Frightwig

Last updated

Frightwig
Origin San Francisco, California, U.S.
Genres Punk rock
Years active1982–1994, 2012–present
Labels
Members
  • Deanna Mitchell
  • Mia d'Bruzzi
  • Tina Fagnani
  • Rebecca Sevrin
Past members
  • Rachel Thoele
  • Susan Miller
  • Tana
  • Paula Frazer
  • Lynn Perko
  • Bambi Nonymous
  • Alistair Shanks
  • Anne Harney
  • Robert Castenada
  • Dana Ross
  • Cecilia Kuhn
  • Eric Drew Feldman
Website http://frightwig.org

Frightwig is an all-female punk rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1982 by Deanna Mitchell and Mia d'Bruzzi.

Contents

The current lineup of Frightwig consists of Deanna Mitchell, Mia d'Bruzzi, Tina Fagnani, and Rebecca Sevrin.

History

Formed in San Francisco in 1982, Frightwig has produced several songs criticizing patriarchal norms. [1]

In an interview with SFGate, D’Bruzzi stated that the band's name came from a slang word that was popular at the time, which meant, "a woman who has been out drinking cocktails, and she started out looking pretty good. Then it’s just the end of the night. Her tights are ripped, her lipstick’s smeared. Mascara’s down the face, and she’s still tipsy." [2]

Frightwig has released cult-favorite albums including Cat Farm Faboo (Subterranean Records 1984), Faster, Frightwig, Kill! Kill! (Caroline Records 1986), and the EP Phone Sexy (Boner Records 1988). [3] Frightwig has had different lineups, including the addition of Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart, Snakefinger, Frank Black, Pere Ubu, PJ Harvey, Knife & Fork), in 2012. [4]

Throughout the 1980s, Frightwig toured America, Canada, and Europe, and opened for Butthole Surfers and Redd Cross. [5]

On May 4, 2017, band member Cecilia Kuhn died of cancer. Her bandmates honored her wishes that Frightwig would not disband. [6] In 2023, Mitchell, d’Bruzzi, Feldman, Sevrin returned with a new album, released on Label 51 Recordings. A collection of 11 songs (four of which were previously released) recorded with Kuhn on drums, vocals, and accordion and produced by Eric Drew Feldman. [7]

Legacy

Frightwig was a significant influence on the Riot grrl movement, inspiring Bikini Kill [8] , Hole, L7, and Lunachicks. [3] Courtney Love described seeing a Frightwig show on the same night as Jennifer Finch of L7 and Kat Bjelland of Babes In Toyland. She said they "all decided to start bands the next day. They are the true grandmothers of riot grrl." [9]

Frightwig has also influenced bands such as Melvins and Faith No More. Kurt Cobain wore a Frightwig T-shirt under his cardigan during Nirvana's performance on MTV Unplugged. [9]

Most recent lineup

Former members

Discography

Studio albums

Singles/EPs

Compilations

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L7 (band)</span> American punk rock band

L7 is an American punk rock band founded in Los Angeles, California, first active from 1985 to 2001 and re-formed in 2014. Their longest standing lineup consists of Suzi Gardner, Donita Sparks, Jennifer Finch, and Dee Plakas. L7 has released seven studio albums and has toured widely in the US, Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America. "Pretend We're Dead" was heavily played on US alternative radio and entered the top 10 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Hanna</span> American musician and feminist activist (born 1968)

Kathleen Hanna is an American singer, musician and pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. In the early-to-mid-1990s, she was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, and then fronted the electronic rock band Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since 2010, she has recorded as The Julie Ruin.

Tobi Celeste Vail is an American independent musician, music critic and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington. She was a central figure in the riot grrl scene—she coined the spelling of "grrl"—and she started the zine Jigsaw. A drummer, guitarist and singer, she was a founding member of the band Bikini Kill. Vail has collaborated in several other bands figuring in the Olympia music scene. Vail writes for eMusic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dicks (band)</span> Punk band from Austin, Texas

Dicks were an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1980 and initially disbanded in 1986. After the first breakup, singer Gary Floyd formed the band Sister Double Happiness, with drummer Lynn Perko, then later fronted a project called Black Kali Ma. In 2004, The Dicks reunited and were active until 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flipper (band)</span> American punk rock band

Flipper is an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1979, continuing in often erratic fashion until the mid-1990s, then reuniting in 2005. The band influenced a number of grunge, punk rock and noise rock bands. Their slowed-down, bass-driven and heavily distorted style of punk is considered to have inspired bands such as the Melvins and Nirvana, whose bass player Krist Novoselic played with the band in the 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chrome (band)</span> American rock band

Chrome is an American rock band founded in San Francisco in 1976 by musician Damon Edge and associated with the 1970s post-punk movement. The group's raw sound blended elements of punk, psychedelia, and early industrial music, incorporating science-fiction themes, tape experimentation, distorted acid rock guitar, and electronic noise. They have been cited as forerunners of the 1980s industrial music boom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gas Huffer</span> American rock band

Gas Huffer was an American garage rock band from Washington. They were known for their informal and comical lyrics and their antic-laden stage presence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Preston (musician)</span> American musician

Joe Preston is an American bass guitarist and a former band member of the rock bands Earth, Melvins, Men's Recovery Project, The Need and High on Fire. Preston has also played with Sunn O))), and has his long-running solo project called Thrones. In 2007, he joined Harvey Milk in the studio for the recording of Life... The Best Game in Town and toured with them during their 2008 US and European tours. He is currently serving as a touring member of Sumac. He is the uncle of actor Dominic Janes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Finch</span> American musician, designer, and photographer

Jennifer Finch is an American musician, designer, and photographer most notable for being the primary bass player of the punk rock band L7. Active in L7 from 1986 to 1996, Finch also wrote music and performed with her bands OtherStarPeople and The Shocker in the interim before joining the reunited L7 in 2014.

The Mutants are an American band, notable in the history of San Francisco punk rock and new wave music. They are known for their theatrical performances which often include elaborate props, projections, and comical antics. They are credited with being one of the first "Art-punk" bands in San Francisco, and were one of the most popular bands of the San Francisco punk scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Death Piggy was an American hardcore punk band, that was formed in 1982 in Richmond, Virginia. They flourished briefly, before Dave Brockie, then their lead singer/bassist, decided to play a joke set while wearing monster costumes made by VCU art student Colette Miller, as an opening act for Death Piggy. This joke act would later be the basis for the heavy metal band GWAR. They put out a few 45s and had a small yet loyal following. They played their last show in 1994, before the death of drummer Sean Sumner.

Paula A. Frazer is an American singer-songwriter. She grew up in Georgia and Arkansas and moved to San Francisco in 1981. Her music is frequently described as melancholic alternative country, but with an eclectic mix of folk, blues and pop, among other genres. She first came to notice by fronting the band Tarnation in the 1990s and has appeared on recordings and in concert with many bands and solo artists including Cornershop, Sean Lennon, Frightwig, Tindersticks, the Czars, and Handsome Boy Modeling School.

Lynn Perko-Truell is an American musician, best known as the drummer, bass guitarist, and co-singer for the San Francisco indie rock band Imperial Teen. She is also known as the drummer for the San Francisco-based blues grunge band Sister Double Happiness, and the San Francisco version of the hardcore punk band The Dicks. Perko-Truell was an iconic figure and a pioneering female in the American hardcore punk and alternative rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s and remains active.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finally Punk</span> American punk band

Finally Punk were an all-female punk quartet based in Austin, Texas formed in 2005. Members: Erin Budd, Stephanie Chan, Veronica Ortuño, and Elizabeth Skadden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steel Pole Bath Tub</span> American rock band

Steel Pole Bath Tub is an American rock band, formed in 1986 in Bozeman, Montana, United States, by Mike Morasky (guitar/vocals) and Dale Flattum (bass/vocals).

Coffin Break was a hardcore punk band from Seattle, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fang (band)</span> American punk rock band

Fang is an American hardcore punk band from the early East Bay punk rock scene, established in Berkeley, California, in 1980.

Meri St. Mary is an American punk poet, singer, musician and artist.

Park is an American rock band, formed in Springfield, Illinois.

Look, Here Come the Wormies / SS Social Service is a split 7-inch vinyl single with one song each from Victoria, British Columbia punk rock bands Nomeansno and Mass Appeal, artist Ray Carter's first audio work. The record was independently issued in a limited run in 1980 and has not been re-released. It is the first Nomeansno record and one of two, along with the Betrayal, Fear, Anger, Hatred EP, from the band's home-recording era before they became a live band.

References

  1. "Herstory". FRIGHTWIG. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  2. Gentile, Dan (September 23, 2023). "'There was blood on the walls': The wild history of SF's female punk pioneers". SFGate. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Glide (August 31, 2023). "SONG PREMIERE: Long Time Cult-Favorite Frightwig Reignite Punk Fury Via "What Is Love?"". Glide Magazine. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  4. "Herstory". FRIGHTWIG. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  5. Raskin, Jonah (April 5, 2019). "Frightwig: 1980s SF Punk Band Still Feminist & Sassy". CounterPunch.org. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  6. Jones, Kevin L. (May 8, 2017). "Cecilia Kuhn, Drummer for Influential Feminist Punks Frightwig, Dies at 61". KQED Arts. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  7. "Herstory". FRIGHTWIG. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  8. Amoeba (May 14, 2024). Kathleen Hanna - What's In My Bag? . Retrieved September 17, 2024 via YouTube.
  9. 1 2 Alexandra, Rae (September 26, 2023). "Legendary SF Punk Band Frightwig Returns With 40th Anniversary Album". www.kqed.org. Retrieved July 16, 2024.