The Weekender sat down with Catfight, a five-girl cover band, when it performed at Otto’s, 118 E. Lincoln Highway, last Friday night. The band is not just any old cover band. The group features a classically trained guitarist, Rose; a lead singer with a theatrical background, Molly; bassist Lisa; and drummer Lori. The fifth member and singer, Tamara, currently is in Las Vegas and unavailable for the interview, but she will join the group shortly. The songs they cover range from The White Stripes, Pink, Weezer and Arethra Franklin to more. This tight-knit band of butt-slapping, wedgy-giving girls, who prefer to be known only by their first names, sat down with Weekender just before their show.

-Weekender: How did Catfight come into conception?

Lori: There is this bar in Palatine called Dirty Nelly’s, and they had a band every Wednesday or every Thursday for a couple of years, and then that band just left and stopped doing it. And so then the bar owner has an idea to form an all-girl band and said it might be a good idea for us if we started as a cover band because they thought that might be a good way to keep the crowd. I was already playing there with another performer for a few years, and so they asked me to come in to start my own band on the drums, as I do. And we found musicians and performed every Thursday, and we created a monster.

W: Why did you pick the name Catfight?

Lori: Because, you know what? It works. Every time we tell them we’re called Catfight, people say, “You’re an all-girl band.” Logic tells you it’s an all-girl band, and when you hear the term “catfight,” it usually makes you think of girls fighting.

W: Do you have any favorite songs you perform or anything that surprises the audience when you start playing it?

Lori: Everybody has different tastes and stuff …

Lisa: It depends where we are. They usually like the hard-rock stuff like when we play AC/DC.

Lori: Yeah, that goes over really well. We try so many different types of music, and we go to so many different places that we have that wide range of music for our crowds.

Rose: “Baby Got Back”?

Lori: A lot of people love the Shania Twain song, too. Everyone asks us to play “Man, I Feel Like a Woman.” Even though we hate it and it’s not our favorite song, we’ll still do it.

W: How do you guys decide what songs to perform?

Lori: If someone’s got a favorite song, then we say OK and try it. But if we want to perform a song, but it’s something someone absolutely can’t stand, then we may not play it. Sometimes then we will. Then they will take one for the team.

W: Where do you hope to go with the band in the next few years?

Molly: To Disney World!

Lori: We will keep playing as long as we continue to stay successful. We have a CD we’re hoping to make for this summer.

W: Will it be original music?

Lori: Yes.

W: What is your response to critics who say a cover band of hot chicks isn’t as good as any other band out there?

Lisa: We always say that they come for the boobs and stay for the music.