Tag: riot grrrl
L7 Shreds Final Night at The Fonda with Skating Polly
Vanessa Burgundy
July 19, 2015
I stepped off the plane from Mexico, into an Uber, dropped my suitcases at home and drove directly to The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood to catch night 2 of L7 playing Los Angeles after their first European tour in almost 20 years. I have gone into countless tirades in the past about why I prefer any night but night 1 of multiple date stands by popular bands in Los Angeles but this time, my preference had everything to do with the opening band, Skating Polly. My love for L7 is well documented, so rather than go fanboy and write about them for the second time in a month and a half, I’ll focus on Skating Polly and let one of the baddest bitches in L.A. tell you about the baddest bitches in rock music, L7. The first time I saw Skating Polly play a show was in January of this year when they opened for legendary Los Angeles band, The Flesh Eaters. I know the real thing when I see it and since then, I have become mildly obsessed with their 3 records; and I’m not the only one. Every iconic punker that sees them live seems to want to
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Babes in Toyland Still Inspire and Terrify at The Roxy
Vanessa Burgundy
February 14, 2015
Kat Bjelland once described Babes in Toyland as “full frontal assault” and after last night, mommy mommy I need an adult. The Roxy was packed to its crusty edges with riot grrrls and boys, riot moms (thanks for the term, Tom Morello), and celebrities alike. Hell, the first person we ran into was legendary front woman, Exene Cervenka. The excitement was infectious and the room was pulsing with what felt like good, old-fashioned high school angst. No one really knew what to expect from the band that played it’s last show 18 years ago, warm-up show at Pappy and Harriet’s aside. Tom Morello came out to introduce the “matriarchs of metal” and any doubt was kicked to the floor when Lori, Kat, and Maureen took to the stage and tore their way through a 13 song set- No banter needed. Kat’s voice hasn’t lost a drop of power and by the time they broke into their third song, “Bluebell”, every sweaty person in the room was screaming “you’re dead meat motherfucker/you don’t try to rape a goddess”. Lori hit the drums like it was Lollapalooza ’93 and you’d never know any time had passed, save for the few times she sweetly
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The Julie Ruin at The Troubadour: Vagina’s and Surprises.
Danny Baraz
November 7, 2014
Kathleen Hanna is an icon. She is the nut crushing, vagina wielding, punk singing, ear ringing legend of a once, DIY militant feminism. A militancy that was absolutely necessary in a 90’s era of violent, male dominated, testosterone injected dominance of the American punk scene. Her band, Bikini Kill, not only gave girls a voice in that void of misogynistic obliviousness but insisted on “Girls to the Front!”. On Thursday, November 6th, her band The Julie Ruin headlined night 6 of Red Bull’s 30 Days in L.A. at the Troubadour. The irony of looking at the big, corporate Red Bull logo behind Hanna all night was not lost on me but if Nirvana could start from the Kill Rockstars record label, to Sub Pop and eventually end up on Geffen, then The Julie Ruin could certainly play a gig with Red Bull Sound Select and retain their integrity. Bookings like this give Red Bull’s music division more and more street cred every day. I arrived at The Troubadour just before Red Bull band Bad Girlfriend took the stage. I was in a foul mood. I was fucking exhausted after covering 5 out of 6 of the 30 Red Bull dates
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