Super Secret Best Friends

By Julie Garisto
Published January 4, 2008

Friendly gals: Stephanie Hayes, vocals and keyboards; Alex Zayas, drums; and Emily Nipps, guitar.

Upstarts: They got together in the last six months. Zayas picked up the drums only a year ago, and Nipps began playing guitar less than a year ago. Hayes has played keyboards since childhood.

Necessary disclaimer: All three ladies are fellow St. Petersburg Times/tbt* writers. "We sit catty-cubicle," Nipps says of Zayas and their Tampa office setup. (Hayes works in St. Petersburg.) But that's not why we're featuring them. They're an energetic pop trio composed of witty, pretty pop culture mavens who know how to work a crowd, so of course we're going to want to cozy up to them and get in on 'em first. The SSBF sexy charm and moxie will grab attention like a Britney Spears wardrobe malfunction.

Speaking of Britney: They cover an early Spears tune: Lucky. They also play Chris Isaak's Wicked Game (more similar to the Giant Drag version) and the theme song to TV show Charles in Charge. "We try not to play the obvious covers," Nipps says, "More like the 'Oh-my-god-I-haven't-heard-that-in-10-years' songs."

Not just a novelty act: Says Hayes, "We lure you with the funny, and then we hit you with the awesomeness." They do. Their tunes get loud, tribal and creative twists on the humorously familiar.

Not just a cover band: Their short but growing set list is about 50-50 on originals to covers. They're writing new songs.

Creative process: "We laugh and joke around about half the time at practice," Hayes says. "We had an organic moment at our last practice, where we set the keyboard to a bossa nova beat and started playing the theme from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Influences: Sleater-Kinney, Rilo Kiley, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Jem and the Holograms.

Mentor: The gals express gratitude toward Stephen Hammill of Life of Pi, who's been their coach and go-to man.

First show in public: Pegasus Lounge, last month, and the SSBFs were definitely the odd women out. They were able to charm the crowd, anyway. "These two heavy, heavy, heavy metal bands played," Zayas recalls, "and there we were in our miniskirts looking all cute and girly." Regulars chimed in when Hayes surveyed the crowd for missing kitty stories and launched into the band's rocking semi-parody Who Let the Cats Out.

Chatting up the crowd: "Banter is part of the show," Hayes says of the band's onstage discussions between songs. Topics have included Stephanie Tanner and Scott Baio. "Stephanie will usually say, 'Remember the time - insert '80s TV show reference,' Nipps says. "Me, I give the Frankenstein response, 'Yeah.'"

Different strokes: The gals don't exactly like the same stuff. Zayas she loves "sugary electronic pop" like the Postal Service. Nipps is into straight-up rock, punk and indie rock. "I love a good booty song," Hayes says.

Hear 'em: 9 p.m. Friday at New World Brewery, Ybor City. They play first before Life of Pi, the Beauvilles and Palantine. $6. (813) 248-4969.

[Last modified January 3, 2008, 17:40:03]