Less cock, more rock.

Where did the awesome rocker divas go? The Pat Benetars, Lita Fords, Wendy O. Williams-es, Chrissie Hyndes, Patti Smiths, even the Carol Popes seem to have vanished under the Sketchers-footed talons of Madonna’s daughters as they clawed their way to the top of the pop heap.

Women who can tap into the spectacle and–dare we say it?–balls of rock ’n’ roll without compromising their maturity, femininity, or intelligence are in short supply these days.

In killer leather boots, a trio of Edmonton ladies is bravely stepping into that gap. The Secretaries–bassist Colleen Brown, guitar belle Amy van Keeken, and drummer Natasha Fryzuk–are looking towards their ’70s foremothers as they shape their aural identity.

Specifically, the Wilson sisters.

"When we got together about a year ago, half the time was just spent talking about music," Brown recalls. "Heart was inevitably in there. We all love their music, and it’s natural to emulate–or rather, to have it seep through–if you listen to something."

Thus the Secretaries have a love of arena-filling sound and riffage, as well as strong, harmonic vocals and operatic levels of emotion. Too smart and comfortable in their skins to be cowed by the boys’ game of rock excess, but grounded in the homemade, handbuilt ethos of the Bust generation, the Secretaries are as squarely pegged as Helium-era Mary Timony.

"Seventies Heart is definitely a strong element, and we really dig that sound," reasons Fryzuk. "I don’t know if I’d call us completely garage, a little Black Keys sort-of thing maybe, but as we go on that element is less and less. We really like The Darkness."

She’s not just talking about the music. Fryzuk concedes an admiration–shared by her bandmates–for the more sartorial over-the-top-ness of the glam-metal group.

"The jumpsuits, yeah," Fryzuk swoons. "There’s this leather jeweler at North Country that we would want to make us wacky jumpsuits."

"When we have more money, we’ll do more. Like wear feathered head-dresses." van Keeken sighs, "For now we make do."

That means accessorizing their sonic palette with adorable get-ups and some serious booty-shaking that will scale up as the band evolves.

Brown states, "It’s really important for all of us to have fun. The thing is, we’re trying to do rock music, and if you’re not having fun doing that, there’s no point.

"What we really like about our performance is that it is a show," van Keeken agrees. "There are elements of theatre, and we want to be really tight, and don’t want people to get bored. Whenever we’re playing or talking between songs it’s a performance, or at least we aim for it to be.

"Not only are we playing for 45 minutes non-stop, but it’s also coherent, and we’ve spent time figuring out where the breaks are. And of course we have little outfits."

No Secretaries show is complete without some mid-set ass wiggling. The gals have perfected the imperfect dance move and ply it at every show. "A lot of crappy booty shaking to, like, Notorious B.I.G or some girl doing Xanadu," laughs Fryzuk. "We’re serious, but you know... if we catch ourselves being pretentious we trip ourselves up."

Those kinds of dichotomies hold their charm: the laid-back mindset of the humble beginning balanced by the openness to boundless ambition, the big-ass ’70s with the indie, the purposefulness and craft against the jokiness.

Fryzuk gives a lyrical example. "Rockers always have these cool songs about drinking bourbon. We wanted to make one up too, but with the most retarded liquor we could think of." The winning drink? "Cointreau."

What’s that shaking? Ann Wilson, Cointreau, and the Secretaries’ collective booty. A heady mix, indeed.