Originating in Detroit, Michigan, during 1997, Gore Gore Girls helped launch the garage rock revival taking shape in the southeastern Michigan underground. Their playful visual style and moniker might have implied lightweight punk, yet the music combined girl group melodies with a tougher garage rock stance. Guitarist Amy Surdu, drummer Jeff Klein, and bassist Paula Regalado formed the original lineup. Deanne Iovan replaced Regalado on bass after joining in 1998. Deb Agolli then added drums and vocals, enabling the band to cut a single and deliver Strange Girls in 2000. Agolli exited after the sessions, so guitarist Melody Licious—previously of Broadzilla and Stroker Ace—joined before the album appeared. Personnel changes persisted, and when Iovan departed in spring 2001, Monica Breen took over drums to finish the third album, Up All Night. Breen left before its release, at which point Cathy Carrell, formerly of Inside Out, assumed the drum chair on a permanent basis. Up All Night reached stores in summer 2002 and received favorable notice, mirroring the Detroit scene’s rising energy fueled by the White Stripes. The group became a regular on Steven Van Zandt’s Underground Garage radio program and shared a bill with Iggy & the Stooges, the New York Dolls, and the Pretty Things at one of his garage rock festivals in New York City. In 2004 the band returned to the studio for the 7x4 EP, then issued its first full-length on Bloodshot Records, the Jim Diamond-produced Get the Gore, in 2007.
