Is Lady Gaga biting Deadly Seven’s style?

By April Corbin

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 | 5:08 p.m.

Lady Gaga fever swept the nation in 2009, but at least seven people have not been infected by the pants-less phenomenon's eccentric style and addictive pop sound.

The women of Vegas' own Deadly Seven are convinced that Lady Gaga, who performed last night at The Pearl and will take the stage there again tonight, has taken influence — too much influence — from their electrical tape and fake-blood-filled brand of shock rock. They even lashed out at Gaga via a MySpace blog late last month, stating bluntly, "Lady Ga Gag [sic] keeps biting our style."

Narcissistic? Wrath, Deadly Seven's vocalist, concedes that it seems that way. She insists she was hesitant at first to vocalize the claims, but has been convinced over time by various Gaga YouTube videos that the New York University student-turned-superstar is borrowing a bit too heavily from D7's arsenal.

"(She uses) several things that are directly related to our imagery that I feel are underground," Wrath says, citing group trademarks like eye bars, nipple tape, and costuming male performers and the band with bondage gear and masks. The ladies of Deadly Seven even give interviews while in full mask.

"Understand this," Wrath adds. "We know a lot of what we do isn't original stuff, but we have packaged it in such a way that makes it original."

According to Wrath and band manager Mr. D, approximately six months before Lady Gaga worked her way into the public consciousness earlier this year, her management spoke to Deadly Seven's about possibly doing a show together. Nothing came of it, but when Gaga blew up, Mr. D remembered that Deadly Seven had once been on her radar and wondered if the pop star might be keeping dibs on his band.

Wrath is convinced that Gaga is watching and borrowing from the Vegas band, but recognizes there's not much they can do. Instead, Deadly Seven is focusing on its own projects. UK producer Steve Brown, who's worked with bands like Wham, The Cult and Manic Street Preachers, is now working with Deadly Seven on creating a business plan and finding investors.

"[It] is bizarre because it's not something I ever thought about," Wrath says. "[Deadly Seven] was short-sighted. It was 'Let's go downtown, do some crazy gigs.' But something needs to evolve."