When James Brown first yelped "This is a man's world!" back in the mid-'60s, the hardest working man in show business was referring to society at large. But his observation certainly holds true in the world of metal music today. From Soundgarden to Sepultura, the guitar-driven realm of the long maned and shirtless has always been man's domain. |

"When we released Horror Wrestling in the States [on the Enclave, whose parent company, EMI, subsequently folded; the record is now being re-released through Mercury], it was without a picture. And nobody knew we were all girls," says Anna Kjellberg, Drain S.T.H.'s bassist. "The first reviews that we got said that we sounded like Metallica mixed with Pantera mixed with Alice in Chains. But as soon as the pictures came out and they realized we were an all-girl band, we got Vixen, Girlschool and Runaways comparisons. I never understood why critics had to compare an all-girl band only with other all-girl bands, even if they had nothing in common."

True enough, Drain have little more in common with the Runaways than they have with Ace of Base (who also hail from their native Sweden). They much more closely resemble those heavy, non-ironic acts that communicate pain, death obsessions and anger. Which is why they were the perfect complement to the testosterone-fueled roaming Halloween party, the 1997 OzzFest.

"We toured 200 dates in nine months last year," says guitarist Flavia Canel. "So by the time we played OzzFest, we knew how to take a crowd." Still, metal enthusiasts weren't expecting to see anything aside from the usual group of guys playing noisy hard rock. "It was funny when people would show up to the stage and then find us blonde women playing," laughs Maria Sjoholm. "But to the bands we were touring with on OzzFest, we were just another band. We never wanted to be a part of all-girl shows, or any of that stuff," stresses Kjellberg. "Although, sometimes it's like we're monkeys -- 'Four girls that can play! My God!'" jokes Sjoholm.

In some ways, the Amazon babes of Drain are as pioneering as any hip-hop act trying to forge their way through the synth-pop that dominated the early '80s. There are few precedents for women within their genre and, needless to say, record labels aren't exactly running out to every grungy dive seeking out the female heirs to the hard rock throne. "When we were looking to get signed, we got a bad response," says drummer Martina Axen. "The labels grouped bands by genre: dance-pop, alternative, rock, girl-bands. It didn't matter that we were a hard rock act -- they had already filled their quotas for girl bands."

Five years later, Drain is a rock band that has cut their teeth and are ready to dig in. At this point, with years of practicing and performing under their belts, they no longer feel that their supermodel good looks are working against them. "Basically we're four women who are doing something that people don't expect us to be able to do. It must feel the same for a successful woman lawyer or stockbroker. It's the same for the minority of anything," explains Anna. (Heidi Sherman)