“Peeing on the street, you know you wanna.

Peeing on your feet, you know you gotta.

Peeing off the balcony, I just can’t control this feeling.”

Unless you were among the Friday night crowd at New York Pizza on January 31 as Greensboro girl-group Daddy Issues opened for The Tills and the Old One-Two, you have probably heard few songs about public urination.

Daddy Issues’s story as a band is one of firsts, including their inaugural show.

Alternating between the potty humor punk of songs like “Can’t Control This Feeling”, and the Best Coast-y swoon and sway of “Lethal Dose”, Daddy Issues’s five song set was a lesson in girl-group history.

Some songs matched the dissonance of 1990s riot grrrl rockers Sleater Kinney, while others delivered the direct emotional appeal of 1960s girl group pioneers, the Shangri La’s.

“It’s an interesting mix,” said Daddy Issues drummer and junior Raina Martens. “Some songs (are) aggressive and funny and some of them (are) a lot more smooth and feeling feelings.”

Daddy Issues is Greensboro’s first all-girl group in many years and Martens’ first time playing drums in a group.

“I don’t care that I can’t play drums very well,” said Martens. “I’m not going to get better unless I play with other people.”

And though bassist Maddy Putney ‘12 has played bass for nine years, it was also her first public performance.

“This is the first show I’ve ever played,” said Putney. “I’ve been playing since I was in tenth grade.”

Both Putney and Martens agreed that being an all-girl group was vital to their identity.

“Girls are really underrepresented in rock and in culture generally,” said Putney. “It’s really important to see girls creating things for girls and not worrying about any male influence.”

In fact, the significance of this aspect of Daddy Issues’ identity spurred Putney to take a bolder first step than playing a first concert.

“I just came out to them (as Trans) at the first practice,” said Putney. “I feel like I would’ve turned it down if I hadn’t actually been a girl because I feel like it’s important for there to be all girl bands.”

Even the band’s origin is fittingly feminist.

The group got together at a concert sponsored by Tom Tom Magazine, a quarterly publication about female drummers.

“I saw (singer Lauren Holt ‘10, guitarist Saron Smith-Hardin ‘09 and guitarist Lindsey Sprague) all standing around together at the Tom Tom show,” said Putney. “They were like ‘we’re in a band. And we just started it tonight. You want to be in it?’”

According to Tom Tom Magazine’s website, “Tom Tom seeks to raise awareness about female percussionists from all over the world. It hopes to inspire women and girls of all ages to drum, while strengthening and building the community of otherwise fragmented female musicians.”

“It was a really appropriate genesis to our band,” said Putney.

Moving from Daddy Issues’s origin back to their first gig, the final first of this story comes from the next generation.

“This was my first concert,” said 12-year-old Alea Gray, who came out to see Asheville slop-pop group, The Tills.

She also plays keyboards and, you guessed it, drums.

“I just love rock and roll,” said Gray.

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