A founding member of the seminal NYC punk band Lunachicks, Gina Volpe teamed up with producer Barb Morrison (Blondie, Franz Ferdinand) and returned to the studio for the first time in nearly a decade to record 'Different Animal,' her debut solo release. It's an explosive, exhilarating EP, blending analog and electronic elements into a thoroughly modern sound inspired by everything from Santigold to Pink Floyd to TV On The Radio. "I made them listen to Donna Summer and ZZ Top back-to-back in the studio," Volpe remembers with a laugh. "There's all this freedom now that didn't really exist for me ten years ago with technology and the ability to explore outside of the genre people expect of you. Lunachicks fans don't really know this, but I've always written my own songs and recorded them on the side." Hailed by the NY Times as "trashy, sloppy and louder than a speeding subway car," Lunachicks formed in the dawn of the 90’s as an artistic outlet for Volpe and her high school classmates' anarchic energy and feminist sensibilities. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon numbered among the band's earliest fans, and the pair helped the teens launch their career and land a record deal. Over the course of a half-dozen albums, Lunachicks toured with everyone from the Ramones and the Buzzcocks to No Doubt and the Go-Go's, in addition to performing at massive festivals around the world and appearing in multiple films. Known as a blistering lead guitarist, Volpe made the leap to fully-formed frontwoman in the early 2000's when she launched her own band, Bantam. The music was more dissonant, artful, complex, and dark than Lunachicks, with the Village Voice raving it combined "brute force with bewitching melodies." By 2006, though, life on the road had taken a toll, and Volpe returned to New York City to focus her work behind the scenes. She set up a home studio and began scoring for films, expanded her output as a visual artist, composed an off-Broadway rock musical, and even served as the motion capture model for the female guitarist and bassist characters in the blockbuster video game Rock Band. With 'Different Animal,' Volpe makes it clear not only that she's got a lot of music left in her, but that she's determined to leave it all on the table, to live without regrets, to trust in both her art and her heart. "I won't hide / and let the world roll on by," she sings, "I won't stand on the side / and wait for wings that don't arrive." It's a safe bet that we won't have to wait another ten years to hear more from Gina Volpe.