Olympia music scene
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The city of Olympia, Washington (USA) has been a center of post-punk, anti-folk, and other youth-oriented musical genres since at least the late 1970s. Along with Washington D.C., Olympia was a center for the riot grrrl movement in the early 1990s (Olympia's Bikini Kill and Bratmobile being arguably the most prominent proponents of the movement). Olympia is also the home of a number of record labels, (including K Records (Beat Happening, Mirah, The Microphones), which was co-founded in 1983 by Calvin Johnson, Plan-It-X Records, and Kill Rock Stars (founded in 1991 by Slim Moon) (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Unwound, The Punks) as well as The Evergreen State College, Olympia became a mecca for young musicians beginning in the late 1980s. Notable early-period musicians and recording artists included one of Washington States first Progressive Rock Bands Glass, Bruce Pavitt, John Foster (John Foster's Pop Philosophers), Lois Maffeo and Steve Fisk (Pell Mell). John Wozniak of Marcy Playground lived in Olympia while attending The Evergreen State College in the mid-1990s. Beck, Ian Svenonius (of the Make-Up) and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana all frequented this tiny Western Musical Town in the early 1990s. Olympia's The Fleetwoods enjoyed several Billboard chart successess between 1959-1963.
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[edit] Past Olympia Bands
This list includes notable bands who have broken up or moved away.
- Anna Oxygen
- Bangs
- Beat Happening
- Benedict Gehlen
- Big Idea
- Bikini Kill
- The Blow
- Blue Plate Special
- Cheshire
- Cadallaca
- Communicator
- Courtney Love (the Lois Maffeo band)
- Dangermouse
- Dead Air Freshners
- Dennis Driscoll
- Earth
- Engine 54
- Excuse 17
- Fitz of Depression
- The Frumpies
- Gene Defcon
- Glass
- godheadSilo
- The Gossip
- The Go Team
- Halo Benders
- Heavens to Betsy
- Heliotroupe
- Honeybucket
- IQU
- Internal/External
- Jad Fair
- KARP
- Kicking Giant
- King's Revelation
- Lansdat Blister
- Little Red Car Wreck
- Litter Meet
- The Lowdown
- Lush
- Mecca Normal
- Men's Recovery Project
- The Microphones
- Mirah
- Miranda July
- Mocket
- Monkeefunk
- Mukilteo Fairies
- The Need
- Negativland
- Nirvana (in its early incarnation)
- Nomy Lamm
- Nubbin
- P.S I Love You
- Raybees
- Rebecca Pearcy
- Red Eye Special
- Rose Melberg
- Sage
- S.G.M.
- Sleater-Kinney
- Solomon Grundy (Screaming Trees side project)
- Some Velvet Sidewalk
- Steve Fisk
- Sue P. Fox
- Super Duo
- Team Dresch
- Tight Bro's from Way Back When
- TOM AND THE MYSPACERS
- Tracy + the Plastics
- Treehouse
- Unwound
- Wimps
- Witchy Poo
- Young Pioneers
[edit] Present Olympia Bands
- Adventure!
- AKA The Hat
- Barnacles
- Buck Wild
- C Average
- Joey Casio
- Ciel
- COCO
- Cool Guys
- Cum Thieves
- Cut Short
- Diatribe
- Robin Cutler
- Kimya Dawson
- Dead Squirrles
- Dirty Birds
- Encyclopedia of Fun
- Fierce Perm
- Field Trip
- Fitz of Depression
- Funerot
- Gray Daisy
- Greenwich Meantime
- Grizzle Grazzle Trash Can Band
- The Hail Seizures
- Hemlock Society
- The Horde
- Hornet Leg
- The Horse Thieves
- Horses and Orcas
- The Hot Rush
- House Of Shards
- Incendiary
- June Madrona
- Kickball
- Kings Highway
- The Light Year [1]
- Lost Cause
- The Matt Belles Fan Club
- Nag Champa
- Natural Ass
- Nervosa
- Thee November Witch
- Nudity
- Oggatron
- Old Haunts
- Onyxoxo
- Palisades
- The Pasties
- Party Chief
- Problems
- The Punks
- Love Is a Clenched Fist
- Rodeo Kill
- Romanteek
- Rublican
- Secret Kind [2]
- Sirkle
- Shades of Green
- Son
- Sons of Sound
- Spasm
- Team Pain
- The Speed Of Darkness
- Speed Queen Washing Machine
- Sovereign Insurgency
- Spider and the Webs
- Stickfigure Strippers
- Sundance Kids
- Swift
- Twin
- Two Ton Boa
- The Waxfire
- The Winning Lasses
- Union Solitare
- Wolves In the Throne Room
- Yes, Please
- Your Heart Breaks
- The Z Kamp Experience featuring Pizza T
[edit] Venues
- Manium[3]
- Le Voyeur[4]
- Eagles Hall
- Washington Center for the Performing Arts
- 4th Avenue Tavern
- Brotherhood Tavern
- Midnight Sun
- Java Flow
- The Vault
- Veritas
- The Clipper
- Puss n' Boots Shake Down
- The Witch House
- The Eastside Club Tavern[5]
[edit] Booking Agencies and Websites
- OlyMusic.com is devoted to maintaining a calendar for Olympia music events. Local promotional and booking agency Pioneer Music also has a listing up coming shows they produce. The Olympia Film Society also hosts Backstage shows occasionally and those shows and performances can be found at OFS Live Events.
[edit] Radio
These are radio stations that play local music.
- 87.7 Olympia
- KOWA Community Radio
- Free Radio Olympia 98.5 FM
- KAOS Olympia Community Radio 89.3 FM
[edit] Record Shops
[edit] Record Labels
- K Records
- Kill Rock Stars
- 5 Rue Christine
- Yo Yo Records
- Bicycle Records
- Wild Animal Kingdom Records[8]
- Kill Country Stars[9]
- Highfives and Handshakes! Records