Team Dresch

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Team Dresch
Origin Olympia, Washington, USA
Years active 1993—1998
2004—present
Label(s) Kill Rock Stars
Chainsaw
Candy Ass
Associated acts Hazel, Adickdid, Vitapup, Born Against, Dinosaur Jr., Screaming Trees, Fifth Column, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Lois, Mary Lou Lord, The Go Team, The Spinanes, Built to Spill, Phranc
Members
Jody Bleyle (vocals, guitar, bass)
Kaia Wilson (vocals, guitar)
Donna Dresch (bass, guitar)
Marci Martinez (drums)
Melissa York (drums)

Team Dresch is an American punk band that performed and recorded in the 1990s and made a significant impression on the DIY queercore movement, as well as on the independent music scene. The band reformed in the early 2000s and continues to perform.

Contents

History

Beginnings

Donna Dresch

Donna Dresch, founder of the band, had been involved in the queercore scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s as creator of her own fanzine Chainsaw and, in addition to contributing to other zines such as Outpunk and J.D.s, she contributed to and was featured on the cover of issue five of Homocore and appeared in the girl-gang film The Yo-Yo Gang by G.B. Jones.

First album line-up

The line up of the group for its first album was Donna Dresch, guitar and bass; Jody Bleyle, guitar, bass, and vocals; Kaia Wilson, guitar and vocals; and Marci Martinez on drums. All were veterans of other musical outfits; Donna Dresch had previously played and recorded with such bands as Dinosaur Jr., Dangermouse (not to be confused with Dangermouse), Screaming Trees, Rastro!, Fifth Column, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Lois, Mary Lou Lord and The Go Team; Jody Bleyle was simultaneously in the bands Hazel and Lovebutt while playing in Team Dresch; Kaia Wilson had been in the band Adickdid and Marci Martinez in Calamity Jane (a band, not the singer of the same name). Scott Plouf, then of The Spinanes, now of Built to Spill was the drummer on the first 7". "Hand Grenade" appeared on Kill Rock Stars in 1994.

Personal Best

Main article: Personal Best

Personal Best appeared in January 1995 as a co-release on the independent labels Chainsaw Records, run by Dresch and Candy Ass Records, run by Bleyle. Washington Post writer Chris Richards called Personal Best "a fiery, all-but-forgotten punk masterpiece that sealed the gap between Sonic Youth's pop leanings and Superchunk's noisier fare."[1] Candy-Ass then released the compilation Free to Fight, a double LP of all-women bands addressing issues such as harassment and rape and dedicated to self-defense. The band toured with self-defense instructor Alice Stagg, who spoke and gave demonstrations to the audience prior to the band's performance. The members were committed to a DIY ethic, running their own record labels and booking their own tours.

Captain My Captain

Main article: Captain My Captain

On their second recording drummer Melissa York, previously of the hardcore punk bands Vitapup and Born Against, replaced Marci Martinez. This LP, Captain My Captain, released in 1996, also featured a guest appearance by Phranc, well known lesbian musician. The song "Uncle Phranc", written as a tribute to Phranc, appears on this album.

Original disbandment & further projects

After Captain My Captain, Kaia Wilson and Melissa York left the band to form The Butchies, while Dresch and Bleyle continued recording with the addition of new member Amanda Kelly and with Marci Martinez once again on drums. The band stopped playing in 1998, with Dresch increasingly involved in running her record label which was releasing many recordings by newer Queercore bands, including The Need, Longstocking and Sleater-Kinney. Marci Martinez went on to play in The Vegas Beat.

In 2002, Jody debuted a new band, Family Outing, which includes her brother, Allen, and in 2004, Donna returned to the stage with a new band, Davies vs. Dresch. They appeared as part of "Queercore Blitz", a group of queer bands touring the U.S together.

Reunion

In the summer of 2004, Jody, Donna, Kaia, Marci and Melissa came together to headline the homocore festival Homo-a-Go-Go in Olympia, Washington. In the summer of 2006, the same members played shows in the Northwest, New York City, San Francisco, California, Los Angeles, California and Chicago and continue to tour. A review of a June, 2007 show in Washington, D.C. quoted a fan as saying "You sound so much better now!"[1]

Team Dresch has announced that it will release a new album, its first in 13 years, in 2008.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Songs in compilations

Trivia

  • In 1996, the influential German band Tocotronic paid homage to Team Dresch with their song "Die Sache mit der Team-Dresch-Platte" ("The Thing about the Team Dresch record"), eventually contributing to the popularity of Team Dresch in Germany.
  • The band performs and is interviewed in the documentary film She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane.
  • Lesbians on Ecstasy remixed Team Dresch's song "Screwing Yer Courage" as "Summer Luv". Jody Bleyle remixed this remix of her own song for the Lesbians On Ecstasy record Giggles in The Dark".

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Richardson, Chris (2007-06-22), "Team Dresch Digs Deep Into Its Playbook", Washington Post, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102405.html>. Retrieved on 27 June 2007 

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Dresch"

This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

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