On a recent Monday evening at Sandra Dohnert’s 70-year-old St. Petersburg house, the five witchy women of Hex Appeal cram themselves and their instruments into a small bedroom — the pale green paint casting a yellow glint onto their faces.
Gabrielle Calise cradles her robin-egg blue guitar, which is decorated with stickers of Vampira and Girls Rock Camp. When all the instruments are tuned and the mics are working, she sets the tempo for their first song of the night — an original called "Haunted."
The band's name emerged like many of their other ideas: from a mix of group suggestions drawn from a hat.
"It's like, a little spooky, a little sexy, a little goofy, pun silly, and just also it looks great on a shirt," Calise said.
Who is Hex Appeal?
Hex Appeal performs original music, plus its punk rock takes on a variety of cover songs, including "Season of the Witch" — a fitting choice — and Tom Petty's “American Girl.” That one is slightly more unexpected.
The band is performing at various venues throughout October across the Tampa Bay region. It's what they jokingly refer to as their "world tour."
"We love October and everything Halloween,” said Dohnert, who plays the guitar and sings. “I think that's something we all happen to have in common."
How they got their start
Just over a year ago, these ladies were complete strangers. They were randomly assigned instruments and bandmates at Ladies Rock Camp, the adult spin-off of Girls Rock Camp St. Pete. It's part of an international movement to teach kids confidence and music.
Calise, a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, wrote about her experience with the camp and "Bitter Quitters and the Interludes," which is Hex Appeal's original name.
Around a small dining room table in Dohnert's living room after the practice — a plastic cauldron displayed in the middle — the bandmates reflect on their journey.
"I think it's so cool to learn an instrument for the first time in adulthood; it is hard to do. It creates new wrinkles in the brain, and it's so fun," said drummer K.J.
"And I think everyone who wants to try to play an instrument should, and you don't have I think, especially as women, we think we have to be perfect or really, really good at something to even start. And that's just simply not true," K.J. added.
And at the end, after their first official performance as a band and with no obligations to anyone except their newfound friendships, they decided to keep it going.
"I don't think that any of us expected to keep going. So this is, like a wonderful, beautiful miracle,” Calise said. “And originally this was just supposed to be, like a fun experiment, and you go in, but it was just really magical."
Taking inspiration from witches
The Hex Appeal bandmates became fast friends, even referring to themselves as a coven.
“It's not a joke, though,” said Keyboardist Loella Springman, as the women erupted into laughter.
Bassist Cat Lim recounted coming down with COVID days before the band's performance at Jannua Live in St. Pete.
"I've always been very inspired by witches and covens and stuff, because there's a sense of empowerment that women can have when they take hold of their magic, right?Cat Lim, bassist for Hex Appeal
"I'm like, 'This is our moment. This is our moment. I don't want to ruin it for the whole band.' And then Sandra recorded herself doing some sort of spell she sent to the group chat. Everybody sent their vibes, and the day before and the day of, I was testing negative, and so I went to the concert, and it was great," Lim said.
Lim added they're taking a page out of history's book of shadows.
"I've always been very inspired by witches and covens and stuff, because there's a sense of empowerment that women can have when they take hold of their magic, right? And they're using it and really channeling into things that they care about. So I feel like that. We do that in a sense, with our music," Lim said.
The ladies coordinate outfits for shows in their group chat. They often sport fishnets, leather, metal studs and chains. More than once, they've been compared to the fictional goth rock band "The Hex Girls" from the Scooby Doo cartoon.
They have five original songs so far recorded and mixed by Dark Matter Recording in St. Pete, coming soon to your preferred streaming service.
At live shows, their cover songs have their own twist.
"Can we make it bigger? Can we make it punker? Can we make it, like, louder? And also, can we just make it, like, really fun and really us," Calise asked.
What’s next for the band?
While these ladies really ham it up for the spooky season, they perform year-round at places like Jannus Live, local punk rock flea markets, and of course, the Girls Rock Camp showcase.
They said eventually, they'll produce a full album. Springman said they just have to come up with a name.
"I think I had thrown out something that evokes like conjuring or summoning,” Springman said.
“Yeah, we might need a new hat,” Lim retorted.
“We'll do another hat, we’ll do a cauldron,” Springman said.
“See what's bubbling, straight out of the cauldron,' K.J. suggested.
"Straight out of the cauldron sounds pretty good to me!” Springman said.
"Hot out of the cauldron," K.J. responded.
“Write that down!” Calise said.
Well, you heard it here first, folks. Hex Appeal. Hot out of the cauldron.
Where you can see Hex Appeal live this month
Hex Appeal’s “Hextober” event Oct. 4 at the WMNF Tom Petty Tribute in Tampa has passed, but you can catch them live at three more events:
Tuesday, Oct. 14: The James Museum in St. Pete
Saturday, Oct 18: Haunted Hike at Euclid St. Paul’s in St. Pete (tickets sold out)
Friday, Oct. 24: Creative Mornings at Vertical Ventures in St. Pete.
You can follow them on instagram @HexAppealBand
