Antigone Rising is an all-women rock band with members from New Jersey and Long Island, New York, USA. Their music is influenced by classic rock from the 1970s such as Led Zeppelin, mixed with pop overtones and at times folk and country elements. They originally formed at Bucknell University in the late 1980s, with sisters Cathy (guitar) and Kristen Henderson (drums) as the primary force, and Penelope "Peppy" Kokines taking lead vocals. Later members would include Sue Obolsky (lead vocals), Agona Hardison (lead vocals), Terri Avella (bass) and Ann-Marie Stehn (bass).
In the mid-1990s in New York City, the Henderson sisters re-grouped and started playing gigs, initially in Bleecker Street venues including The Back Fence, Cafe Figaro and The Bitter End with lead vocalist Cassidy, a self-taught singer who had previously sung in church and with a high school girl band, Jen Zielenbach on bass and Dena Tauriello on drums. They are the current lineup of Antigone Rising, which now reportedly performs 200 or more shows per year. The band is known for earning a dedicated fanbase very early on that follow them from concert to concert all along the East Coast and increasingly across the country. Fans refer to themselves as "ARheads" (pronounced airheads) or "Risers", and refer to the band simply as "AR" or "Antigone".
Their first four albums were recorded mostly with independent labels and financed through fan donations. In 2003 they signed up with Lava Records after label president Jason Flom spotted them playing at one of their gigs. In 2005, they became the first artists to be promoted in Starbucks' Hear Music Series, created to discover and spotlight new music. The high visibility, exclusive sale, in-store promotion and airplay at Starbucks across the country helped the band's acoustic EP From the Ground Up sell over 450,000 copies by the end of 2005. Their next album, provisionally titled Tales from Wonderland, will be released in late 2008, their first studio recorded album in seven years and released through Starbucks' new record label. The band recently left Lava Records/Atlantic Records, and is now signed exclusively with Starbucks. Starbucks record label, Hear Music will be releasing the band's next album.
Antigone Rising have shared the stage with Joan Jett, The Rolling Stones, moe., Rob Thomas, Aerosmith, and The Allman Brothers. They performed at Lilith Fair 1998 and SXSW 2005 and have co-written with Chris Trapper of The Push Stars and Rob Thomas.
The band held auctions on eBay in October, to support their 2006 tour. The proceeds from the auctions will be used to offset the cost of gas. The band started their tour in October 2006, it ran through mid-November 2006.
