Happy Valentine’s Day to all you lovers and daggers out there! The Hungry Hearts, a multi-media, pin-up performance band from Oslo, Norway, are here to give as all a bit of lesbian love advice.
The group consists of seven ladies: Tonje Gjevjon, Line Halvorsen, Ingeborg Kolle, Edith Roth Gjevjon, Amina Bech, Henriette Høyskel and Mona K and “they are singing about kisses waiting to be found and about high-heeled shoes walking on the streets where car-doors open.” Intrigued, I wanted to know more about this sexy bunch of Nordic dames, so I trekked through snow and ice to reach them and here’s what I found out from the honey-voiced troop leader Tonje Gjevjon:
JW: What is one of your favorite sounds and what does it mean to you?
TG: Hammond organ is a nice sound, it reminds me of good music and crazy songs.
JW: Tell me about one of your most cherished records and why it is so important to you.
TG: David Bowie, Ashes to Ashes, because the song is about me.
JW: Who is a woman that has inspired you in your life, musically or otherwise?
TG: Frida Kahlo, because of her paintings, beauty, pain and stubborness.
Now, watch the video below for “In Your Face (The International Lesbian Anthem),” learn the Lesbian Hasuki dance, follow the steps and impress your girlfriend to no end! Check out their other songs and videos here.
The Runaways film premiered last week at the Sundance film festival - it follows the titillating adventures of teenagers Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Cherie Currie and Sandy West as they band together to form one of the greatest and sexiest heavy rock/punk/pop groups ever, all under the watchful eye of producer and svengali, Kim Fowley.
From the beginning of his career as a music producer and songwriter in the 1960’s, Kim had a soft spot for girl groups (especially the jailbait set…) starting with the likes of The Murmaids, through to Althea and the Memories and leading up to the harder sounds of The Runaways and Venus and the Razor Blades in the 70s. Download here a mix of Kim Fowley’s travel through the girl group sound and see below for a clip from the eye candy experience of The Runways on film…
Track listing: Murmaids - Popsicles and Icicles
Althea and the Memories - Worst Record Ever Made
The Runaways - I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are (live in Japan)
The Runaways - Cherry Bomb (live in Japan)
The Runaways - American Nights (live in Japan)
Venus and the Razor Blades - I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are
Venus and the Razor Blades - Finer Things in Life
I thought it fitting to end the year - and the decade - with a riddle of a band. I hope Frau Siebenrock Combo will leave you pondering into the new year and inspire the continued search for obscure women’s music in all it’s forms…
Cassettencombinat was a West Berlin based cassette only record label active in the late 70s and early 80s started by Kiddy Citny of the band “Sprung Aus Den Wolken.” One of the bands, or at least a one-off musical project that the label promoted, was the Frau Siebenrock Combo. Cassettencombinat released their cassette “Zäh wie Gold” in 1981, of which three songs are ready for download below.
I haven’t found out much about them, except that Leffi Leffringhausen was somehow involved. Any further insights are most welcome! Until then enjoy these songs and see you in the new decade…
Sara Jaffe and Mia Clarke are best known as musicians performing with Erase Errata and Electrelane, respectively. With both bands currently on hiatus, Sara and Mia came together to reflect on a central element of band life - touring.
The result is a beautiful 7″ square book with accompanying DVD called The Art of Touring published by Yeti Publishers and featuring contributions from the likes of Emma Gaze, Elizabeth Sharp (Ill Ease), Johanna Fateman, Carla Bozulich, Jean Smith, Sara Marcus, Cynthia Nelson and many more. As a preview of the greatness within, here’s the charming contribution from Tara Jane ONeil as featured on the DVD:
I caught up with Sara recently and grilled her on band life. She started her illustrious punk rock musical career in 1997 with the The Cakecutters in Portland, Oregon followed by a stint with the Pyrodydacts in Middletown, Connecticut in ‘98 and ‘99. She formed Erase Errata in San Francisco in 1999 with Bianca Sparta, Ellie Erikson and Jenny Hoyston and played guitar with the foursome until 2004. Between 2001-2004 Erase Errata was on tour perhaps a quarter to a third of the year with the longest road trip in the fall of 2001 slouching across Europe for six weeks.
JW: What are some of the tactile memories you have of being on tour? Sounds, smells, sights or feelings that you’ve experienced on your road trips as part of Erase Errata?
SJ: Well, it’s been awhile now, but here’s some… The little sleeping pallet that we made between the two back seats in a rented Sprinter on one European tour. Some of the best naps of my life there. The little plastic-y cups you get hot chocolate dispensed into from machines in Italy. Opening a hotel room window in Paris and having rose petals floating down from above. A pug dog that spun around in circles as if it was possessed, in Denton, TX. Another dog peeing on my sleeping bag (while I was in it) in Indiana. Delicious Dutch-Indonesian-squatter fusion food prepared for us by our host in Amsterdam. Reckless drivers in Athens. Walking across the River Clyde at dawn in Glasgow. Seaweed fights on the beach on Victoria Island. How hot it was once at playing at the Unitarian Church in Philly that the Ex were shorting out their guitars from their own sweat.
JW: What promises/hopes/aspirations did you have as a band when you first started?
SJ: As cheesy as it sounds, I think we really just had fun playing music together and realized we’d hit some kind of “spark” with our sound, so we wanted to keep doing it. Put out a record? Sure! Go on tour? Yeah! Eventually, what one had to do to keep a band sustainable–constant touring, primarily–became a bit too much for me, which is when I left the band.
JW: What does playing in a band mean to you? SJ: I think one way of thinking about it might be to think about what, specifically, I miss, after a few years of not really doing anything band-like on a regular basis. I miss the community that accrues from playing shows regularly, with like-minded (musically, politically, whatever) people. I miss the feeling of participating in a collaborative creative endeavor, where it felt like we were making up the rules together as we went along. I miss the public loudness.
JW: How did you discover punk rock? SJ: A combo of college radio, the Bennington College July program, zines, and my straight-edge hardcore friend in highschool.
JW: Who is a woman that has inspired you in your music, either as a band or personally? SJ: Can I make a list? So many! Most definitely incomplete, and drawing on various eras of my life… The Raincoats, The Slits, Delta 5, LiliPUT, Team Dresch, The Quails, PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Talk Normal, Sleater Kinney, The Need, Yoko Ono, The Passions, all the women on No New York, Sandy Denny, my former bandmates, Sta-Prest, Mary Timony, Beth Ditto, Joni Mitchell, Alice Coltrane, and my longtime childhood piano teacher Irene Taylor.
I picked up this compilation Kopf: Hören! a few years back from a merch table laid out at concert in a squated house (Kalki in Zürich), where the beers where cheap (Sprint for 2CHF), the music loud (thanks Archie), the bands passionate and the audience loving and enthusiastic (all fifty of us).
The sampler was released sometime in 2002 on a German record label called frequenzpark, founded by Isabella Krebs. I haven’t seen it around anywhere before or since so I think it’s fallen the way of obscurity. It is a decent, honest and hard working little compilation worth a good listen.
Makes me wonder how many other great lost local samplers of women’s punk are out there just waiting to be rediscovered…
Side A:
Amtrak - 0-50m
Below - Dress the Fuzz
Brustkrebs - The Secret Sex of the Nuclear Bomb
Kochen mit Glas - Brütende Kälte
Side B:
Rhythm King and Her Friends - Copie-moi je veux voyager
Kokoshka Heroine - ∞ Planlos
Mahlzahn - Au-Pair
Schlampen Ficken Besser - 13
The Flamingo Massacres - Cowboy Angst
There is a flurry of activity surrounding The Raincoats right now, including rare live appearances, film projects and album re-issues.
The buzz began in March after a tantalizing preview screening for the band’s documentary/tour diary film, Fairytales, directed by Gina Birch at the BFI hosted 2009 London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF).
In April they followed up with a stellar appearance in Krems, Austria at the Donau Festival as part of the Chicks on Speed hosted Girlmonster programme.
The next date in the diary, at the end of September, is a live performance at London’s National Portrait Gallery as part of the Icon-i-coustic series in conjunction with the Gay Icons exhibition. The event is also a celebration of the upcoming Kill Rock Stars re-issue of their 1979 self-titled debut album. Following which the band will embark on a limited four city tour of the U.S. in mid October, including their first ever visit to the west coast.
Catch them if you can and treasure the opportunity to sing along with “Lola” at the top of your voice in the front row. Here’s the trailer of the Fairytales film from the LLGFF, to whet your appetite…
