Thunderpussy are playing at The State Room on Wednesday (11/5/2025). Doors are at 7pm and Hippie Death Cult opens.
The last time Seattle’s Thunderpussy played in these parts, it was a blink and you missed it kind of experience. The all-female rock-n-roll band was allotted a short 30 minutes to show what they could do when opening for Alice in Chains a few years ago.
Now, they’ve got their shot to do far more. On the heels of their 2024 release West, the band will be headlining this time around. When I spoke with lead singer Molly Sides recently, she said Thunderpussy was born out of a combined love and excitement for classic rock, of exploring the depths they weren’t hearing live or on the radio. Over the past decade or so, the band’s evolved to become the very cared for baby of Sides and lead guitarist Whitney Petty.
“It’s such a strange, bizarre time of reality. What is real and what’s not? What’s digital and what’s AI?” Sides says. “At the end of the day, where’s the authenticity? Where is the integrity and the soul of the song and music? That’s one of the things we always come back to.”
Instead of being categorized (and possibly more often miscategorized) for the music they create, Sides says it comes down to loving what they do. Their connection to the music is embedded in all they do, the result of having parents that ensured music was constantly spiraling through their homes, listening to everything from Led Zeppelin to Heart to The Allman Brothers to Crosby, Stills, Nash to Bonnie Raitt to Linda Ronstadt to The Pretenders.
“We’re four of the best babes in many different modalities. We all bring something different to the table in sound and inspiration. From childhood to our teens to high school and college, there are all these chapters. There are little echoes of the past in all we do and play.”
“That’s one of the cool things about our band; we’re four of the best babes in so many different modalities,” Sides says. “We all bring something different to the table in sound and inspiration, from our childhood to our teens to high school and college, there are all these little chapters. There are little echoes of the past in all we do and play, no matter what.”
And while the band has made a point of saying it is a group of musicians creating music others can enjoy — full stop — they are all female. Now it makes far more sense to shine a spotlight on that reality, even if it’s simply because there aren’t many bands of female rock-and-rollers to look to as examples in music. In fact, it ought to be cause for celebration.
“We are women, and we’re so proud to be women. We respect women. We believe in women. We fight for women, the power in the pussy. We really lean into it now where we have shied away from it before,” Sides says. “Once we welcomed that, we were like, oh my god, this is who we are. Don’t feel shame around Thunderpussy, Don’t knock it. Come on and join the wave.”
Don’t wait around for a review after the show’s over. See it for yourself. Tickets are on sale.
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