Written by Lorraine Lewis is proud to have been one of the few female hard rock singers on the late-80s Sunset Strip scene. “I wanted to be the female David Lee Roth – I wanted to be in-your-face,” says the Femme Fatale singer, whose band released one self-titled album in 1988 before splitting up.
Thirty-eight years later, Lewis has resurrected the band name and put together a new line-up, and in 2025 released the singles Living Like There’s No Tomorrow and Bad Love (the latter featuring guest guitarist Bumblefoot), with an album to follow some time this year.
Why did you decide to relaunch Femme Fatale now?
It’s who I am. Femme Fatale was the path I always set out to do. I was in Vixen [from 2019 to 2024] and I gave that my all. When I was dismissed, or whatever you want to call it, it allowed me to go back to who I really am. I’m Femme Fatale to the bone.
The video for the single Living Like There’s No Tomorrow shows you skydiving in a sparkly bodysuit. Are you insane?
Ha! I must be! No. It was my first time skydiving. I’d wanted to do it for a long time. I highly recommend it for everybody. None of us are here for ever, right? Just look at someone like Ozzy. I just want to live life to the max. I don’t want to be leaving the planet and thinking: “Why didn’t I ever do that?” I want to do it all.
What was the best thing about being in a band in LA in the late eighties?
For me, it was being one of the only girls in a band on that scene. I wasn’t interested in the after-party. I was interested in getting my own deal and having my own after-party.
Femme Fatale split after one album. Do you now wish you’d carried on?
No, it was a complicated situation. I was just so heartbroken with everything, like MCA wanting to keep me as a solo artist but put all the debt that Femme Fatale had incurred on me. I had a development deal with [producer] Mike Clink, and I was gonna go in the studio to record a song called Buried Alive with the Guns N’ Roses guys, but I just kept hitting walls, so I was like: “Fuck this, I’m out.”
You relaunched Femme Fatale in the early 2010s with an all-female line-up. How was it different to the first time around?
I loved it in a different way. I mean, we had [guitarist] Nita Strauss, who is now with Alice Cooper. It was a great sisterhood, but I was the leader and it was very demanding on me. I was digging into my own pockets to make it work. But now that I’ve done it with all guys and all females, I really do prefer being the only girl.
You joined Only Fans at the end of 2024. How come?
I had a song in the eighties called Waiting For The Big One. I’ve crawled on the floor in videos, I’ve smacked my ass. I love that side of myself. And look, I’m a grownass woman. I’m a female in the world taking care of myself. I can do whatever I want. And financially it’s been very good to me [laughs].
This is the third version of Femme Fatale. Will this one last?
Yes, it will. I never made a deal with the devil back in the day, I never sold my soul, so I’m still climbing that mountain. But I will never go away. I’ll still be dancing on tables. As long as people stay out of my way, I’m gonna keep doing this for ever.
