These girls just want to have fun.
And rock out.
Meet Boycott — a six-member teenage girl band that practices out of Jim Chambers Music Box in Carrollwood. Boycott consists of Megan G, the lead singer; Julia L. and Isla T., both on guitar; Chloe T., who pounds away on the keyboard; Lilli G, who slaps the bass; and, of course, Lea T., the band’s energetic drummer.
These teens, all of whom live in Lutz and Carrollwood, are arguably one of the hottest acts in the area. That’s because they just played their biggest gig to date — and nailed it. On the third day of Gasparilla Music Fest (GMF), Boycott belted out songs, wowed the crowd and now is in hot demand to play everywhere.
“It was such an awesome opportunity,” Megan said. “We had never played to a crowd that big before and it was incredible to do so.”
“It was a lot of energy,” Julia said. “At our other shows, since we open, we don’t have a lot of people there, but since we went on later, people were recognizing us after the show and it was just surreal.”
“Before we went on stage,” Lea added, “we just kind of looked at each other and pep talked each other, but also had a lot of fun before we got on stage, so once we did get on stage, we were (calm enough) to just start playing.”
Despite being fairly inexperienced performing live — the band, however, has played small shows at local water holes such as PJ Dolan’s and Tom’s Tavern — Boycott was able to book GMF as one of two all-female bands in the lineup, however, the only teenaged one.
“We didn’t have much of a presence — we had only played about five gigs up to that point,” said Chambers, Boycott’s manager and founder. “It just took a tough pitch to get them on the ticket. … And, yeah, they were jumping out of their skulls (with nerves), but they were incredible and now they have been asked to play everywhere.”
“When you play these bigger shows,” Isla said, “everyone knows about these shows — everyone knows about the Gasparilla Music Fest, so they’re coming out to see everyone play and that’s just awesome to play a big show in Tampa, one of the hottest places in the state.”
Like many local bands, especially ones as new as Boycott, the young girls perform cover songs, including such hits as “Ex’s and Oh’s” by Ellie King and “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. Other artists the band covers are Taylor Swift and The Weeknd, however, Chambers had been trying to keep this a secret: the girls will soon collaborate on a song for the band’s very first single.
“Well, we’re starting soon!” Chloe exclaimed. “Once Julia writes the music, we’ll start working on the lyrics, but we’re excited to do that.”
“We’re kind of relying on Megan and Chloe to write the words,” Julia added.
“Yeah, but they’ll get it done,” Lilli continued. “We know they will — but I think it’s funny that we perform at taverns!”
“Yeah!” Isla exclaimed. “We perform at bars and taverns, and we’re too young to drink!” (Entire band laughs).
As anyone can see, the band’s chemistry is the absolute right mix of talent and respect — and sense of humor — with one another, and Chambers said once he got all the girls together through the Music Box’s afterschool and summer programs, and playing, everything just seemed to dial right up to 11.
“It was absolutely immediate,” the three-time Grammy award winner said. “You can just see how much they get along, how much they have fun, how much they like each other and playing together.”
Published March 13, 2022
