Written by Shea Roney

This past summer, Chicago’s own Girly Pants and Rain Garden went on a 9 date Midwest to East Coast run which they called the Girl of the Garden Tour. We gave them a camera to take on the road and document their first big tour. This is what we got back.

Girly Pants, fronted by songwriter Sabreen Alfadel, is a project that has become interchangeable with both her growth as a musician and as an individual. Girly Pants as a band, consisting of friends Luigi De Col [drums], Drew Emerson [bass] and Carter Ward [guitar], craft steady tracks amongst swooning guitar lines and invigorating rhythms, where Sabreen’s vocals become a point of reflection, wielding both strength and tenderness with each melody and line she performs.

Rain Garden’s instinctive and dynamic sound is one that lingers with every performance. Fronted by Miranda Dianovsky [guitar, vox], whose vocals conduct each track with such power and sincerity, Rain Garden finds its special place due to each member’s unique style. Consisting of Harley Reid [bass], Maya Halko [guitar] and Vincent Byas [drums], Rain Garden lives for their pacing, one behind the gives and takes of our day-to-day actions, throwing caution to the wind as we relish in that invincibility we feel in the moment.

The tour was part of a 6-month logistics amalgamation, spearheaded by Sabreen and Miranda. With some inspiration from their collective band names, Girl of the Garden was in reference to the cult classic TV show King of the Hill, which was a theme throughout the tour, including the limited-edition shirt of the two bands drawn in the cartoon’s likeness, as well as the theme song interluding some Girly Pants sets.

As memorable as a first big tour can be, Girl of the Garden did not follow typical touring guidelines. “Every show was unique,” Sabreen shares. “Some of the venues included a festival in the woods, a vintage clothing store, a basement, a record store and a Mexican restaurant. Very DIY and awesome.” At the end, “Becoming closer as friends and collaborators with girly pants was one of the most rewarding aspects of this tour,” Miranda says. “I think we all feel truly grateful that we embarked on this together”

Rain Garden recently released their latest EP Aconite which you can listen to now.

Girly Pants is currently working on new music, but in the meantime, you can listen to their debut EP Nurture now.