Daughters of Triton headlining fundraiser

The three members of Little Rock garage rock queens Daughters of Triton will be rocking out tonight for charity.

The group -- Melanie King, Jordan Wolf and Correne Spero -- is headlining 'Tis the Season, a Fundraiser for Arkansas Women's Outreach (AWO), at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock. AmyJo Savannah of Hot Springs will open the show.

Along with music, the fundraiser will feature a silent auction of artwork, with all proceeds being used by the nonprofit AWO to give homeless women access to health care and provide basic items such as feminine hygiene products and underwear. Donations of items will be accepted at the fundraiser.

"Basically, we just try to fill in some of the gaps that exist for women in the homeless community," says Rachel Achor, who co-founded AWO with Katy Simmons in March last year. "We found that items such as ... feminine hygiene products were dramatically under donated. It was a problem all homeless women were facing."

AWO eventually expanded into health education for homeless women, she says, adding, "We also try to increase access to certain health services that women need like mammograms, HIV testing, pregnancy tests and things like that."

The art auction will take place upstairs at the tavern and is being organized by Laura Terry and Phillip Rex Huddleston.

"The artworks are donated pieces from the artists that had shown at the Garland House Art Shows over the past four years," says Huddleston, who curated those shows at his home. "After the last show a few months ago, our house was filled with the donated work of so many local artists. I wanted the year to end by having these works go to a good cause."

Among the 40 pieces is a woodcut made for a poster for Memphis-based alt-country band Lucero, whose lead singer is Little Rock native Ben Nichols.

"These are works by some of the greatest artists living in and around Arkansas ... there is something for everyone," Huddleston says.

Daughters of Triton -- DOT for short -- have been together a little over a year, and formed after King and Wolf's previous band dissolved.

"Melanie and Jordan contacted me because their drummer from Color Club moved out of town," says DOT's Spero. "They weren't looking to replace her; they were looking to start a new band. They knew I played music and heard that I played drums."

Once the three started practicing, though, it was obvious that they were all comfortable playing multiple instruments, which means that during their shows King, when not strumming her electric ukelele, will play drums, Wolf will trade her bass for drums and Spero, when not drumming, strums guitar or plays a mini keyboard.

The result, which can be heard on the single "Eagles Appear" at the trio's Bandcamp page -- dotmuzic.bandcamp.com -- is a fun and scrappy mix of punk and garage rock.

"They are such amazing girls," Spero says of her bandmates. "They are so talented and smart and funny. They're just incredible."

Originally from New York, Spero recorded and performed with the female hip-hop trio Northern State. The group made three albums -- Dying in Stereo (2002), All City (2004) and Can I Keep This Pen? (2007). All City was released on Columbia/SME Records and Can I Keep This Pen? was released on Ipecac, the label owned by Faith No More singer Mike Patton.

She also has another local band, the aptly named SPERO, that includes members of Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth and Adam Faucett and the Tall Grass.

Daughters of Triton, named for the characters in the 1989 Disney film The Little Mermaid, are planning more recording and hope to have an EP released next year, Spero says.

As for tonight's event, Achor says, "We're really excited about the bands. It will be a good opportunity for people to come out and learn a little bit more about us and also listen to some good music and, hopefully, buy some great art."

Spero, for one, is certainly on board: "Now it's particularly timely for us to think about where we can put our time and energy to help out organizations in Little Rock that are doing good work.

"There are so many of them and I want to do 100 more of these."

Style on 12/13/2016