Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 33-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
I haven’t had any riot grrrl queries for a long time, but maybe there’s another round of new interest from what seemed to be new interest a few years back. I got a Facebook message from 17-year-old Julia in Germany saying she’s working on a school project about riot grrrl, hoping I’ll answer questions.
“As I want it to be as authentic as possible and mirror the mindset of Riot Grrrl and show what it really meant for all those girls, I’m trying to reach out to as much people of the movement as possible. You are one of them.”
Well … here’s my message back, which intends to make a connection between “all those girls” and present-day activities connected to riot grrrl as opposed to simply looking back at it as history. Done. Past.
Hi Julia!
Mecca Normal (my band) is frequently referred to as an early inspiration to the co-founders of Riot Grrrl, but we weren’t a Riot Grrrl band. We’d already been playing, touring and recording since 1986. We had our own thing going called The Black Wedge—anti-authoritarian poets and minimalist musicians on tour in an old school bus.
To be continued
“Follow Down” from Jarred Up (K, 1993) (download):
