Since 1994, that passion has manifested itself as Motorbaby, a talented New York City three-piece with an unshakeable will to rock. Lez Warner (formerly of The Cult and The Waterboys) plays drums, Ron Mancuso plays bass, and Sharon sings and plays guitar; Ron and Sharon also share the writing and production duties. In their time together, the three musicians have devised a dark mixture of rock, pop, and psychedelia that somehow manages to sound both current and timeless. "There is healing music and there is death music, [and] we take aspects of both to create the Motorbaby sound," Sharon has said.

Though she began modeling at the age of thirteen, Sharon always knew that she wanted to be a rock singer. Inspired by Chrissie Hynde, she formed her first band, Ten Wings, in 1992; Wishing Well, the band’s lone CD, was released the same year, and received heavy college radio airplay. Released in 1998 on Mercury Records, Motorbaby’s self-titled debut looked set to do even better; unfortunately, the band wound up getting dropped in the wake of that year’s infamous Universal merger. Most bands would have been sunk by such a disappointing turn of events, but Sharon and Motorbaby have soldiered on undaunted. They are currently hard at work on a new CD, which should be released sometime during 2000.

"Scream," a Motorbaby track recorded exclusively for MUSICBLITZ, is a perfect example of the band’s knack for combining darkness and light. The song’s instantly catchy melody floats effortlessly over a quasi-psychedelic tapestry of shuddering guitars and propulsive drumming, and Sharon’s emotional, unadorned vocals are reminiscent of an affectation-free Alanis Morrisette, or Shirley Manson without the slick production values. If there’s more material like this on their forthcoming full-length, Motorbaby could well become very big, indeed.

-- Dan Epstein

Dan Epstein is a Los Angeles-based journalist and pop-culture historian whose work has appeared in L.A. Weekly, BAM, Raygun, Guitar World and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. His first book, Twentieth Century Pop Culture, was published in 1999 by Carlton Books.