Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States. Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term riot grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement. [1]
Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States. Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term riot grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement. [1]
In early 1991, Jen Smith and Washington, DC guitarist Christina Billotte of Autoclave joined Pacific Northwest band Bratmobile (Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman) when they temporarily relocated to Washington, DC. The band released one cassette tape, called Bratmobile DC, with this line-up. [2] [3]
The Bratmobile girls were zine writers, and Wolfe and Neuman created Girl Germs to which Smith contributed. [1] It was during this time in Washington, DC that Jen Smith came up with the idea of a "girl riot" and Molly Neuman conceived the riot grrrl mini-zine that gave the movement its name. [1] [4] Writing in Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital, Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins report that while living in Washington, D.C., Smith reacted to the violence of the Mount Pleasant race riots in spring 1991 by prophetically writing in a letter to Wolfe, "this summer's going to be a girl riot." Other reports say she wrote, "we need to start a girl riot." [1] [5] As written about in Bikini Kill zine by Kathleen Hanna, Jen proposed they all collaborate on a zine called Girl Riot, which would serve as a networking forum for young women. Molly Neuman began the zine, released under the title riot grrrl, with contributions from Smith, Wolfe, and the members of Bikini Kill.
By the end of summer 1991, Erin Smith (no relation to Jen) from Bethesda, Maryland replaced Billotte on guitar and Bratmobile returned to Olympia, Washington, with Erin and Jen remaining in DC. [5] Jen Smith stayed behind to edit a zine called Red Rover. A number of issues were released before she began a new zine in 1993, an offshoot of Red Rover, called Another Lo-Fi Xtravanganza. [6] The zine also became a small record label.
At the same time, Jen Smith began a band with Donna Dresch and Nikki Chapman called Rastro! The trio, with Smith on guitar and vocals, Chapman on bass, and Dresch on drums, released two songs on compilations by independent record labels such as Simple Machines. After this band broke up, Smith moved to Olympia, Washington where she recorded Boot Party with Dub Narcotic Sound System, and began the Cha Cha Cabaret, which she hosted under the persona of "Miss Lady Hand Grenade" in 1996 and 1997. Participating artists included Miranda July, Mirah, Flying Tigers, Old Time Relijun, Simplement Jacques, Nikki McClure, The Lookers, The Skirts, and Panties, and all appear together on the K Records compilation Chez Vous. [7] Cha Cha Cabaret toured the Pacific Northwest, adding musicians such as Sharon Cheslow while in San Francisco. [8]
In the 2000s, Smith returned to San Francisco, where she joined with ex-Circus Lupus member Seth Lorinczi [9] and ex-Electrolettes member Julianna Bright to begin the band The Quails. [10] The band toured with Sleater Kinney, Aislers Set and The No-No's. They released three CDs, as well as zines and projects such as the comic book Bon Soir and a mini-opera CD under the name 'Marzipan Ponce'. [11] The band broke up, Jen Smith devoted herself to her artwork.
In 2008, she appeared in the feature film The Lollipop Generation by G.B. Jones [12]
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Pottymouth is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Bratmobile, released on June 8, 1993, by Kill Rock Stars.
Allison Wolfe is a Los Angeles–based singer, songwriter, writer, and podcaster. As a founding member and lead singer of the punk rock band Bratmobile, she became one of the leading voices of the riot grrl movement.
Girl Germs was a zine created by University of Oregon students Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman, both members of the band Bratmobile.
Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch.
Kathi Lynn Wilcox 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.
Cold Cold Hearts was a punk rock band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1995. Comprising singer and songwriter Allison Wolfe, guitarist and back-up vocalist Erin Smith, bass player Nattles, and drummer Katherine Brown, the band released one 7" single in 1996, and a full-length self-titled record the following year, both through Olympia, Washington-based label Kill Rock Stars. Wolfe and Smith were members of the band Bratmobile prior to forming Cold Cold Hearts; they revived Bratmobile after Cold Cold Hearts disbanded.
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".
Sharon Ann Cheslow is an American musician, composer, artist, writer, photographer, educator, and archivist. In 1981, she formed Chalk Circle, Washington, D.C.'s first all-female punk band. She has since become an accomplished artist who works between different mediums, mostly sound-based.
Molly Neuman is an American drummer, writer and publisher, originally from the Washington, D.C. area who has performed in such influential bands as Bratmobile, the Frumpies, and the PeeChees. She was a pioneer of the early-to-mid '90s riot grrrl movement, penning the zine which coined the phrase in its title. She also co-wrote Girl Germs with Bratmobile singer Allison Wolfe while the two were students at the University of Oregon; that title later became the name of a Bratmobile song.
The Quails were an American punk band from San Francisco, California. The band was formed in 1999 by Seth Lorinczi, formerly of Circus Lupus, Jen Smith and Julianna Bright. They released three albums, the second of which, Atmosphere (2002), was praised for its "strangeness" and "artistic value" by Kerry L. Smith in Rolling Stone magazine. The band toured with artists like Sleater Kinney, Tracy and the Plastics, Hella and Aislers Set. Their most performed venue was San Francisco's legendary Eagle Tavern, where they were affectionately dubbed the house band.
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.
Girls Get Busy is the third and final studio album by Bratmobile, released in 2002 on Lookout! Records.
Erin Smith in Washington, D.C., is best known for being the guitarist of riot grrrl band Bratmobile, a band with drummer Molly Neuman and vocalist Allison Wolfe.
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.
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