These Four Black Women Are The Txlips, And They’re Your New Favorite Rock Band

Band leader Gabriella Logan talked with Blavity about how the band was formed, its sound and the importance of black women musicians.

Although their sound, reminiscent of bands like Veruca Salt and The Breeders, is firmly rooted in the 90s, Atlanta-based band The Txlips delivers tracks that feel modern and youthful, that address the various angsts of American millennials.

Wanting to learn more about the band’s sound and the young, gifted and black women behind it, Blavity sat down with the leader of the group, Gabriella Logan.

The group began with a job for Crime Mob rapper Diamond, when Diamond’s manager asked “if [Logan] could play guitar in one of her videos.”

The gig went very well. “Shortly after that, I kind of approached [Diamond’s] management and the label about me putting together an all-black-girl band for Diamond,” Logan said. “They said, ‘Yes,’ and I started managing Diamond’s band which was called Girl Code, and maybe two months after we were doing that, I started the Txlips band.”

Logan’s mother bought her a guitar, “and I taught myself how to play. And then from that point forward, I was able to find out how to express myself, with the music that I was hearing in my head, I was able to play it on guitar, and then once I was able to do that, it was easier for me to share this vision for a song that I had with my dad.”

After sharing her music with her father, Logan began sharing her vision with others, playing in a band while at Spelman, and eventually — you guessed it — playing for Diamond.

As you probably know from band movies, getting the band together is never easy.

“The only original members are me and my drummer,” Logan said.

The Txlips’ drummer, Monique Williams, arrived in Atlanta by way of Chicago, and honed her skills playing jazz. She also featured in that fateful Diamond video.

The other two members of the band are fairly recent additions.

The third member, JWhales, plays many instruments and is a production ace. With The Txlips, she plays the keyboard. “My keys player, J, she jumped in about the end of last year.”

“My bassist,” Logan said of Sarina, who cut her teeth at Atlanta’s Girls Rock Camp in her teens, “I actually had her jump in maybe two or three months ago.” And with Sarina, The Txlips were officially in business.

“I was going through — you know, you’re a freshman in college — everyone has that little rough patch when they first get into college, kind of you’re out on your own, and gotta be an adult now, thing … I was actually dating someone, and shortly after we started dating, the relationship ended. And that was my…

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