On the phone during a tour stop in British Columbia, Tracy Williams seems fun and perky. Which is appropriate since her band BLINKI is a fun band with a perky beat to it's music. Those 600 or so Hatters who attended Spookfest 1999 on Oct. 30 will recall Blinki as the band with the bouncy beat and the hyperkinetic lead singer(Williams) that performed between Weedmonkey and Wide Mouth Mason. Williams and her three bandmates will bring their perky selves back to Medicine Hat tomorrow night at Stiletto's. How fun is Williams? Just consider her answers to these questions.
Peanut butter or jelly- which do you prefer?
"Peanut butter. Actually I prefer 100% natural peanut butter.....and I prefer smooth to crunchy."
Austin Powers or James Bond?
"Austin Powers all the way. Definately."
If you were a chair, who would you want to sit in you?
"Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers."
Ginger or Mary Ann- which Gilligan's Island character would you most like to be?
"Ginger had that, like, real sexy thing going on. But Mary Ann had the nice, girl-next-door thing.
And that's sexy too....I guess maybe I'd like to morph the two together.
"But I guess I'm more like Mary Ann most days..."

Sometimes things really do work out for the best. I went to see Blinki because I thought, (going by the name) that they might be a cutely sloppy-sweet girl-pop band and discovered instead a perfectly tight four-piece doing synchronised rock jumping up and down, looking like they were ready to blow the roof off a stadium! It took me a minute to get over my initial shock at their obvious confidence (and competence), but singer Tracy, who alternated between joyful rock-goddess posing and ingenuous between-song patter, finally won me over. Backed by three guys, she's the one who writes the songs (and she produced the CD too), and they are damn good songs, with
oft-clever lyrics, performed with a Cheap Trick-like gusto and produced to have almost Queen-like qualities. (the doubled vocals are exquisitely glam.) If you want to hear some of the catchiest rock songs since The Sweet you have got to have this. Where else will you find confessional songs that mention day-glo condoms, and preteen drinking and smoking, AND get them stuck in your head for days on end?

On the disk you'll find a jangly and enjoyable pop rock outfit. Williams songs are smart, shiny little trinkets of airy melody that owe as much to The Bangles as to the Breeders.