Kathi Wilcox | |
---|---|
Wilcox in 1991 | |
Background information | |
Born | November 19, 1969 |
Genres | |
Occupation | Musician |
Instruments | |
Years active | 1990–present |
Labels | Kill Rock Stars |
Member of | Bikini Kill, The Julie Ruin |
Kathi Lynn Wilcox (born November 19, 1969) is an American musician. She is the bass player in Bikini Kill and guitar player in the Casual Dots. She was also a member of the Julie Ruin and the Frumpies.
Wilcox attended The Evergreen State College where she studied film and worked with Tobi Vail at a sandwich shop. [1] During this time she and friends Kathleen Hanna and Vail collaborated on a feminist zine titled Bikini Kill. [2] The three women enlisted guitarist Billy Karren and began a feminist punk band also called Bikini Kill. Wilcox provided bass, guitar, drums, and vocals for the band, which lasted throughout the '90s and is considered one of the definitive bands of the riot grrrl movement. Wilcox's other musical projects include the Frumpies with Vail, Karren, Michelle Mae (The Make-Up), and Molly Neumann (Bratmobile); The Casual Dots with Christina Billotte (Slant 6, Quixotic) and Steve Dore; [3] and The Julie Ruin with Hanna, Kenny Mellman (Kiki & Herb), Carmine Covelli, and Sara Landeau.
Wilcox collaborated with Fugazi's Brendan Canty on the theme song to the punk rock-oriented children's show Pancake Mountain . [4]
Wilcox is married to Guy Picciotto from Fugazi. They have one child and live in Brooklyn. [5] [6]
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.
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 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.
Julie Ruin is the debut solo album by Kathleen Hanna, released on September 29, 1998, through Kill Rock Stars. She recorded the album in 1997 whilst taking a break from Bikini Kill. Hanna recalled:
[It] was made as Bikini Kill was in breaking up, a guy who worked across the street from my apartment building was stalking me and I was being treated, in my own community, like a historical oddity. The solo record helped me remember that I was just a fucking person who liked being creative.
The Go Team was a 1980s band from Olympia, Washington, consisting of Tobi Vail and Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening.
The Singles is a compilation album of three singles by punk rock band Bikini Kill. The album was released in 1998 by Kill Rock Stars. Joan Jett produces, plays guitar and sings on the first three tracks. In 2018, Bikini Kill reissued the album on CD and 12" vinyl.
Reject All American is the second studio album by the American punk rock band Bikini Kill, released in 1996 by Kill Rock Stars.
Pussy Whipped is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Bikini Kill. It was released on Kill Rock Stars on October 26, 1993.
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".
Bikini Kill is the first EP by the American punk rock band Bikini Kill led by singer Kathleen Hanna. The six-song vinyl EP was released in 1992 on Kill Rock Stars. It was produced by Fugazi's Ian MacKaye. In 1994, the EP was released on CD together with the Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah EP under the name The CD Version of the First Two Records.
William Francis Karren is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist of the punk/riot grrrl band Bikini Kill, formed by Kathleen Hanna, with Karren, Tobi Vail and Kathi Wilcox. He was also active in many other music projects, including the Go Team, the Frumpies, Corrections, and Spray Painted Love. He did not participate in Bikini Kill's 2019 reunion; his replacement was Erica Dawn Lyle.
Viva Knievel was a short-lived punk rock and pre-riot grrrl band in Olympia, Washington, that existed around 1989–1990. Viva Knievel was Kathleen Hanna's second band, and included Zeb Olsen on bass, her brother, Stu, on guitar, and Matt Zodrow on drums. Kathleen's first band had been called "Amy Carter". Zeb, Stu, and Matt started playing punk rock in the early 80's and were in multiple bands before VK. Four Viva Knievel songs recorded in 1990 were released as a 7-inch EP on Cindy Wolfe's record label Ultrasound Records.
The Frumpies were an American lo-fi punk rock band formed in 1992 in Olympia, Washington. The original line-up consisted of singers/guitarists Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren, and Bratmobile drummer Molly Neuman. Their debut was the 7-inch single Alien Summer Nights on the Chainsaw Records label. Babies and Bunnies was recorded in 1993, with future Make-Up and Weird War bassist Michelle Mae signing on long enough to record "Tommy Slich."
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.
"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.
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.
The Punk Singer is a 2013 documentary film about feminist singer Kathleen Hanna who fronted the bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and who was a central figure in the riot grrrl movement. Directed by filmmaker Sini Anderson and produced by Anderson and Tamra Davis, the film's title is taken from the Julie Ruin song "The Punk Singer", from Hanna's 1998 solo effort.
Suture was an American punk rock and indie rock trio based in Washington, D.C., affiliated with early riot grrrl. Suture consisted of Kathleen Hanna, Sharon Cheslow, and Dug E. Bird aka Doug Birdzell.