Black Widow
03-07-2008, 12:39 PM
Don't mess with the singer of the Luchagors, because you might end up on the wrong end of a tilt-a-whirl slam or a jackknife power bomb.
Her name is Amy Dumas, but she's better known as Lita, the former women's champion of the WWE.
After retiring from the wrestling ring in 2006, she quickly turned her attention to the punk band she formed with boyfriend and guitarist Shane Morton. In September, the Atlanta-based Luchagors -- named in honor of Mexican wrestlers -- independently released their self-titled debut.
Dumas, 32, says she grew up on old-school punk, loves the Lunachicks and considers the punk band 7 Seconds "the main influence in my life." She played bass in bands before, but says, "This is the first time I haven't been able to hide behind an instrument. I never fronted a band before, but that's something that comes into play from having wrestled and knowing how to entertain a crowd."
Despite her celebrity, the Luchagors is a grassroots project, forgoing record labels for street teams, Internet publicity and hauling their own equipment.
"We started this band before I retired," Dumas says, "and could have used a lot of connections with the WWE to get more corporate backing. But my whole thing, too, as far as leaving the WWE, was not feeling so owned. I didn't want to transfer what I was doing to music from wrestling. I wanted it to be a completely different experience, or what's the point in changing?"
Naturally, the Luchagors have a built-in audience of WWE fans curious to see Lita as a punk rocker, even though, she says, "most times, we're not the kind of music that a WWE fan would listen to."
And even though she has a reconstructed knee, five bad discs in her back and pain from breaking her neck in 2002, she still tries to deliver on stage in punk-rock fashion.
"I'm definitely pretty physical and crazy and love playing off of people," she says. "I'll have people I know are wrestling fans and I'll take full advantage and jump on them in the middle of a song."
Considering the pain she went through in the ring, does she wish she had started with punk rock?
"No, no, not at all," she says. "I loved all the experience and my time in the WWE. This has always been a part of my life as well. With as much neat stuff I've done in my life, this is something I couldn't not to do."
post-gazette.com
Her name is Amy Dumas, but she's better known as Lita, the former women's champion of the WWE.
After retiring from the wrestling ring in 2006, she quickly turned her attention to the punk band she formed with boyfriend and guitarist Shane Morton. In September, the Atlanta-based Luchagors -- named in honor of Mexican wrestlers -- independently released their self-titled debut.
Dumas, 32, says she grew up on old-school punk, loves the Lunachicks and considers the punk band 7 Seconds "the main influence in my life." She played bass in bands before, but says, "This is the first time I haven't been able to hide behind an instrument. I never fronted a band before, but that's something that comes into play from having wrestled and knowing how to entertain a crowd."
Despite her celebrity, the Luchagors is a grassroots project, forgoing record labels for street teams, Internet publicity and hauling their own equipment.
"We started this band before I retired," Dumas says, "and could have used a lot of connections with the WWE to get more corporate backing. But my whole thing, too, as far as leaving the WWE, was not feeling so owned. I didn't want to transfer what I was doing to music from wrestling. I wanted it to be a completely different experience, or what's the point in changing?"
Naturally, the Luchagors have a built-in audience of WWE fans curious to see Lita as a punk rocker, even though, she says, "most times, we're not the kind of music that a WWE fan would listen to."
And even though she has a reconstructed knee, five bad discs in her back and pain from breaking her neck in 2002, she still tries to deliver on stage in punk-rock fashion.
"I'm definitely pretty physical and crazy and love playing off of people," she says. "I'll have people I know are wrestling fans and I'll take full advantage and jump on them in the middle of a song."
Considering the pain she went through in the ring, does she wish she had started with punk rock?
"No, no, not at all," she says. "I loved all the experience and my time in the WWE. This has always been a part of my life as well. With as much neat stuff I've done in my life, this is something I couldn't not to do."
post-gazette.com