List time!
Trying to think of bands that are mostly male and have non-lead-singer female members.
Perfect example: Smashing Pumpkins with D’arcy Wretzky on bass.
Not a good example: No Doubt, Hole, Florence + The Machine
Other good examples:
Belle & Sebastian (even tho the girls sing sometimes, but not much)
Skankin’ Pickle
Lenny Kravitz…if we consider him a band, and his drummer Cindy Blackman
Talking Heads
Velvet Underground
Autolux has a female drummer, Carla Azar (the other two members are male).
Lenny Kravitz’ band has a female drummer, Cindy Blackman.
The Beastie Boys used to play with a female drummer, Kate Schellenbach, in their early days.
Yo La Tengo, also has a female drummer, Georgia Hubley (other two members are male).
White Zombie
Every 90’s alternative band ever.
Jeff Beck’s bass player, Tal Wilkenfeld.
The Cramps, alas, stopped performing after Lux Interior died. Throughout the history of the band–& many personnel changes–he sang lead & his wife, Poison Ivy, played guitar…
Lordi
Arcade Fire have a couple female members, occasional lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Régine Chassagne and violinist Sarah Neufeld.
Others that spring to mind, the White Stripes, The Decemberists, The Dandy Warhols, Silversun Pickups and Faithless. Female instrumentalists are definitely under-represented in rock music.
Another one: Paz Lechantin played bass with A Perfect Circle.
I just remembered what sparked my interest in this topic to begin with.
A commercial on my favorite radio station by “Anna, from Airborne Toxic Event”
I was just about to say, I wasn’t sure if the Cramps counted as “mostly male”…I guess it depends on the specific lineup.
The early-mid '70s incarnations of the Mothers with Ruth Underwood. There were also the short-lived Zappa band lineups with Norma Bell and Bianca, both of whom contributed some lead vocals but weren’t the main singers.
The Jayhawks have Karen Grotberg on keyboards.
Despite her singing lead on a fair number of songs, I think Christine McVie qualifies. She was always one of two or more singers and made an important contribution instrumentally as Fleetwood Mac transitioned from a blues band to a pop band.
Sara Lee played bass for Robert Fripp’s League of Gentlemen and later for the Gang of Four.
Elaine Harris played drums for Trip Shakespeare, whose three other male members all sang lead (she did not).
Rhonda Smith took over for the most recent tour. Jeff had the amazing Jennifer Batten in the band before that.
She’s the one I thought of when I read the title thread.
I seem to recall a little known band named WINGS
Tammy Glover has played drums in Sparks for the past decade plus.
Who’ve had 2, both of them keyboardists.
Interesting how many of the examples are drummers, though. I’ll add another - the Japanese metal band Maximum the Hormone.