Valerie Agnew | |
---|---|
Born | [ citation needed ] | January 13, 1969
Origin | Ohio, United States[ citation needed ] |
Genres | Grunge, punk rock, |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Drums |
Years active | 1990–97 |
Labels | C/Z Records, Atlantic Records, Man's Ruin |
Member of | 7 Year Bitch |
Valerie Agnew is an American musician best known as the drummer of 7 Year Bitch. [1] [2] [3]
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Agnew moved from Ohio to Seattle, Washington, where she met the musicians that would become her future bandmates: Selene Vigil (vocals), Elizabeth Davis (bass), and Stefanie Sargent (lead guitar). [4] They formed 7 Year Bitch and signed with C/Z Records. [1] They released their debut album Sick 'Em in 1992. [1] 7 Year Bitch's career came to a close in 1997, [5] after a final tour with San Francisco's Lost Goat.[ citation needed ]
Agnew also worked as a massage therapist [6] [7] and was a shareholder at Rainbow Grocery Cooperative, [8] a worker-owned grocery in San Francisco for over 22 years. [8] [4] Since 2021, Agnew works as a region manager at Independent Natural Food Retailers. [8]
While still living in Ohio, Agnew dated Steve Moriarty, the drummer for the American punk band The Gits. [9] Additionally, Agnew was a very close friend of Mia Zapata, the band's frontwoman. [9]
The U.S. state of Washington has been home to many popular musicians and several major hotbeds of musical innovation throughout its history. The largest city in the state, Seattle, is known for being the birthplace of grunge as well as a major contributor to the evolution of punk rock, indie music, folk, and hip hop. Nearby Tacoma and Olympia have also been centers of influence on popular music.
Mia Katherine Zapata was an American musician who was the lead singer for the Seattle punk band The Gits. After gaining praise in the emerging grunge scene, Zapata was murdered in 1993 while on her way home from a music venue, at age 27. The crime went unsolved for a decade before her killer, Jesus Mezquia, was arrested in 2003. Mezquia was tried, convicted and sentenced to 36 years in prison.
Hype! (1996) is a documentary directed by Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge rock in the early to mid-1990s United States. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the development of the grunge scene from its early beginning in neighborhood basements to its emergence as an explosive pop culture phenomenon. Hype! attempts to dispel some of the myths of the genre promulgated by media hype by depicting the grunge subculture from the point of view of people who were active in the scene. The film generally portrays this mythos in a satirical way while acknowledging that it was media hype that helped propel some of these obscure bands to fame.
7 Year Bitch was an American punk rock band from Seattle, Washington. The band was active between 1990 and 1997 and released three albums over that time. The band formed at the same time as the emergence of the riot grrrl sub-genre, which is a subgenre of punk music from the early to mid-1990s that emphasized the role of women in rock music. The Riot Grrrl movement began as a feminist response to the violence and misogyny that became more prominent in punk music in the mid-to-late 1980s, and 7 Year Bitch, an all-female punk band, emerged as part of that sub-genre.
C/Z Records was a Seattle-based punk rock record label established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale. It started with the release of Deep Six, which collected early recordings of what later came to be known as grunge. After Deep Six proved commercially unsuccessful, Hanzsek and Casale sold the label to Daniel House.
Home Alive is a Seattle-based anti-violence organization that offers self-defense classes on a sliding scale payment system. Home Alive once operated as a non-profit organization and now continues to operate as a volunteer collective. Home Alive sees its work as integrated into larger social justice movements, recognizing how violence is often perpetuated through oppression and abuse. Home Alive classes included basic physical self-defense, boundary setting, and advanced multi-week courses.
The Gits were an American punk rock band formed in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1986. As part of the burgeoning Seattle music scene of the early 1990s, they were known for their fiery live performances. Members included singer Mia Zapata, guitarist Joe Spleen, bassist Matt Dresdner and drummers Steve Moriarty, Bruce Ducheneaux and Bob Lee. They dissolved in 1993 after the murder of Zapata.
Love Battery is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. They released five albums during the 1990s, followed by sporadic one-off reunions. Frontman Ron Nine and guitarist Kevin Whitworth have been the only consistent members of the band throughout its existence.
Seaweed was an American band from Tacoma, Washington, who were active throughout the 1990s. Their style of music was a combination of different rock subgenres, including post-hardcore and punk rock. They were signed to various notable record labels, such as Sub Pop Records, Merge Records, and Hollywood Records. The band released six albums between 1989 and 1999, followed by a hiatus that lasted until 2007. They then disbanded a second time in 2014.
Sick 'Em is the debut compilation album by Seattle punk rock band 7 Year Bitch. It was released in October 1992 on the local C/Z Records label and collected all of the band's previous releases up to that point. The album was originally slated for an earlier release date but was delayed following the death of guitarist Stefanie Sargent in June 1992.
¡Viva Zapata! is the debut studio album by American rock band 7 Year Bitch, released on May 20, 1994, through C/Z Records. Produced by Jack Endino, it was their first record with guitarist Roisin Dunne. The album's tone was influenced by the deaths of several people close to the band, including original guitarist Stefanie Sargent in 1992 and The Gits' vocalist Mia Zapata—who inspired its title and is depicted on its cover artwork—in 1993, although this was not intended as its general theme. The album's promotion was supported by Atlantic Records, who signed 7 Year Bitch a month prior to its release.
Gato Negro is the second and final studio album by American rock band 7 Year Bitch, released on March 12, 1996. It was the band's only album released through Atlantic Records, after signing to the label in 1994.
Daniel House is an American business owner and former musician. He was a co-founder and bass player for Skin Yard, a grunge band that was active from 1985 to 1992, and was president and owner of C/Z Records, a Seattle-based independent record label that released music by many bands, including 7 Year Bitch, Built to Spill, Coffin Break, Engine Kid, The Gits, Hammerbox, Love Battery, The Melvins, The Presidents of the United States of America, Silkworm, and Skin Yard. In 2003, House moved from Seattle to Los Angeles where he oversaw the development and creation of the now-defunct www.DownloadPunk.com as well as the music-centric online dating website RocknRollDating.com.
Lucy Hanna is an American artist, photographer, and filmmaker based in Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California.
Avast! Recording Company is a music recording studio in Seattle, Washington. It was established in 1990 by producer Stuart Hallerman, who was soundman for Soundgarden and involved in the grunge movement coming out of Seattle at the time. The first CD released by Avast! was Crime Pays When Pigs Die by Nate Mendel and Eric Akre's Christ on a Crutch project, and the company has since worked with a number of other artists, including Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Built to Spill, Steve Fisk, Bikini Kill, and Supersuckers.
Stefanie Ann Sargent was an American musician. She was the lead guitarist and co-founder of Seattle punk rock band 7 Year Bitch. She died from asphyxiation after choking on her vomit at the age of 24 on June 27, 1992, four months before the release of 7 Year Bitch's debut album, Sick 'Em.
Elizabeth Davis-Simpson is an American musician and songwriter best known as the bassist of the punk rock band 7 Year Bitch. She later worked on projects such as These Streets with Valerie Agnew, and has participated in a band named Clone.
Roisin Dunne Ross is an Irish musician. She is best known for being the replacement guitarist of 7 Year Bitch, after their guitarist Stefanie Sargent died in June 1992.
Selene Here Vigil is an American singer best known as the lead vocalist of the band 7 Year Bitch.
Lisa Fay Beatty was an American musician best known for her involvement in the band 7 Year Bitch. She replaced the guitarist Roisin Dunne in 1997. The band later broke up the same year. She died in a motorcycle accident on November 25, 2011, at the age of 47. Beatty also toured with her band Mudwimin. She sound engineered for bands like The Gits, 7 Year Bitch, and Smoochknob.