs as well, so we’re not talking or singing right away. I like to present this groovy-who-is-this type of thing so our individual personalities are not showing yet. We just ease into it.”
-Pamela Laizure
The latest release from Black Widows, “Love Witch #1” encompasses the sentiments of Pamela above. A ghoulish instrumental with the trademark echo’ed guitars, surf beat, and groovy bass, the song sizzles in showcasing the trio’s skills. “Kandi Korn” builds on that formula with edgy sliding harmonies with a twist of punk and surf. The Black Widows have a knack of cranking up the energy with injections of garage rock, surf undertones, and the subtle characteristics from the female Motown groups. The innovative mix of genres can be heard since their first self-titled EP back in 2016 and continues to expand with more definition, heavier hits, and a vocal confidence in the group.
Their 2019 album Surf-Roxotica! Live at Nanotako combines this with a sonic picture of their performance. You can hear the showmanship and sway of the trio. There’s a James Brown, throw-off-the-cape vibe baked in. Their cover of The Surfaris “Wipe Out” is a homage to surf while updating it with a coat of garage rock grit.
“I have to think logistically what it will mean to wear the outfit when I’m drumming. I do a dry run at home to figure out how to make it work. I’ve seen some old videos of Sheila E playing and I’m like, okay I have no excuses for anything now. I should be able to drum wearing high heels and a low bodysuit.”
-Kim Mancini
The Black Widows understand the importance of a visual element to every show. Described as both a bit mysterious and approachable, the band looks to ante up a performance any way they can. Coordinated dance moves, laughing, and coy eye contact interact and entertain, providing that accessibility into that energy. The matching outfits give their show snap-worthy opportunities to capture and engage.
Corinne hits it best when talking about the change of intention in her personal progression with style.
“When I was younger it was definitely a shift of energy for me. It wasn’t about being pretty, it was more about how I felt and stepping into that phase of my day.“
Black Widows provides that shift of energy by unifying and channeling strength based on feel and their music. The core of the trio remains centered on the music while paying tribute to the past in their clothes. From pulling in surf from the coast, to mixing it with the sounds of the Midwest, the Black Widows are a united dichotomy that continues to sparkle in their music and live shows.
Check out the links below for ways to follow Black Widow and all the things we mentioned above.
Black Widows Website - Instagram - Bandcamp - Patreon - Anthropologie - Madewell - Joe’s Jeans
