The Montreal Massacre, FemFest and Polytechnique

This year is the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, where 14 women were murdered at Ecole Polytechnique by Marc Lepine, because he hated feminism. Canadians wear purple ribbons and hold vigils to remember the women who died.  This year the Purple Ribbon Campaign has organized 20 days of action, that began on 11/16 with a screening of the film Polytechnique (trailer below) and continues through 12/6 with a Not So Silent Vigil, where women will scream in protest and rage.  For more information about the events check out the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women website.

FemFest 2009 will also run from November 27-29 as a celebration to honor women's voices, strengths and talents. FemFest is inspired by Riot Grrrl and DIY ethics and will feature music, belly dancers, spoken word, drag kings, a craft fair, and a children’s story night.

     

Riot Grrrl Retrospective 7 - The Triumph of Attitude

The Triumph of Attitude

Tobi Vail, Emily's Sassy Lime, Rachel Carns (The Need), Sharon Cheslow, Layla Gibbons (now coordinator of Maximum RocknRoll ) and Nikki McClure talk about DIY ethic and empowering girls to start bands.

Sites We Love: Grrrl Zine Network

GRRRL ZINE NETWORK
A resource site for international grrrl, lady, queer and trans folk zines,
distros and DIY projects

The Fakes

Released in 1995, The Fakes were a project that included Rachel Carns (the Need, Kicking Giant), Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Julie Ruin), Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses, Fucking Champs), Billie Strain. Sue Fox and others. I remember reading in an article or zine somewhere that they made this record so you could listen to it and think "hey, I can do that." Very much in the DIY ethic and an empowering record that talks a lot about abuse survivors.


You can still buy the CD format at Chainsaw Records. And you can listen to samples on Amazon.

Rubella Ballet

Formed in London in 1979, Rubella Ballet's original name was "Rubella Babies" but they decided to change it to "something meaningless" instead. At this time Sid and Zillah were 14/15 year olds, with a somewhat revolving line up. According to their website, the band started when "One night at a gig we the audience were told we could use the equipment so Sid played drums and Zillah sang for the first time using any one who wanted to play the guitars, we just made it up as we went along."

At the time Gemma and Dan (children of Vi Sub Versa, Poision Girls lead singer/guitarist) were already in the band Fatal Microbes, who released the well received Violence Grows in 1978. But their lead singer Honey Bane left the band to record with Crass, and then signed as a solo artist with EMI.

So Zillah, Sid, Gemma and Dan (a.k.a. "Pete Fender) began practicing using the Poison Girl's equipment. At the time Gem was 12 and Pete Fender 14. They played their first gig in 1979 with Poison Girls, Crass and Charge. Next thing they knew, they were playing shows almost every night.

In 1981 they released a cassette package called Ballet Bag on the Poison Girls label and sold 3,500 copies, and then did some Peel sessions. Then in 1982 they released the Ballet Dance EP on vinyl. They toured the UK with Death Cult (The Cult.) During this period, Pete Fender left the band a couple of times and was replaced by a few different guitarists.

In 1984 they released the 12" record 42f. They garnered some good press throughout these years, and were offered major record deals, but declined them. In the mid 80's they started their own label, Ubiquitous, and they began releasing their own stuff, including 6 albums and some music videos.

In 1987 they played with the Dead Kennedys, Faith No More and The Mission in the US. But in the 90's they sort of faded down. At this time Zillah and Sid experimented with some techno music under the name Xenophobia and played at raves.

In 1999 they bagan to have gigs offered to them again, especially in the UK, but they continued to have trouble securing a guitarist who could tour. In 2000 they played some big punk festivals. According to their website, in 2006 Sid and Zillah were still looking for some permanent members to tour with them. They also made a film called "She's a Punk Rocker" about women in the early punk scene (more about this to follow)



http://www.myspace.com/rubellaballet
http://www.geocities.com/rubella_ballet/discography.html

Interview with Maya from Death Cigarettes

Can you tell me a little about the history of Death Cigarettes?

Death Cigarettes landed in London about two years ago. After the initial shock of moving form quiet Yorkshire to the city we settled down and got on with making the noise that brought us here.


Your Myspace page says you sound like "none of your influences." Who are some of your influences?

Patti Smith had a big impact on me from the first time I heard her. But as a band we all have quite different influences so I don't even know how relevant my answer would be to this one. I am more influenced by an outlook or an energy than bands or songs I think. So much influences what goes into a song, the light, the noise of the city, the great bands we see play live, a photograph, everything.


Mya, what is your experience like of being a woman in a band?

I suppose my experience of being in a band is much like the lads' experiences of being in a band, except I sing and they play. I love being in Death Cigarettes, I have a voice and a vote (as it were) but obviously things are slightly different for all of us. I used to feel underestimated by people when they were surprised by my voice or by the way I like to move around a lot, I used to think 'guys get to do this shit all the time why does it shock you that I want to do it too?' I mean, we all want to sing and dance and shout and laugh don't we? It never felt like a big deal to me, I was just responding to the music. More recently in the UK it feels like women are being hailed into the music scene but as you know (from seeing your blog), we were always there, we are just as strong and loud as we always were, maybe we are just easier to find these days? If so, that can only be a good thing.


I see that we can download the single, what are your plans for future releases?

The first single 'Bleed You Dry' is out on iTunes and Amazon etc. And there is a video that goes with the B-side 'If You Take Me Apart' which you can view on our myspace: www.myspace.com/deathcigarettes

70SIX Music put out a limited edition physical run which are available through our website (below). They are rather beautiful, they look like records- even have the grooves and are just what we wanted.

The second single 'Break my Bones' was recorded with Max Dingle (White Lies /Glasvegas ) and is due out in the near future, also on 70SIX Music.

We just spent this weekend shooting the video for it. It was very tiring but great fun.

We are lucky enough to have people around us who enjoy making music and have a DIY ethic so we have already recorded a new set of demo's in a friend's studio which sound great. Hopefully these will be used in the future. And another friend of ours helped design our t-shirts which (along with our cd's) are available from http://www.deathcigarettes.co.uk/


Any plans to play in the states?

We'd love to play the US, the single sold fairly well over there but we haven't been offered any shows - offer us some shows!!



Thanks Maya! For more information on Death Cigarettes check out:

www.myspace.com/deathcigarettes
http://www.deathcigarettes.co.uk/
http://www.deathcigarettes.blogspot.com/