American all-female punk rock band
The Butchies were an all-female punk rock band from Durham, North Carolina , that existed from 1998 to 2005.[ 1] They reunited from their hiatus to tour with Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls promoting Ray's new album in 2010.[ 2] The frequent focus of their lyrical content concerned lesbian and queer themes.
Made up of Team Dresch guitarist and frontwoman Kaia Wilson , bassist Alison Martlew , and drummer Melissa York , The Butchies has been referred to as "queercore crusaders".[ 3] The band has been performing together since the recording of their first album , Are We Not Femme? in 1998.[ 4] Since then, the trio has recorded three subsequent albums, Population: 1975 in 1999, 3 in 2001, and Make Yr Life in 2004. They have also appeared on a number of compilations of note, including Being Out Rocks , produced by the Human Rights Campaign (Centaur Productions, 2002), and Fields And Streams (Kill Rock Stars , 2002). In 2005 the band announced a hiatus.
The first three albums were released by the now-defunct Mr. Lady Records , run by Kaia Wilson and Tammy Rae Carland . It was named after Wilson's first solo LP, Ladyman , created after leaving Team Dresch . The label also released the first two Le Tigre recordings. Make Yr Life was released by Yep Roc .[ 5] The track "Sex (I'm a Lesbian)" appeared on Mr. Lady's 1999 sampler album , New Women's Music Sampler . In 2001, a live rendition of the track "Disco" appeared on another sampler album, Calling All Kings & Queens .
Kaia Wilson had previously performed in Adickdid and the queercore band Team Dresch , appearing on their first two albums, Personal Best and Captain My Captain ; Melissa York was also in Team Dresch, playing drums on the second LP and, prior to that, performing in two hardcore punk bands, Vitapup and Born Against , before the two women joined with Alison Martlew to form The Butchies.
The Butchies also played on the 2001 Amy Ray (of the Indigo Girls ) album Stag on Daemon Records and backed her up on tour.
The band's name appears in the lyrics of the Le Tigre song "Hot Topic ."[ 6]
Discography
Albums
Singles
"Freaks***Athletes"/"Where R We", (2001, Mr. Lady Records)
See also
References
^ "Born to be Butchie" . The Advocate. May 22, 2001. p. 65.
^ Trish Bendix (July 19, 2010). "Kaia Wilson puts The Butchies back together" . After Ellen.
^ Sexy Butchies? , Now, April 24, 2003 Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Meet The Butchies" . The Advocate. November 9, 1999. p. 90.
^ Doolittle, James (October 9, 2004). "The Butchies: Make Yr Life (Yep Roc)" . Morning Call. Archived from the original on July 25, 2012.
^ Oler, Tammy (October 31, 2019). "57 Champions of Queer Feminism, All Name-Dropped in One Impossibly Catchy Song" . Slate Magazine .
External links