Tobi Vail

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Tobi Vail (born July 20, 1969) is a musician, rock critic and feminist theorist from Olympia, Washington, USA. She started as a drummer for The Go Team, later collaborating in several other bands, including Bikini Kill. She currently plays in the psychedelic-garage-punk band Spider and the Webs.

Contents

[edit] Life and Work

[edit] The Go Team and Doris

Her first band was The Go Team with Calvin Johnson that existed from 1985 to 1989. The group released 9 singles, as well as several cassettes, on the independent label K Records. Billy 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. Other guest musicians included Rich Jenson, David Nichols, and Donna Dresch. The Go Team toured the West Coast as a two piece, adding Billy Karren for two U.S. tours. Vail was also in an all teenage girl band called Doris at this time (1986-1988). Doris played shows around the northwest with Beat Happening, Spook and the Zombies, Rich Jensen, Oklahoma Scramble and Snake Pit. They made a demo tape, which was recorded by Steve Ross (Cactus Love, the Briefs), but never released. After the demise of The Go Team, Vail played in various project bands and made a record as the drummer for Some Velvet Sidewalk.

[edit] Bikini Kill

Vail is best known as the drummer of Bikini Kill, which lasted from 1990 to 1997. Met with resistance and misunderstanding from a male dominated rock scene, Bikini Kill persevered and today are largely credited, along with Bratmobile, with starting Riot Grrl, a movement that merged Do It Yourself culture with feminism. It encouraged girls to start bands, participate in the making of culture and create their own self-produced media. The band released several classic LPs and singles on the label Kill Rock Stars, of which Vail is now the chief editor, and toured extensively, which helped spread the word further.

Members of Bikini Kill also put out fanzines: Vail and bandmate Kathleen Hanna together produced Bikini Kill. Along with Bratmobile's Girl Germs, these zines are credited as the first manifestos of the "Riot Grrrl" Movement. The word 'grrrl' was coined in Vail's seminal journal, Jigsaw (1988-present), one of the first Northwest punk zines to address gender issues explicitly.

[edit] The Frumpies

In 1992 Tobi started The Frumpies with Kathi Wilcox, Billy Karren and Molly Neuman. The Frumpies wrote and recorded several singles, most of which are compiled on the Kill Rock Stars release Frumpie One Piece. The Frumpies toured the U.S. with Huggy Bear in 1993 and Italy with Dada Swing in 2000. Vail was involved with several short lived musical projects in the 90's and has appeared as a guest on records made by Mary Lou Lord, Phranc, Nation of Ulysses and Bangs, the last of which featured her sister Maggie on bass guitar/lead vocals.

[edit] Bumpidee and Other Projects

Vail started a cassette label called Bumpidee in 1994 and released music by Worst Case Scenario, the Corrections, the Bonnot Gang, the Slatternlies. Recent releases include demos by Spider and the Webs and Marissa Magic and a compilation called "Spider Friends". Each tape comes with a newsletter called The Bumpidee Times, which contextualizes each release. Currently there is also a web site, Bumpidee.com, of the same name. Since the break-up of Bikini Kill in 1997/1998, Vail has played in quite a few bands, including The Feebles, Frenchie and the German Girls, Frumpies, and Spider and The Webs - in which she currently plays along with James and Chris Sutton. She is also one of the founders of Bands Against Bush, Ladyfest and FAB (Feminist Action Brigade). Her current publications are Spider Magic, Feminists Against Bush and Pogo for Peace. "

From 1990 to 1991, Vail dated Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, with whom she had collaborated during her tenure in The Go Team. They played music together for the duration of their relationship and 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 Vail and Cobain's break-up. Most notably, in Lounge Act. Vail, when asked about it all in late 2005 said, "I don't remember it was a long time ago. When you read those books, rest assured they are mostly fiction. Until this year, I had never done an interview, or been approached by any of the writers, so keep it in mind. It's like the telephone game on a large scale."[[1]]

[edit] References

  • Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground by Maria Raha
  • Come As You Are by Michael Azerrad (Doubleday, 1993)
  • Girls Make Media by Mary Celeste Kearney (Routledge, 2006)
  • Heavier Than Heaven by Charles Cross(Hyperion, 2002)
  • Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Pop and Rap Ed. by Evelyn McDonnell and Ann Powers
  • She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock and Roll by Gillian Gaar

    [edit] External links

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