Antigone, and then there were four

By Larry Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
© Philadelphia Gay News

Antigone Rising has seen a good deal of the highs and lows that come with being a rock ’n’ roll band. Founded in 1993 by sisters Cathy Henderson on lead guitar and Kristen Henderson on rhythm guitar, the quintet, rounded out by singer Cassidy, bass player Jen Zielenbach and drummer Dena Tauriello, developed a dedicated following in and around New York City before landing a major-label record deal in 2003.

What followed is what rock ’n’ roll fantasies are made of, as the group landed stints opening for the likes of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones.

Since the beginning of their career, the sexuality of the group members has been a question mark. While Cathy declined to address the issue for the other members of the group, openly lesbian Kristen went on record, noting that she has been with her partner for three years.

As with many rock-star tales, trouble for the group wasn’t too far behind success. After a respectable amount of record sales, the group saw its last album sit on the shelf for two years while its record label figured out what to do with it. The album remains unreleased.

Now the all-female rock group is starting anew after parting ways with singer Cassidy earlier this year and rechristening itself Antigone Four.

Cathy Henderson said that after so many years with the group, Cassidy wanted to explore different opportunities.

“She wanted to do some solo projects,” Henderson said. “She wanted to go off and try her muscle. When you’re with a band for a long time, there’s a little bit of you that comes out and there’s a lot of group that comes out. She really needed to go out on her own and fly a little bit. It was getting time. We’ve been doing it for a very long time. We’ve all been writing on our own. It was a good time to do it.”

The band retained the other four members after Cassidy’s departure, but felt the need to change the name of the group anyway as an attempt to keep its fans but ditch former expectations.

“We’re not doing any Antigone Rising songs,” Henderson said of the difference between the two groups. “But we worked so hard on building the band that we wanted people to know who we were. The four of us decided to continue on with our own project that we’ve been writing and working on. Rather than confuse everyone and say we’re Antigone Rising, we decided to do an offshoot. It’s us, but we don’t want to confuse people.”

Henderson added that while the group is trying out new things in songwriting, its overall sound should be radically different from Antigone Rising.

“It’s us and we have our signature style, but we are taking more risks musically that we didn’t take in the past,” she said. “It’s still that rock-and-pop thing that we always do. It’s so rooted in 1970s classic rock. It’s different, but it’s not. We’re definitely going deeper musically.”

Still, changing the name of the group that has been around for so long has got to give an artist a slight sense of being back at square one, right?

“Yes and no,” Henderson said.
“It’s hard to feel like you’re starting from scratch when you’ve been doing it for 20 years. Kristen and I have been playing since we were kids and we’ve been touring the country. We definitely have a following as a group and as individuals. It feels like it’s something new. It’s allowing us to flex different muscles. Even though it’s the four of us still, we’re really allowing each other to explore different facets of the writing process.”

Henderson also said that operating independently is a good thing for the group, because, at the time, all the members were ready for a changing of the guard.

“Lava [Records, which originally discovered and signed the group] folded and we lost all our champions,” she said. “We lost everyone who loved the band. It was like our entire team was gone. And when Atlantic decided to keep us and folded us into their roster, it wasn’t the same passion. They didn’t have the same passion for us that the guys and girls over at Lava had. That actually felt like starting over, going to Atlantic. After about a year, they didn’t know what to do with us. They didn’t know which way to market us. We just split amicably and they were fine with it. No drama, we just left and went back to it on our own.”

Antigone Four is set to perform one of its first shows under its new name at 8 p.m. July 26 at Chaplin’s Music Café, 66 N. Main St., Spring City.

For more information, visit www.antigonefour.com or call (610) 792-4110.

Larry Nichols can be reached at larry@epgn.com.