“Vertical Pillows Rock.  Simply, and in a straight ahead manner.  They represent, to me, what will become the next generation of Pure Motor City Rock.  Paula, Terry, Monic & Mary carry the banner of Detroit music high & wave it proudly.  Their  drive and intensity is becoming recognized as part of the new standard of Motor City Rock & Roll”.   (Rob Tyner 1987)

Dana, Monic, Paula, Mary

(Photo by Steve Shaw)

These days it’s no big deal to see women in rock & roll bands around Detroit – in fact, it’s  difficult to find a show where there isn’t at least one band with a girl banging away on the drums or ripping through another mean guitar riff.  I’m not saying that rock & roll has achieved the equality it deserves, but I believe that our local Detroit music scene would be a hell of a lot poorer if it weren’t for all of those women kicking butt all over town and now throughout the world.

Things weren’t always this way and this web site is dedicated to one of those early bands that broke the door down and showed us just how girls could rock & roll.  The band was the Vertical Pillows and throughout the 1980s they scorched their way through the Motor City and showed us how great a rock & roll band that just happened to consist of four women can really sound.  These weren’t the Go Go’s or the Bangles – this was pure “in your face” rock & roll that only a band from Detroit could deliver.

The Vertical Pillows began playing in Detroit in 1984 and featured Paula Boufford (vocals/guitar), Mary Monroe (guitar), Monic Reynolds (drums/backing vocals) and Dana Mendelssohn (bass).  Dana was later replaced by Terry Stimac.  They quickly became a fixture on the Detroit music scene playing clubs such as Paycheck’s, St. Andrew’s Hall, The Mystery Lounge, Todd’s, the Hamtramck Pub and Lili’s.  Their music was influenced by a wide range of bands including the MC5, Stooges, The Rolling Stones, Brian Seltzer and even Spyro Gyra.  Rob Tyner, the late great vocalist of the MC5 produced the Vertical Pillows single and cassette only release and frequently jumped on stage to sing during the encores.  The VP’s attraction was not limited to Detroit.  They toured down South, on the East coast and in Canada playing shows in venues between Athens, GA and Montreal.  According the VP’s the best show was at “Les Foufounes Electrique” in Montreal, where the club got raided after their performance.

Their musical legacy consisted of 3 songs on the Tremor Records compilations, the “Jump Back”/”R.U.N” single and a cassette only EP.  Their influence on their grateful fans can be measured simply by the fact that seeing girl bands play kick ass rock & roll is simply accepted as fact – and that’s why this band was so important and deserves to be remembered. 

The Vertical Pillows broke up in 1988.  Paula and Monic went on to play in the Truncheons and Motor Dolls (along with Dana).  Dana is currently in 60 Second Crush while Mary went on to play with the Buzzards and is currently a member of the Detroit Cobras.  However, the best news does come last as I’m happy to say that the Motor Dolls will soon be playing again and we’ll even get hear some of those old Vertical Pillows songs again.

There are plenty of other Vertical Pillows goodies here, including more pictures, flyers, press clippings and some Vertical Pillows music to download.

(Thanks to Paula Messner for providing all of this information on the Vertical Pillows.)

Check out the web site for Dana's balls-out bone crushing rock band 60 Second Crush as well as her awesome tattoo parlor in Ann Arbor called "The Lucky Monkey Tattoo Parlour".

Check out the web site for Paula Messner's other project: the Candy Band.