Riot grrrl is the female-driven punk movement that arose during the early-1990s in Washington State in response to pervasive sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia in punk music and greater society. Though Riot grrrl is often referred to in the past tense, those identifying as female from Portland Ore. to Vancouver, B.C., continue to validate non-normative narratives through their music.
Though female-performed songs about repressive gender norms, equal rights, sex and body positivity can be traced as far back as turn-of-the-century Appalachia (thank you, Carter Family), it wasn’t until ‘60s and ‘70s, with second-wave feminism and artists like Patti Smith, Sioxsie Sioux, and The Raincoats, that “punk feminism” fully actualized. Riot grrrl founders like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile picked it up from there, and now in 2016, many female-identifying are still fighting the good fight from behind the mic. As they know, female musicians are required to perpetually prove that their music is more than a “hysterical” blip in rock n’ roll history, but a way of seeing the world that needs to be heard. So, on that note, here are eight current progressive, badass, female-driven punk bands from the region that you need to hear.
1. Tacocat
This pop-punk band out of Seattle just got some national attention following the writing of a new theme song for a reboots of the Powerpuff Girls television show, but when it comes to the PNW, Tacocat has ruled for a while. The group began to get real attention when they signed with Hardly Art Records and released their clever, patriarchy-bashing album NVM in 2014. This year’s album, Lost Time nerds out over Dana Scully and Horse Grrls, while also coming down hard on rampant gentrification and calling out catcalling. One of the best things about Tacocat is that at live shows, lead singer Emily Nokes has no qualms screaming about UTIs and periods, and often calls out men in the audience who obviously have no idea what they’re in for. Plus, Nokes and bassist Bree McKenna recently made the cover of Seattle magazine City Arts with Kathleen Hana herself, which is pretty much the closest you come to a riot grrrl seal of approval.
2. CHILDBIRTH
When Bree Mckenna isn’t holding down the bass in Tacocat, she’s playing alongside Chastity Belt’s Julia Shapiro and Pony Time’s Stacy Peck in CHILDBIRTH. As explicitly taboo-fighting as their name implies, CHILDBIRTH opens its 2015 Suicide Squeeze release screaming, “Women’s rights, women’s rights, women’s rights!” The album continues on to put music to mansplaining in “Tech Bros,” the woes of dating on Tinder in “Siri, Open Tinder,” and the people who make you ask “Since when are you gay?” With a no-shits-given attitude and hooks that become earworms, CHILDBIRTH is an indie super group that serves as another vital notch in the belt of the Pacific Northwest’s D.I.Y. scene.
3. G.L.O.S.S.
For something a bit grittier, but still drenched in empowerment, turn your attention to Olympia, Wash.-based G.L.O.S.S. (Girls living outside society’s shit). Loud, angry, colorful and queer, G.L.O.S.S. isn’t afraid to epitomize subversion and address backward gender and sexuality norms. They hit like an earthquake in 2015 with their five-song “Demo,” and their namesake song “G.L.O.S.S.” In it, lead singer Sadie belts, “They told us we were girls / how we talk, dress, look, and cry. / They told us we were girls / So we claimed our female lives. / Now they tell us we aren’t girls / Our femininity doesn’t fit. / We’re fucking future girls living outside society’s shit.” Read those lines again, rinse, and repeat.