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Entertaining interview with Kathleen Hanna, lead s
Bikini Kill Interview from Boredom #3 PO Box 12501, Berkeley, CA 94701
Brought to you by Cool Beans! BBS 415-648-PUNK(7865)
I was in Providence Rhode Island sometime a short while ago.
I talked, actually, she wrote this tuff down cuz her
voice was disabled, with Kathleen O' Bikini Kill. Let's see,
I think the show and everything took place on (I forgot)
at Club Babyhead.
Boredom: There seem to be more girls and women involved in things in
Olympia than other places, why?
Kathleen: I think a lot of the reason is cuz a lot of girls in Olympia have
made it a big priority of theirs to include and support other girls. Also
being in Olympia, the (K) philosophy and punk rock "you can do anything
aesthetic ((K) puts out records and tapes by very non-pro bands and
individuals) has rally affected the scene. You know, seeing these other
people who don't "really" know how to play/tune their instruments is really
encouraging to girls. Non competativeness and girls setting jealousies
aside for more important stuff-that's the answer, I guess.
Boredom: What kind of affect does the zine and band have on people?
Kathleen: Well, lots of girls, young girls, like 14-15-16 years old come up
to us after shows and it's really cool cuz they're not threatened by us like,
say, most 25 year old males are, and we always encourage them to start bands/
fanzines etc..., and I know for a fact that at least one girl I encouraged
_has_ started a band. Um, guys, a lot just say, like, "Good Show", "Great
Set" or whatever but we've learned not to trust it too much cuz we've heard,
one too many times, that these are the same guys who're, all during our show
saying stuff like "I'd like to fuck _her_" or "They suck", I don't know, I
guess they get their jollies off lying to our faces or they relieve some
weird guilt complex. Cool boys are easy to spot cuz they laugh and smile
during the supposedly "anti-male" stuff in our songs, and they just look
sincere.
Boredom: Do you think some boys are alienated by Bikini Kill?
Kathleen: Yeah, most boys are really alienated by what we're doing-I mean I
get letters, people tell me that boys in Olympia, like, warn each other
that I'm crazy or whatever or some shit. This one guy, who is now a good
friend of ours, said he walked around for like two weeks being really mad
about our fanzine, feeling left out and accused. What was cool about him
was that he (finally!) came over and talked to me and Tobi about it.
What I have to say about the whole alienation thing is if you feel alienated
then there's a problem you need to satrt dealing with. I mean, everyone's
sexist and racist and shit but cool boys don't feel accused cuz they're our
_brothers in struggle_, you know?
So here's this song I wrote that you should put the lyrics for right here,
cuz it would be cool and sort of goes with the question...
White Boy
Lay me down spreadeagled out on a hill
Then write a book 'bout how I wanted to die
It's hard to talk with your dick in my mouth
I will try to scream in pain a little nicer next time
White boy
Don't laugh
Don't cry
Just die
I'm so sorry if I'm alienating some of you
Your whole fucking culture alienates me
I can not scream in pain from down here on my knees
I'm so sorry that I think
- - - - -
Boredom: Have you ever had a negative reaction from an audience?
Kathleen: Yeah, well once we were playing this show in the park, across the
street from out apartment building during the show I asked if anyone had any
announcements or anything and this girlfriend of mine (Corrin from "Heavens
To Betsy") got up and said that this guy was going up to her and a lot of
other girls/women and saying shit like "I'm a rapist, I just got out of
prison, I'm gonna rape you." And she pointed him out in front of the whole
crowd and then gave me the microphone. So, basically, I told told the guy
to leave and he wouldn't and so these tough punk boys, right, they go over
and try to get him to leave. And I ask the _whole_ crowd to mobilize and
show their support, you know, I just said it sucks that girls can't be able
to enjoy shows without being totally terrorized and said we weren't playing
till he left and so finally he does. And then the woman up front tells me
that the tough punk boys have been saying all this gross "tits-n-ass" shit
the whole time we've been playing and so I have this big public confrontation
with them and... well it ended up these guys stood around trying to threaten
us afterwards and waited for us in the lobby of our apartment building and
it was really creepy cuz these guys were always in our neighborhood and just
around and we knew they beat up this homeless guy so it was like this threat
looming over us. On of them told me "I know where you live" a couple weeks
later.
Shit like that, and guys spitting on us, flipping us off, calling us dykes
(as if that's an insult) or making fun of us loudly while we play. Standard
jerky behavior.
Boredom: Do you have any influences, musically or otherwise?
Kathleen: Yeah, Tobi our drummer cuz I new she was in a band and everyone
said she was a snob or a heartbreaker or really mean and that totally
inspired me to become best friends with her which in turn lead me to be
really musically influenced by bands like Nation of Ullysses, the Slits,
Girlschool, The Wipers, The Runaways, The Ronettes etc...
And also, seeing Jean Smith of Mecca Normal made me feel included in "the
scene" for the first time and maybe I could be like her-you know?
Also Karen Finley, who is a performace artist/spoken word person-has totally
influenced my work as has the writer Kathy Acker and, um, this may sound
dumb, but right now my two biggest influences (musically) are The Slits and
this little girl I saw in the Tacoma bus terminal. She was just pacing all
around the seats, staring people down and sing-screaming in some language
she'd made up herself. What was really cool was her mom _didn't_ make her
shut up.
Cool Beans! BBS 415-648-PUNK(7865)/12-14.4 Baud/2 nodes/Punk/Indiepop/
Industrial/Rock/Metal/Coffee/Whiskey/Beer/Drugs/PGP/Cult of the Dead Cow
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