| Spitboy | |
|---|---|
| Origin | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genres | Anarcho punk, hardcore punk |
| Years active | 1990–1995 |
| Labels | Ebullition Records, Allied Recordings, Lookout Records |
| Associated acts | Aus Rotten, Instant Girl |
| Members | |
| Michelle Gonzales Adrienne Droogas Karin Gembus Dominique Davison Paula |
|
Spitboy was an American anarcho-punk band founded in San Francisco, California in the early 1990s by four women. Within their music they aggressively criticized patriarchy and gender roles.
Contents |
The band was founded by drummer Michelle Gonzales (Todd), vocalist Adrienne Droogas, bassist Paula and guitarist Karin Gembus. Paula left the band before the release of the Rasana 7" EP and was replaced by Dominique Davison.
The band toured the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Their records were released on prominent punk rock labels Lookout Records, Allied Recordings and Ebullition Records, including a split LP with the Chicago-based hardcore group Los Crudos.
After the breakup of the group, Davison, Gonzales and Gembus played together in the group Instant Girl, whose sound was less aggressive than that of Spitboy. Instant Girl released an LP on Allied Recordings. Droogas was briefly a member of the group Aus Rotten before moving to Richmond, Virginia. She also wrote columns for the punk zines Heartattack and Profane Existence. Davison is now an architect. Gonzales teaches English at Las Positas College in Livermore, California.
The word spitboy has more than one possible origin: it might designate a turnbrooch (a type of kitchen boy). The band makes a reference to the book Daughters of Copper Woman, by Anne Cameron, in which a Pacific Northwest tribe's saga refers to a young woman who put all the self-hatred she felt for her own secretions (tears, sweat, mucus, menstrual blood) into fashioning a Snotboy/Spitboy, which she buried in the dirt. The young woman's journey to accept and embrace herself seems to parallel the concise social commentaries and struggle for awareness for which Spitboy the band fought.