Courtesy of Michele Lanyzs

One year ago, a group of four female rockers caused quite a stir at a U2 concert in Los Angeles when Bono pulled them on stage in front of a sold-out crowd during U2’s second encore.

“We painted a sign that said, ‘The Girls Play Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ which is a play off of the line ‘The boys play rock ‘n’ roll’ in U2’s ‘Vertigo,'” EXIT bassist Susan “Affa” Hamilton said.

“Bono saw the sign and recognized us because we had been to a lot of U2 shows in the past and was like, ‘Are you serious? Can you girls really play?'”

The women of EXIT, a Los Angeles-based band consisting of Hamilton, Trevi Fligg (vocals), Courtney “Captive” Lavender (guitar) and Pamela “Dim” Bluestein (drums), played and garnered a lot of attention when they stormed the stage with a cover of U2’s “Out of Control.”

“It was one of those big fan dreams, to play with a band like U2,” Affa said. “We were strangely comfortable in front of the audience. Because we have been playing for so many years, we filled the stage a bit better than most people expected. We got a lot of attention from that.”

The buzz that had been circulating since the band first formed in 1997 seemed to explode after this historic incident. Ever since, EXIT has been rapidly accumulating attention from fans and the media alike.

“EXIT has the mysterious ‘it (factor)’ that so many bands can only dream of having,” said Todd Richards, host of “Running Late” on WBWC-FM Radio in Cleveland. “They are powerful, evoking and emotionally impactful. Not enough adjectives? Get into this band now before you can no longer claim that you ‘Knew about them before everyone else.'”

One of the mysterious “it” factors

is the way EXIT maintains its status as an all-female band in an industry that has for so long been dominated by males. But the times, they are a-changin’.

“We try to not rely on the fact that we are females,” Affa said. “We try not to be a clich