For some reason pictures aren't posting today on Blogger but an image will be forthcoming.
Boooooo....pictures still don't want to post for some reason! (3/22)
Ahhhh Molly. I swear to you this woman does more in a day than most people accomplish in ten years and you kind reader might know her name via these avenues:
The rock (just to name a few) : bratmobile, lois, frumpies, peechees, prehistoristas, and soon something new that has yet to be named with carlos of the peechees.
and then their are her companies: indivision management, lookout records , simple social graces discos
I never realized how hard it is to talk about friends to strangers until I started this month long Tuning Fork anniversary project. I had to have Molly remind me where we first met because to be honest I feel like I have known her my whole adult life when in fact it has been just shy of a decade.
Like most people not located in the Northwest during the very early 90’s, my introduction to Molly came through the endless barrage of press about Riot Grrrl and its founding moverrrs and shakerrrs. Our bands never played shows together as we were a part of two different music scenes so our paths never crossed during what I would hazard to guess most people would consider the heyday of Riot Grrrl or post-hardcore. I had been an audience member at many of her shows, a fan of the label she was a part of but none of things led to conversation between us no less a friendship. (I mean really how many bands or record labels you like become your friends?)
In hindsight there is almost a sense of comedy in the fact that my formal face to face introduction to Molly took place in a formal conference room setting during a Lookout label presentation. I am not one for heroes but meeting any woman who tackles a male dominated anything and has endless amounts of drive and creativity is instantly a person I can be inspired by and hope to befriend. It was never just Molly’s bands or the label that wowed me to the core, it was and remains this ability she has to take on 50 projects with the kind of life force of an electrical storm. This isn’t just about being impressed with a person filled with a genuine passion for music or having a fellow female in what is still a very male dominated scene but rather a person who at least since I have been familiar with her lived by a creed of action not just words.
I give you Molly’s guest post and thanks lady for taking the time to do this!
Where it's happening: ESPAÑA BABY
Last summer I went with teddy (leo) to the Sant Feliu hardcore fest in Sant Feliu Catalunya Spain. It is a beach town of maybe 5,000 thousand and every summer for the last 9 years Tule has put on a festival for the underground and hardcore punks in Spain. If you are not familiar with the politics of Spain I won't attempt to explain it properly here but it's enough to know that there are regions that are their own countries historically and culturally within Spain, such as Catalunya, Galicia, and the Basque Country. They have their own languages and identities and are fascinating in their own right. There are similarities within the regions of the Iberian Peninsula but it is amazing how many differences there are and how strong the traditions are. I have been drawn to Spain for a long time (I'm a wino and I love cheese and olives, Picasso, Miró etc), but learning about these things has inspired a whole new fascination.
So anyway, blah blah, we went to this festival and I was really excited because my friends Les Aus were set to play and I hadn't been able to see them the year before when they were in the U.S.. My friend Arnau who is the drummer for Les Aus has a label called Ozono Kids from Barcelona and he has sent me the records he released before but it wasn't until I got to the merch table in Sant Feliu that I really began to understand the breadth and depth of the Spanish underground. It's all about these bands and labels and personalities and they are so strong and so funny, it's like a virus you get infected with. Here is a short and sweet list of some of the bands to check out:
*Les Aus: On tour now with ted leo/rx. New record out on the about to be launched simple social graces discos in June.
*Grabba Grabba Tape: brilliant and goofy and infectious and I was grabbatized which sent me into this whole spin... Also a record on SSGD in July
*Campamento Ñec Ñec (pronounced nyec nyec): their music makes me feel like I am flying. Record out on SSDG in August
*Margarita: from Madrid, powerful
*Veracruz: sorta garagey, sorta incredible! From Barcelona.
*Sybyl Vane: From Barcelona, all girl rockers
*Las Perras Del Infierno: also girl rockers from Barcelona
*Anticonceptivas: Sergio and Nacho making music Asturian music in Catalunya. Sort of surf-y and definitely brilliant
*DNSR TRN/Musicca/Country Mejicano/Applied Asturias/sad believers
There are tons more too... There are also some incredible labels such as:
*Afeite Al Perro
*Gssh! Gssh!
*Ozono Kids
*Practico Records
Info/links to all of these and all of my other obsessions are available at my website http://www.blogger.com/www.simplesocialgraces.com.
News on my new label Simple Social Graces Discos will be forthcoming!! (start here tho)http://www.myspace.com/simplesocialgracesdiscos
