Music

Toronto's Hervana is the world's first all-female Nirvana tribute band

by Mark Teo

Toronto-based Sheezer gets plenty of love within their hometown, but Rivers and the gals better make some room: There’s a new all-female cover band in town, and they’re called Hervana. As you might’ve guessed, the foursome are tackling songs from Nirvana’s catalogue, starting with Bleach. 

The band will feature Skirt Cobain (guitarist Carly Beath), Miss Novoselic (bassist Erin Saunderson), Dave Grrl (Sonia Sennik), and our favourite, Pap Smear (a yet-determined potential fourth member). We caught up with Beath, who was also a former organizer for LadyFest Toronto, to get more details about Hervana. “We all love Nirvana and we’re really excited to be playing their songs,” she says.  “I learned how to play guitar when I was a teenager by learning Nirvana songs, so it’s sort of coming full circle.”

Along with playing in Hervana, she says, the band members have also been active in other projects: She and Saunderson both spent time with the now-defunct Royal Manor, while both Beath and and Sennik have solo projects—which you can listen to here and here, respectively.

As for Hervana, the concept originated with the tweet below. After a friend of the band retweeted it, the idea picked up steam—and finally, the band became a reality.

Toronto needs an all-girl Nirvana cover band named Hervana.

— Matthew Johns (@groshbarr) May 29, 2013

 

The band hasn’t yet performed, but they hope to be playing shows by this spring. Like their counterparts in Sheezer, though, they’re only playing tribute songs—not dressing up as Kurt, Krist, and Dave. “[There will likely] some b-sides in there as well,” adds Beath. “The songs will be pretty faithful to the originals, but with our own personality.”

Either way, we’re psyched to hear ’em play, and, if the minds behind Milkin’ It, Toronto’s cassette tribute to Nirvana, catch wind of the project, maybe even record. Are you listening, Hand Drawn Dracula?