Team Dresch | |
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 Team Dresch performing at The Vera Project in Seattle on September 20, 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Olympia, Washington |
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| Members | Jody Bleyle Kaia Wilson Donna Dresch Marcéo Martinez Melissa York |
| Past members | Amanda Kelly |
| Website | https://www.teamdresch.com/ |
Team Dresch is an American punk rock band originally formed in 1993 in Olympia, Washington. [1]
In 1993, Donna Dresch formed Team Dresch with herself playing guitar and bass, Jody Bleyle on guitar and vocals, Kaia Wilson on guitar and vocals, and Marcéo Martinez on drums. [2] Dresch has roots in the queercore movement, contributing to the zines J.D.s and Outpunk , as well as writing her own, called Chainsaw. [2] Dresch's involvement in queercore influenced the band's style and involvement in the scene from the beginning.
Team Dresch's first release was "Seven" on Rock Stars Kill in 1994, which generated enough attention for them to book multiple shows "all around the country," [3] including the first Yoyo a Go Go in 1994. [4] Today, Donna Dresch admits "people didn’t know who we were... [they] didn’t know what to make of a bunch of ’queer freaks’ onstage." [1] In 1995 the four released their debut album, Personal Best , co-released by Chainsaw Records and Candy Ass Records, Dresch's and Bleyle's record labels respectively. [5] The album had sold over 20,000 copies by 2004. [6]
After the release of Personal Best, drummer Marcéo Martinez was replaced by Melissa York, [1] and the quartet put out Captain My Captain in 1996, another co-release from Chainsaw and Candy Ass. [7] Captain is often discussed as a more outwardly queer album than Personal Best, with the former including lyrics such as "I'm a flaming S&M rubber dyke" and "queer sex is great." [8] The album is also praised for its themes of mental illness and reassurance. [8] Additionally in the late 90s, Team Dresch performed in and was interviewed for the 1997 documentary film She's Real (Worse Than Queer) by Lucy Thane, which showcased the 90's riot grrrl and queercore scenes. [9] Team Dresch disbanded in 1998 to work on individual projects. [1] During this break, Jody Bleyle was interviewed for the 2001 German documentary Step Up and Be Vocal, Interviews zu Queer Punk und Feminismus in San Francisco by Uta Busch and Sandra Ortmann.
In 2004, Team Dresch reunited to headline the Olympia queercore festival Homo-a-Go-Go, put together by the band's friend Ed. [3] They discuss their activity since 2004 as "taking things day by day and enjoying ourselves." [10] They performed sporadically, embarking on brief West and East coast tours throughout 2006 and 2007, including at California's Outfest. [11] They played in Portland and Seattle in September 2009, as well as in Brazil for two Ladyfest shows in May 2010. [12] They played some shows in the Pacific Northwest in 2014 [10] in addition to some in 2017. [3] Also in 2017, they appeared in Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution, a documentary by Yony Leyser.
In March 2019, Team Dresch announced they would be reissuing their entire catalogue via Jealous Butcher Records in honor of the band's 25th anniversary. [13] The reissue allowed Marcéo Martinez, who came out publicly as transmasculine in 2019, [14] to have his name corrected in credits, which was "so important and necessary" for him to feel seen. [10] They also released previously unheard music through Jealous Butcher Records with Choices, Chances, Changes: Singles & Comptracks 1994–2000 . This all came alongside the release of a new video for the band's classic track "Fagetarian and Dyke." The new visual featured never-before-seen live footage of the group, offering a glimpse into the wild mosh pit-filled shows of their heyday. [15] Along with the rerelease, they announced a US tour [16] as well as a release of a new single, "Your Hands in My Pockets," the band's first new music in 19 years. [13]
Most recently, Team Dresch released the single "Story of the Earth" in July 2020. [17] The "fast, raw, and simple" [18] song was written in 2007 in response to a rise in colony collapse cases. [17] On Bandcamp, the group stated that all proceeds from the single would be donated to the Trans Justice Funding Project. [18]
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.
The port city of Olympia, Washington, has been a center of post-hardcore, anti-folk, and other youth-oriented musical genres since the late 1970s. Before this period, Olympia's The Fleetwoods had several Billboard chart successes between 1959 and 1963. Olympia saw a rise in feminism in the music industry, where artists commonly addressed rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, classism, anarchism, and female empowerment in their songs. It was a center for the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s, which featured Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.
Heavens to Betsy was an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1991 with vocalist and guitarist Corin Tucker and drummer Tracy Sawyer. The duo were part of the DIY riot grrrl, punk rock underground, and were Tucker's first band before she co-formed Sleater-Kinney.
Chainsaw Records is an independent record label run by Donna Dresch that is devoted to Queercore bands. The label is in Portland, Oregon.
Outpunk enjoys the distinction of being the first record label entirely devoted to queer punk bands.
The Need is an American queercore band formed by singer/drummer Rachel Carns and 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.
Sta-Prest was a multi-racial queercore and riot grrrl band from San Francisco that was active in the 1990s. The group members included Aloofah and D.M. Feelings.
Excuse 17 was a punk rock band from Olympia, Washington, US, that performed and recorded from 1993 to 1995. The band consisted of Becca Albee, Carrie Brownstein, and Curtis James (drums). The band recorded two full-length albums and a single, and contributed to several compilation albums.
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.
Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch.
Longstocking were an American, Los Angeles–based queercore-punk band.
Radio Sloan is a musician from Olympia, Washington.
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.
Free to Fight is a project consisting of a 1995 double album and booklet, and a single later released by Candy Ass Records.
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.
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.
Choices, Chances, Changes: Singles & Comptracks 1994–2000 is a 2019 compilation album from American riot grrrl band Team Dresch.
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