Lezbend spins the States

The girls of Lezbend, a popular new DJ group out of Warsaw, Poland are taking Eastern Europe by storm, and on Sept. 11, the trio hit the sleepy Midwestern U.S. with a bang. After playing shows in Chicago, Cincinnati and Evansville, Lezbend is coming to Axis this Saturday at 9 p.m.\nLezbend, formed in June 2002, plays what is known as "progressive house music." This kind of hard music is not typically expected out of an exclusively female DJ group, and, according to the group's U.S. publicist, is the primary reason why they have enjoyed early success.\n"It's fun, energetic and non-violent," says Charles Bolanis, the exclusive promoter for Lezbend, of the group's grooves. "It's good-paced music that is great to get out and dance to."\nAxis, which has been striving to book more international groups, is very excited about Lezbend's upcoming performance.\n"They're going to play two different sets, which will hopefully keep our Saturday night crowd excited," says Axis Assistant Manager Rudy Davenport. \nThe girls of Lezbend, Joanna Osiecka, Eliza Krakowka and Agnieszka Trzeciak are not just members of a DJ group. They all went to college and now lead normal, young-adult lives with day jobs. Those day jobs come before spinning right now, but they may not have to for much longer. \nJoanna, who graduated with a degree in economics from Warsaw University, currently works as a brand ambassador for British American Tobacco. She says she prefers to play all types of music to intrigue a crowd and keep them interested throughout the show's duration.\n"We provide a lot of different styles of music in one set, which is something that many groups can't offer," Joanna says.\nBefore becoming a significant part of Lezbend, Joanna spent most of her nights on the other side of the DJ booth window in the clubs of Warsaw.\n"After four or five years of being a regular at these places [Warsaw clubs], I decided to do it myself," Joanna says.\nEliza, the youngest member of Lezbend, was born in Warsaw, but spent much of her childhood in France. Although she holds degrees in advertising and economics, her sole interest throughout life has been music. She was first inspired to enter the booth by Tomek, who she says is the hottest DJ in Poland as well as a personal friend. \nEliza also performs solo shows throughout Warsaw when she's not spinning with Lezbend.\nAgnieszka -- Aga for short -- comes from southern Poland. After earning a degree in communications, Aga moved to Warsaw, where she hoped to land a job in a film studio doing advertising and television production. On top of being a member of Lezbend and a solo DJ, Aga is the sole female member of Decadance, another well known DJ group in Poland.\nIt was all coincidence that the girls scored an opportunity to spin in the States. In November of 2002, Bolanis was in Poland visiting with friends he had worked with as a student representing IU in 1998.\n"We were at a club and I found out that Joanna was part of the same organization me and my friends were," Bolanis says. "So I went and talked to her for a little while and we hit it off right away. I said to her, 'Wouldn't it be great if you guys came and played the United States?' Her eyes lit up and the rest was history."\nLezbend's trademark is a numbering system. During every show Joanna wears the number "1." Eliza wears the number "2" and Aga wears the number "3." The numbers exist is to add a flare of mystery to their performance -- but that's as deep as the meaning goes. Nevertheless, many friends and fans in Europe choose to refer to each girl by their number instead of name.\nAfter the tour is over, Lezbend will evaluate their experience on tour and look to further build their name throughout Europe. They hope to make it back to the U.S., expanding to performance venues outside of the Midwest.\n"If the opportunity is there, I want these girls to come back and play the U.S. several more times," Bolanis says. \nBut with a name like Lezbend, the real question on everyone's minds is the girls' sexual orientation. And Bolanis isn't talking.\n"These girls are using their sexuality as a marketing tool and it works great," he says. "But if you want to know if they are lesbians, you're just going to have to come to the show to find out"