If there was ever a desperate need for a band like Atlanta band the Coathangers, a fierce foursome of punk rock women who can shriek, “I’m gonna break your fuckin’ face!” and make the biggest beefcake in the place run for cover, it’s now. Sleater-Kinney broke up. The Donnas…um, no. And while Beth Ditto is out there fighting the good fight for rubenesque women everywhere, she’s become as much of a sex symbol as her emaciated foes. It’s gotten so bad that Ditto’s persona—and the Beth Ditto doll, a miniskirt-wearing thing with make-up painted on her little plastic face like 2-D cake frosting—is getting more attention than the Gossip. In new girl groups, you’ve got bands like Von Iva and the Veronicas, who’ve built their success on Suicide Girl looks and a performance style that borders on exhibitionism. But bands like the Coathangers, who recently dropped their sophomore album, Scramble, on local label Suicide Squeeze Records, spit in the eye of all that fluff. They may wear wigs onstage, but they aren’t trying to be sexpots. They may channel Bikini Kill, but they’re not trying to further a cause (provocative band name aside). They’re trying to get attention for their badass music. Music that proves you don’t need to be a sex symbol or a feminist icon to get somewhere as a female musician. With These Arms Are Snakes, the Whore Moans. Photo courtesy Lamar George.

Sat., June 27, 9 p.m., 2009