Ramatam was a 1970s rock band featuring Mike Pinera on guitar and vocals, April Lawton on lead guitar, and, for a short time, Mitch Mitchell on drums. Ramatam was notable for having Lawton, a female lead guitarist. Pinera was known for his work with Blues Image (“Ride Captain Ride”) and later Iron Butterfly. Mitchell had been a member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The group also included some former members of Janis Joplin’s Big Brother and the Holding Company. (More from Wikipedia)
Among full-blown rock bands that included female musicians, the experience of April Lawton in the band Ramatam might be instructive. Lawton was a true guitar virtuoso – rare enough among men, and almost unheard of among women – but you would never know it by listening to their 1973 album having the odd title, In April Came the Dawning of the Red Suns. April Lawton shows off her prowess well on “Excerpt from Guitar Concerto #1”, but that performance lasts all of 44 seconds. On most of the other cuts, her guitar work is overwhelmed in a sea of other instruments.
Breaking into the “boys’ club” of popular music can evidently be difficult even in one’s own band. This might be the reason that women tended to congregate in all-female bands in the early years.
(October 2013)
