| Tobi Vail |
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Tobi Vail (born , as well as being involved over the years with an assortment of project-bands, figuring prominently in the Olympia Music Scene . The word 'grrrl' was coined in Vail's seminal journal,''Don't Need You: the Herstory of Riot Grrrl'' directed by Kerri Koch ''Jigsaw'' (1988–present), one of the first Northwestern Punk Zine s to address Gender Issues explicitly. Bikini Kill Vail is best known as the drummer of Bikini Kill, which lasted from 1990 to 1998. The band was often met with resistance and misunderstanding due to their chaotic live performances, controversial lyrics, and political zines which dealt with various Activist -punk topics like Anti-racism , Vegetarianism , Anti-corporatism , Anti-capitalism , anti- Heterosexism , and in particular Feminist issues including Rape , Incest , Domestic Violence , Abortion , Sexuality , Body Image and Eating Disorders , Stalking , Patriarchy , Sexual Assault , and Sexism in general - all with a strong emphasis on community and DIY Culture . Vail recalls: Despite frequent ", with the occasional exceptions of bands like Poison Girls , Frightwig , and Au Pairs . In addition to writing ''Jigsaw'' (1988–present), Vail, s of the movement, reclaiming feminism for the punk scene in an attempt to disrupt the straight White Male bias thereof, and rebelling against such annoyances as having the women at their shows fall victim to sexual assault when attempting to enter the mosh pits or even get closer to the stage, their bodies often groped, their clothes deliberately torn off. In one instance in particular, a man was caught rubbing his penis on a female fan in the audience at a Rock for Choice benefit.http://www.msmagazine.com/aug00/shesays.asp In response to such attacks, not only against the girls in the audience but often against themselves and their friends,http://weeklywire.com/ww/07-27-98/boston_music_3.html Bikini Kill was one of the first bands to declare their mosh pits "women only".http://www.emplive.org/exhibits/index.asp?articleID=669 The general feeling of wanting to encourage more girls to start bands, zines, make their own culture and create their own homemade and fiercely independent media grew rapidly in popularity through a largely Underground network of similar-feeling fans, artists, musicians and writers, and soon regular meetings started taking place, usually in Punk House s like Positive Force . Bikini Kill had started working there with the local punk community with friends like Nation Of Ulysses and Fugazi after moving to Washington DC in 1991. The band itself released several LP s and Single s on their friend Slim's then-new label Kill Rock Stars , of which Vail is now a chief editor, and toured extensively across the US , Europe , Japan , and Australia , which helped spread the word further. Other projects Apart from Bikini Kill, and occasionally releasing under her own name and various pseudonyms, Vail has played in quite a few Underground Band s before and after the break-up of Bikini Kill in 98, including:
One of her first bands was The Go Team , an Experimental Punk project started with Calvin Johnson in 1985. The group released several Cassettes and 9 Single s on the Independent Label K Records , mostly on the 7" Vinyl format - a practice Vail continues to this day. Billy "Boredom" Karren was one of the rotating musicians who played with The Go Team, and it was in this band that he and Vail played together for the first time, later collaborating in several other bands like Bikini Kill, The Frumpies, the upallnighters, and Spray Painted Love. Other guest musicians included Rich Jenson, David Nichols, and Donna Dresch . They toured the West Coast as a two piece, adding Billy Karren for two U.S. tours. Vail was also working as a DJ for KAOS (FM) and playing in an all-teenage Girl Band called Doris, which played shows around the northwest with Beat Happening , Spook and the Zombies, Rich Jensen, Oklahoma Scramble and Snake Pit. After the demise of The Go Team, Vail made a record as the drummer for Some Velvet Sidewalk .
In 1992 Tobi started The Frumpies in DC with bandmates '', a favorite movie of Vail's, who likes a lot of French New Wave and 60s British Cinema . Distinctly less overtly political in nature than either BK or Bratmobile, and refining a much different sound (no bass player, 3 guitar players), they toured the U.S. with Huggy Bear in 1993 and Italy with "yes Wave" - Electro - Avant-punk - Noise band Dada Swing in 2000. '. Current groups include Spider and the Webs and the Old Haunts. Cultural Work: Riot Grrrl, Ladyfest, and Bands Against Bush One of the founders of Riot Grrrl , Vail still keeps with her DIY Efforts to encourage more women into the independent punk scene as a founding member of Ladyfest , a Volunteer -based music and arts Festival for female Independent Music ians, Performance Artist s, Spoken Word poets, Visual Artist s, and Author s, for which most of the proceeds are donated directly to Non-profit Organisation s. The festival also holds Workshop s for girls on everything from Music Lessons , to how to make a Zine , to Self Defense courses.http://home.comcast.net/~erikalari/ladyfestolympia/work.htm In 2003 Vail started Bands Against Bush , an international resistance network of artists and musicians dedicated to promoting and organizing Activism and Direct Action against George W. Bush , his administration and the rest of the PNAC . It was inspired by the very first show she ever attended: a Rock Against Reagan benefit in 1983.http://www.bumpidee.com/From%20Rock%20Against%20Reagan.htm A recent New York Times article claimed BAB was under surveillance by the U.S. government. She also founded FAB (Feminist Action Brigade), a feminist book club based in Olympia that attempted to start a feminist activist network using zines and the internet. DIY Although many KRS artists have since signed to Major Label s ( Sleater-Kinney , Kathleen Hanna , The Gossip ), Vail's music has always remained consistently independent of corporate ownership. A letter she wrote appears in the liner notes of a KRS compilation called ''Stars Kill Rock'': Personal From July to October 1990, Vail dated her friend, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain , with whom she had collaborated during her tenure in The Go Team on another side project called The Bathtub is Real. They remained friends after they broke up, their bands hanging out and often playing together at shows, and they were on good terms until Fame , Drug Addiction and Depression obscured many of Cobain's connections with old friends, including Vail. The end of their relationship occurred during the period when Cobain was writing material for Nirvana's seminal album '' Nevermind '' and some of the songs seem to contain veiled references to Tobi, including
A fair amount of fallacy has been circulated about their relationship due to Nirvana biographers and rock journalists relying largely on second-hand misinformation, rumors, and erroneous conjecture presented incorrectly as fact, as neither Vail nor Cobain ever spoke of their relationship publicly. For over 15 years, as The only interview she's ever given on the subject of her old friend was for Everett True , another old friend of hers and Cobain's. True is the only biographer who was actually close with them during this time, and he has derided Cross' book as the "Courtney-sanctioned version of history."http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=184892 REFERENCES
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