Huggy Bear | |
|---|---|
 Huggy Bear (1994) | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | London/Brighton, England |
| Genres | Riot grrrl, art punk, punk rock |
| Years active | 1991–1994 |
| Labels | Wiiija, Kill Rock Stars, Gravity |
| Past members | Niki Eliot Jo Johnson Jon Slade Karen Hill Chris Rowley |
Huggy Bear were an English riot grrrl band, formed in 1991 and based in Brighton; active for three years, they played their final gig in December 1994. [1]
Evolving in tandem with the Olympia, Washington-based riot grrrl movement led by feminist bands such as Bikini Kill, [2] Huggy Bear called themselves "girl-boy revolutionaries", both in reference to their political philosophy and the gender makeup of their band. [3] [4] [5] [6]
For the majority of their existence, they refused to be photographed or interviewed by mainstream press, [2] nor gave their full names once they began releasing records formally. In spite of a major label bidding war, Huggy Bear stayed with indie label Wiiija.
Our situation was different to the one the American Riot Grrrls were responding to. The underground in London had deteriorated totally, there wasn't really much of an alternative . . . 'indie' just became an abstract term for a style of music, not ideas or values, 'cause they were all signing to major labels. The notion of selling out wasn't important. Punk rock wasn't important. Fanzines were seen as a sad joke, so we had to explain stuff that might have been obvious to American kids but was alien to young British kids. The reasons for being independent were snorted at. [7]
Their avant-garde debut EP, Rubbing the Impossible to Burst, was released in 1992, and in the same year they began working closely with Bikini Kill as riot grrrl's popularity peaked on both sides of the Atlantic, culminating in a split album on Catcall Records (Huggy Bear) and Kill Rock Stars (Bikini Kill) called Our Troubled Youth/Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah , the names of the Huggy Bear and Bikini Kill sides, respectively. [2] Huggy Bear then released a series of EPs, which were collected on Taking the Rough with the Smooch.
On 14 February 1993, Huggy Bear performed "Her Jazz" on the British television programme, The Word . After their set, the band stayed in the studio to watch a report on two American models who called themselves "the Barbi Twins". Huggy Bear and their fans became upset at this and started shouting at the show's presenter Terry Christian. They were ejected from the studio, and a spokesperson for The Word later claimed that one of the band's friends had "bit the face of a member of our production team." [7] Future Goldblade frontman and editor of music blog Louderthanwar, John Robb was with the band in the studio and said no-one got bitten and the security was heavy-handed and had to be calmed down. The performance was given a Melody Maker cover story, the event being compared to the Sex Pistols' Bill Grundy incident. [8]
In early 1994, Slade left the band. Huggy Bear released two more singles and Weaponry Listens to Love in 1994, [9] their first full-length album as well as their final release. [10] The band would play their final show in December of that year, keeping to their promise to only exist for three years.
In 2024, a Huggy Bear retrospective book Killed (Of Kids) was published, featuring zines, memorabilia and an oral history of the band. [11] A book launch was held at New River Studios [12] at which former band members Hill, Slade, and Rowley performed Huggy Bear songs for the first time in thirty years.
Members of Huggy Bear also played as the Furbelows. In 1993, Rowley and Johnson released an EP as The Element of Crime on Soul Static Sound records, with members of Linus, Skinned Teen, Sister George and Blood Sausage. [13] Elliott and Johnson also joined Blood Sausage, while Rowley assisted Skinned Teen live and with artwork, and Elliot guested on their 1994 album.
After leaving Huggy Bear, Hill formed Phantom Pregnancies with Delia from Mambo Taxi and Sean from Wat Tyler. Slade briefly joined I'm Being Good, and then Comet Gain. [14] Since 2020 he has played bass in Snoozers with Nadia Buyse (Dubais) and Steve Dore (Casual Dots).
Jo Johnson has been playing and releasing solo ambient music since 2012. In 2014, she released debut digital album Weaving on Further Records. [15] [16] Since then, she has released The Serpentine Path on Going In, The Wave Ahead EP on Mysteries of the Deep and, in 2024, a third album, Let Go Your Fear on Castles in Space, and contributed to a number of compilations. Jo began collaborating with pianist and composer Hilary Robinson during the pandemic and the duo released Session One on 9128.live in 2021.
In 2019, Chris Rowley formed a new band called Adulkt Life with former members of Male Bonding. On 27 November of that year, they played their first show at the Lexington in London. They released their first single and a digital zine on 18 August 2020, "County Pride", on What's Your Rupture?, [17] followed by debut album Book Of Curses. [18] Their second album There Is No Desire was released in 2023. [19]
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in February 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but it was originally known for its commitment to underground punk rock bands and the Olympia area music scene.
Wiiija was a British independent record label founded in 1988 by staff from the Rough Trade Shop in Notting Hill, London. The name Wiiija is a corruption of W11 1JA, the postcode of the Rough Trade Shop in Talbot Street.
Bikini Kill is an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990. The group originally consisted of singer and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail.
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.
Kathleen Hanna is an American singer, musician and pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. She is the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill and fronted the electropunk 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.
Comet Gain are a British indie pop band, formed by singer-songwriter and guitarist David Christian in 1992, with musical influences including post-punk and northern soul. Pitchfork called them "one of the most underrated contemporary indie bands in the UK".
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".
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah is the Bikini Kill side of a split album released in 1993 on Kill Rock Stars. The other side featured Huggy Bear's Our Troubled Youth. In 1994, Bikini Kill released the compilation The C.D. Version of the First Two Records which featured Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah along with their 1992 self-titled EP.
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).
The C.D. Version of the First Two Records is a compilation by punk rock band Bikini Kill, collecting their 1992 eponymous EP and their half of the 1993 EP Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, an album they shared with the band Huggy Bear. It was released in 1994 on Kill Rock Stars and was the first Bikini Kill release on CD. The album was re-released by Bikini Kill Records on June 23, 2015 as simply The First Two Records and featured additional tracks from the expanded re-release of Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Blood Sausage were an indie rock band from Brighton, England, containing members of Huggy Bear.
"Rebel Girl" is a song by American punk rock band Bikini Kill. The song was released in three different recorded versions in 1993 – on an EP, an LP, and a 7-inch single. The single version was produced by Joan Jett and features her on guitar and background vocals. Widely considered a classic example of punk music, the song remains emblematic of the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s. In 2021, "Rebel Girl" was listed at number 296 on the updated list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Skinned Teen was a riot grrrl band from London, England, active in the early 1990s. They have been cited as an inspiration by Beth Ditto, Kathleen Hanna, Gina Birch and Josephine Olausson of Love Is All.
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.
The discography of Bikini Kill, an American punk rock band, consists of three studio albums, one split studio album, two compilation albums, one extended play (EP) and four singles.
Linus was an indie band from London, England, formed in 1992. They were integral to the early UK riot grrrl scene and considered an essential early riot grrl band.
Our Troubled Youth is the Huggy Bear side of a split album they released with Bikini Kill. It was released on International Women's Day 1993 on Catcall Records in the United Kingdom, and on the Kill Rock Stars label in the United States.
Weaponry Listens to Love is an album by the English riot grrrl band Huggy Bear. It was released in 1994. The band broke up shortly after a North American tour, due to their self-imposed three-year time frame.
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