Andrea Scapini & Brittney Hernandez
North Pointe
Grosse Pointe North HS
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing
Personality Profile
Weekdays spent at three-hour practices and Saturday nights devoted to dark, noisy venues have become a norm for senior Kate Derringer, the bassist for Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DVAS).
The group formed in January 2014 when Grosse Pointe South senior and drummer Kerri Pearce contacted Derringer to see if she was interested in starting a band.
“One of the main things that I wanted to do when we started the band was to inspire other female musicians to get out there and do it and don’t be intimidated by the male-dominated field,” Pearce said.
Derringer and Pearce set out to find other female musicians. Derringer recruited Lakeview High School senior Ava East to be the band’s guitarist. East’s friend, Macomb Community College student Zoe Edwards, auditioned to be DVAS’ singer.
“After the first song, even mid-way through, we were looking at each other and nodding,” Derringer said. “We’re really different, but we’re similar in the essential ways that we can get along … We usually agree on things, and if we don’t, we can work things out really well.”
Artists like Led Zeppelin, as well as a taste for 60s psychedelic rock and early 80s hardcore punk, are major influences for their music and have molded the band’s image.
“I would say that we all have the same interests in mind and the same goals, but all of us have different personalities, but they don’t all contrast harshly with each other,” East said. “We each bring something to the table that makes into a super person. We all come together,and it just works.”
Since debuting in April 2014, DVAS has recorded three of their songs with producer Jim Diamond at Ghetto Records in Detroit.
“I just wanted to give them the experience of recording some songs in a real studio, and it was a lot of fun for all of us. I was very proud of the songs we did together. They did a great job, especially for never having been in a studio before,” Diamond said. “They’re all really talented, and I really think it’s awesome to see women rocking out—rock and roll is such a dude’s world.”
The girls are in the process of recording their first album, which they plan to release in late November on www.vipersquad-detroit.bandcamp.com.
In the meantime, DVAS members play venues within the metro Detroit area.
“To get a show, you either email a venue, you send them your music and ask for a show, and usually they’ll respond to you and set up a date, or another band will ask you to play a show with them,” Derringer said. “We’ve been getting a lot of people asking us to play with them, so it’s pretty easy to find shows.”
The venues DVAS currently plays differ greatly from those in which Derringer is used to performing at. In previous years, Derringer was in another band, but they played covers and were less serious. Other than that, she’s played for school organizations.
“When I performed with my jazz groups, I was really nervous because I was kind of out of my element. A lot of the other people were better than me, so I was really intimidated,” Derringer said. “But with this, each part blends together really well. I don’t feel like I’m sticking out at all. I feel like we’re all at the same level, and we haven’t really had any bad reactions in the crowd, so I don’t have that to worry about.”
Derringer struggles to find time for school
and family with DVAS in the mix.
“She’s blowing her curfew more often. She’s playing in places that I wouldn’t normally like her to go, like bars, and (is) staying out later,” Derringer’s mom Nancy Derringer said. “But, you know, at this point, she’s almost 18—she’s a senior. She has to learn to get along in the world. So I figured this is one way to do it.”
Though DVAS future is not set in stone, Derringer plans on continuing to balance school and music, even while away at college.
“I was thinking about going to U of M,” Derringer said. “If I get in, I’ll definitely go there and keep the band going because I definitely don’t want to throw this away. I’ve talked to my mom about it, and she said she was gonna try to arrange for me to be able to get back out here for practice with metro cars and the buses. It’s only 45 minutes away, so we’re going to continue to try to do this in college.”
In hopes of luring in a larger fan base and expanding their potential success, DVAS plan to perform across the United States for three weeks this summer.
The girls have big dreams for their band’s progression and hope that this is just the beginning of a crescendo rise to fame.
“Since all of us really are so into this, so dedicated, so supported, I want to wish for this to go somewhere. We worked so hard, and we’re not even there yet. We will continue to work hard and push for that, push for greatness … I don’t think we’re entitled to anything at all, but I just hope that our hard work pays off. That’s what I hope,” East said. “It’s not always sunshine and rainbows, but we make it work because we love each other, and we love what we’re doing, and that’s I think the most important thing.”