Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch. [1]
Dresch has been actively involved in the queercore scene since the 1980s, as the creator of the fanzine Chainsaw and contributor to several other zines such as Outpunk and J.D.s , as well as contributing and being featured on the front cover of issue five of Deke Nihilson and Tom Jennings' zine Homocore . [2] Additionally, she was a contributor to Tobi Vail's influential proto-Riot Grrrl fanzine, Jigsaw and Tammy Rae Carland's zine I (heart) Amy Carter. In 1992, she appeared in the cult film The Yo-Yo Gang , by G.B. Jones.
She founded the queercore independent record label Chainsaw Records in the early 1990s. [3] Shortly after, she joined forces with Jody Bleyle and Kaia Wilson to form Team Dresch. Once drummer Marcéo Martinez was added to the line-up, the group began recording. The first single was released in 1994 on Kill Rock Stars. Their debut album in 1994, Personal Best and its follow-up, Captain My Captain , were released jointly by Chainsaw Records and Jody Bleyle's label Candy Ass Records. Team Dresch performs live and the members are interviewed in the documentary film She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane.
Since its inception, Chainsaw Records has housed many well-known bands such as Tracy and the Plastics and Sleater-Kinney.
In 2004, she founded a new band, Davies vs. Dresch. In 2006, Team Dresch reunited and began touring again.
Dresch has appeared on many other artists' recordings, including Amy Ray's Prom; Third Sex's Card Carryin' (as producer, engineer and mixer); Phranc's Goofyfoot EP (bassist); Some Velvet Sidewalk's Shipwreck (guitarist and bassist); Hazel's Are You Going to Eat That? (producer); and Fifth Column's 36-C (guitarist). [4]
Dresch temporarily replaced Van Conner in the Screaming Trees, and had a brief stint as bassist in Dinosaur Jr., accompanying them on their US and Australian tour in 1990. She collaborated with Slim Moon in the 1980s Olympia-based garage band Nisqually Delta Podunk Nightmare, and played bass in the Olympia grunge/punk band Dangermouse. She has also worked with Rastro! (with Jen Smith), The Go Team, Mary Lou Lord, and Lois.
Bratmobile is an American punk band from Olympia, Washington, formed in 1991. They are known for being one of the first-generation "riot grrrl" bands. The band was influenced by several eclectic musical styles, including elements of pop, surf, and garage rock.
Queercore is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through magazines, music, writing and film.
A punk zine is a zine related to the punk subculture and hardcore punk music genre. Often primitively or casually produced, they feature punk literature, such as social commentary, punk poetry, news, gossip, music reviews and articles about punk rock bands or regional punk scenes.
Anti-Scrunti Faction were an American queercore punk trio from Boulder, Colorado, United States.
Phranc, is an American singer-songwriter whose career began playing in several bands in the late 1970s Los Angeles punk rock scene. Her musical style later shifted during the 1980s as a solo artist, into a self-proclaimed "All-American Jewish lesbian folksinger."
Team Dresch is an American punk rock band originally formed in 1993 in Olympia, Washington.
Chainsaw Records is an independent record label run by Donna Dresch that is devoted to Queercore bands. The label is in Portland, Oregon.
The Need is an American queercore band formed by the singer and drummer Rachel Carns and the guitarist Radio Sloan in Portland, Oregon, in the mid-1990s.
Candy Ass Records was an independent record label in Portland, Oregon that was run by Jody Bleyle, a member of the bands Team Dresch and Hazel and of the queercore bands Family Outing and Infinite Xs.
Kaia Lynn Wilson is an American musician from Portland, Oregon, best known as a founding member of both Team Dresch, a revered 1990s queercore punk band, and The Butchies, a pop-rock spin-off from her solo work. In addition to singing, songwriting and guitar, Wilson co-established and operated Mr. Lady Records from 1996 to 2004.
Personal Best is the first studio album by the American queercore band Team Dresch. It was released on January 23, 1995 by both Candy Ass Records and Chainsaw Records. It was reissued on Jealous Butcher Records in May 2019. The label reissued their entire back catalog in order to help reaffirm the band's legacy as queercore icons.
Longstocking were an American, Los Angeles–based queercore-punk band.
Christina Billotte is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, known for her involvement in the punk music scene in Washington, D.C., as a performer and organizer. She is included in Venus Zine's list "The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time".
Rachel Carns is an American musician, composer, artist and performer living in Olympia, Washington, U.S. Raised in small-town Wisconsin, she went on to study painting and drawing at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, where she completed her B.F.A. in 1991. Carns began her career as drummer for Kicking Giant, later collaborating with several bands, including The Need. She is a celebrated graphic designer, working under the name System Lux, and plays drums and percussion with experimental performance art group Cloud Eye Control.
Lucy Thane is a British documentary filmmaker, event producer and performer, living in Folkestone. Her films include It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill in the UK (1993) and She's Real (1997).
Captain My Captain is the second and final studio album by the pioneering American queercore band Team Dresch. The album was released on June 4, 1996, by Chainsaw Records and Candy Ass Records. It was reissued in 2019 by Jealous Butcher Records, to coincide with a 25th anniversary reunion tour.
Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States. Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term riot grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement.
The Third Sex was an American queercore band formed in 1993 in Portland, Oregon. The band featured Trish Walsh on guitar and vocals, Peyton Marshall on bass and vocals and, initially, a series of drummers. Although primarily a two-piece band, they helped propagate the queercore movement across the country. A part of the Riot Grrrl scene, The Third Sex were significant in feminism's third wave and both influenced, and were influenced by, DIY culture.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. A subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics, it is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the riot grrrl movement and has recently been seen in fourth-wave feminist punk music that rose in the 2010s. The genre has also been described as coming out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a movement in which women could express anger, rage, and frustration, emotions considered socially acceptable for male songwriters but less commonly for women.
Choices, Chances, Changes: Singles & Comptracks 1994–2000 is a 2019 compilation album from American riot grrrl band Team Dresch.