On this blog I will talk about Rock´n´Roll women that I love. From Blues and Rockabilly, to Punk passing through 60s Garage Punk and 70s Glam, this is my tribute to the wonderful women of the Rock´n´Roll underground.
Please note that suggestions are welcome but there is no guarantee that I will publish it as this is a personal project.
Tina Lucchesi is a drummer and a front woman, she also runs the Lipstick Records label and used to have a hair salon and vintage clothing store, Down at Lulu's. Here I would like to talk about all the bands she had after the Trashwomen.
Pimm, Zolot and Lucchesi from the Trashwomen along with Rusty Quan released a single under the name the Count Backwards; later, without Zolot, the other three formed The Bobbyteens. They bash out hormone-driven songs about boys, partying, and, well, boys again. The songs barely get past two minutes and the priority was rock & roll energy. With the addition of guitarist Lisa Schenberg, the Bobbyteens were born in 1995. The underground supergroup began to release 7" singles at a drag strip pace on Super Teem and Screaming Apple Records. The sound was and continues to be a bratty mess of classic girl-group wailing. The Runaways comparisons are obvious, but overall, the style and feel of all the Bobbyteens output reaches further back to 1960s groups like the Shangri-La's, albeit drenched in white noise feedback distortion. Like older, wiser, wilder sisters, the Bobbyteens showed fellow Bay-area rockers the Donnas a few tricks. 1998 saw the Bobbyteens' debut platter Fast Livin' & Rock 'N' Roll released by both Lucchesi's Lipstick Records and Seattle garage label Estrus, followed by 2000's Not So Sweet on Screaming Apple/Estrus. Both albums continue to glorify the lifestyle of wild youth. Their last album was Cruisin' for a Bruisin' in 2004 on Estrus.
Another band she fronted was Tina and The Total Babes. The “total babes” backing Lucchesi on lead vocals are Johnny O’Halloran (bass), Jacques Wait (guitar), and Travis Ramin (drums); Wait and Ramin also helped out in the studio as the engineer and producer, respectively. Their only album She’s So Tuff came out in 2001 on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label. The campy front cover – with Tina Lucchesi wearing a button showing the album name and stretching a long string of bubble gum from her mouth – is perfect to illustrate the fun that is found on the music within.
Then together with Erin McDermott, Justin Maurer and Larry Jackson she formed Deadly Weapons, releasing two EPs in 2003 and a Lp "Get Right In There" in 2004 on Jonny Cat Records.
She was also in several other bands, including Top Ten, the Glamour Pussies, AC/DShe, Midnite Snaxxx and Cyclops.
Bikini Kill is an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990. The group consists of singer and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band is widely considered to be the pioneer of the riot grrrl movement, and was known for its radical feminist lyrics and fiery performances. Their music is characteristically abrasive and hardcore-influenced.
Hanna, Vail, and Wilcox met while attending The Evergreen State College in Washington. After an independent demo cassette, Revolution Girl Style Now!, Bikini Kill released the Bikini Kill EP on the indie label Kill Rock Stars. Produced by Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi, the album began to establish the band's audience.
The band's debut album, Pussy Whipped, was released in September 1993. Bikini Kill toured in London, England to begin working with Huggy Bear, releasing a split album, Our Troubled Youth / Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, and touring the UK. The tour was the subject of a documentary film by Lucy Thane entitled It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill In The U.K. Upon their return to the United States, the band began working with Joan Jett of The Runaways, whose music Hanna described as an early example of the Riot Grrrl aesthetic. Jett produced the single "New Radio"/"Rebel Girl" for the band, and Hanna co-wrote several songs on Jett's Pure and Simple album.
The band's final album, Reject All American, was released in 1996. After the band's breakup in 1997, a compilation of singles recorded between 1993 and 1995 was released in 1998 under the name The Singles.
In 2017, Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox and Tobi Vail reunited to play one song at a book-release concert.
On the 15th of January 2019, Bikini Kill announced four U.S. shows, in New York and Los Angeles.The lineup for these show included Hanna, Wilcox, Tobi Vail and new guitarist Erica Dawn Lyle, who replaces Billy Karren in the lineup.The first show was April 25th at the Hollywood Palladium with Alice Bag as opener. In June the band played their only two European dates, in London at Brixton Academy.
L7 is an American punk rock/grunge band from Los Angeles, California, first active from 1985 to 2001 and re-formed since 2014. The band was formed by Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner in 1985. A year prior, Gardner had performed backing vocals on the Black Flag song "Slip It In". The punk rock duo were joined by Jennifer Finch on bass guitar and Anne Anderson on drums. After Anderson quit the band, Demetra "Dee" Plakas became the permanent drummer in 1990.
Their eponymous debut studio album was released in 1988 by Epitaph Records. It demonstrates the band's punk rock origins, although there are traces of the heavier grunge sound that dominated their later work. Their second Lp, "Bricks Are Heavy" was released in 1992.
Their 1992 second album Bricks Are Heavy, produced by Butch Vig, was featured in Rolling Stone's May 1999 list of 'Essential recordings of the 1990s', and was their most successful release. Their 1992 single "Pretend We're Dead" spent 13 weeks on the US Alternative Songs chart, reached a high of No. 8 and made No 21 on the UK Singles Chart.
L7's third album, Hungry for Stink, was released in July 1994 and coincided with the Lollapalooza tour. Finch left the band during the recording of their next album. Sparks and Greta Brinkman played bass on the album The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum, after which Gail Greenwood – formerly of the band Belly – became the band's full-time bassist. In 1998, the pseudo-documentary L7: The Beauty Process was released, directed by Krist Novoselic. By 2001 L7 were no longer touring. According to the band's website, "L7 are on an indefinite hiatus. We know that's vague, but that's just the way it is. The future of the band is a bit up in the air at the moment." L7 appeared to be defunct for all practical purposes, but on December 10, 2014, L7 announced, on their official Facebook page, that they would be reuniting, featuring Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Jennifer Finch and Demetra Plakas. The reunited band kicked off a European tour at Rock am Ring in Germany on June 6, 2015, followed by North American 2015 dates at Riot Fest in both Denver and Chicago, and the Fun, Fun, Fun Festival in Austin, Texas.
The Trashwomen were a garage punk and surf punk trio from the San Francisco Bay Area signed to Estrus Records. Formed in 1991 by Tina Lucchesi and Dannielle Pimm, and former Bitch Fight & later, Eight Ball Scratch guitarist, Elka Zolot, the band formed originally to perform a one-off show of Trashmen covers.
The group quickly built a following in the San Francisco garage rock scene. The group's debut 1993 album on Estrus, Spend the Night With the Trashwomen was described by Allmusic as "a straight-up raw release of sleazy rock & roll".
This was followed by a live album the following year and a third album in 1994, Trashwomen Vs. Deep Space, the latter two also released on German label Pin Up Records, which also issued the 1994 EP The Trashwomen Invade Chinatown. The band split up in 1997 after a tour of Japan, feeling that the band had run its course, but reunited in 2007 for a performance, staying together into 2008 and did a reunion show at the Burge Boogaloo 2016. The band described themselves as "the Queens of Tease Rock".
I will make a new entry for Tina Lucchesi because she has been in many great bands.
Bibbe Hansen (born January 31, 1952) is an American performance artist, musician and actress. Hansen's parents were bohemian poet Audrey Ostlin Hansen and Fluxus artist Al Hansen, a participant in the Andy Warhol Factory.
Hansen began her professional acting career as a child with the Saranac Lake Summer Theater in upstate New York. As a teenager in the mid-1960s, Hansen appeared in films by avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas. After a chance meeting with Andy Warhol, he invited her to collaborate on a film about her recent incarceration in various youth penal institutions. The result was Warhol's film Prison, co-starring Edie Sedgwick. She also appeared in Warhol's Restaurant, 10 Beautiful Girls, 10 More Beautiful Girls, and shot two of Warhol's Screen Tests.
In 1964, Hansen recorded an album on Laurie Records with Jan Kerouac in a band called The Whippets. The Whippets released a single on the Josie label called "Go Go Go With Ringo," which was a poppy tribute to the Beatles. The flip was called "I Want Talk To With You".
From 1990 through 1995, Hansen operated the Troy Café in Los Angeles with her husband, Sean Carrillo, and performed with singer and performance artist Vaginal Davis. She and Davis went on to form the satirical band Black Fag, named after, and poking fun at, the famous punk band Black Flag.
The Dinettes formed in San Diego as The Cockpits in 1978 who, after a couple of line-up changes, coalesced around Cindy Brisco (drums), Doriot Negrette (vocals), Irene Liberatore-Dolan (drums), Joyce Rooks (guitar, vocals), Lisa Aston Emerson (guitar), and Sue Ferguson (keyboards) as The Dinettes.
The band played at the first Western Front punk festival in San
Francisco, organized by Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra. In late 1979, the band released a single recorded at Accusound,
“Poison” b/w “T.V.” They also recorded demos at Straighta Head Sound,
and a live tape was later circulated from a November 1979 gig at the
Deaf Club in San Francisco.
Rooks split in 1980, and the Dinettes later
allowed men to integrate the group, though they ultimately split for
good around 1981. Lisa Aston (later Lisa Aston Emerson) continued to play punk with the
Injections and Xterminators. Singer/drummer Irene Liberatore joined the
Puppies with Dale Conover . Rooks joined Trowsers, a ska/reggae band as well as becoming a latterday member of the
Penetrators.
Martha Johnson (born December 18, 1950) is a Canadian rock singer, keyboardist and songwriter. She is best known as the vocalist of the 1980s rock band Martha and the Muffins. She started her career playing the organ with cover band "Oh Those Pants". She then was part of Toronto band the Doncasters in the early 1970s.
Martha Jane Ladly is a Canadian academic, designer and musician. She is professor of design at OCAD University. Ladly also has had a long career as a musician and achieved international fame as part of rock band Martha and the Muffins. She had a solo career in the mid-1980s and then worked in design and education.
The group's initial line-up came together in Toronto in 1977, when David Millar asked his fellow Ontario College of Art student Mark Gane to help him start a band. Millar recruited Martha Johnson to play keyboards; Johnson brought in a friend from high school, Carl Finkle, to play bass; and Gane's brother Tim signed on as the drummer. With Millar and Mark Gane as guitarists, and Johnson as lead vocalist, this is the line up that debuted at an Ontario College of Art Hallowe'en party in October 1977. They chose the name "Martha and the Muffins" to distance themselves from the aggressive names adopted by many punk bands of the era. According to Mark Gane: "We decided to use it as a temporary name until we could all agree on something better." The name ended up sticking for the next seven years. Saxophone player Andy Haas began performing with the band in early 1978 (initially, as a guest artist). Founding-member Millar left the band shortly thereafter, preferring to work as the band's sound engineer for live shows. He was replaced by Martha Ladly, who had attended high school with the Ganes. She became the group's second keyboardist/vocalist named Martha, although Martha Johnson remained the group's primary lead singer. In 1978, they released their first independent single "Insect Love". This and a demo tape recorded in June 1978 quickly garnered them a recording deal with the Dindisc offshoot of Virgin Records.
In 1979, the band travelled to England to record their first album Metro Music, which was released in 1980. The album was produced by Mike Howlett and recorded at The Manor Studios in Oxfordshire. This album gave Martha and the Muffins a major international hit single with "Echo Beach". Although the album didn't spawn any further hits, "Paint by Number Heart" did get some airplay on Canadian radio while "Saigon" and a further single "Suburban Dream" were played on BBC Radio 1. In addition, both songs received airplay on the American dance charts.
In October 1980, the band released their second album, Trance and Dance, which was less successful and didn't give the band any hit singles. Ladly left the band after the album was recorded (but before it was released) to pursue an art scholarship. Jean Wilson briefly replaced Ladly on tour in the latter part of 1980, but never recorded with the group. In 1981, bassist Finkle left the band and was replaced by Jocelyne Lanois, the sister of then-unknown record producer Daniel Lanois. After Jocelyne introduced the band to her brother, they figured Daniel was an ideal candidate to produce their next LP. However, in order to utilize his services as a co-producer, the band had to agree to Virgin Records' demand that, if they were going to insist on working with an unknown producer, they would also have to work with a lower recording budget.
Martha and the Muffins' 1981 album This Is the Ice Age, produced by Daniel Lanois and the band, was recorded in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario. More experimental than previous efforts, it also gained significant Canadian radio airplay from the singles "Women Around the World at Work" (a No. 24 hit in Canada, peaking on November 7 of the same year on the RPM national singles chart) and "Swimming". Shortly after the album's release, Tim Gane decided he did not want to tour, and left the band; he was replaced by new drummer Nick Kent.
1983's Danseparc was produced by Daniel Lanois, Gane, and Johnson. Gane, eager to drop the name "Martha and the Muffins", proposed that the group be now called "M + M". In a compromise, both names were used for a time, and the Danseparc album cover had both "M + M" and "Martha and the Muffins" printed on it. The album's title track was another top 40 single in Canada and, for the Danseparc tour, the group was augmented by auxiliary players including guitarist Michael Brook. At the end of the tour, Gane and Johnson (now a couple) announced that, although they wanted to continue as a recording act, they also wanted to branch out in new directions by using new collaborators. In essence, Gane and Johnson decided that "M + M" was now Martha + Mark, along with studio musicians and sidemen.
Both Marthas released solo albums in the 80s and 90s.
