Kathleen Hanna

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Kathleen Hanna

Kathleen Hanna with Bikini Kill: January 17, 1996
Background information
Also known as Julie Ruin
Born 12 November 1968 (1968-11-12) (age 40)
Portland, Oregon, USA
Genre(s) Punk, riot grrrl, dance-punk
Occupation(s) Musician, activist, writer
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, sampler, drums, drum machine
Years active 1990–present
Associated acts Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Julie Ruin

Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American musician, feminist activist, and zine writer. In the early- to mid-1990s she was the lead singer of the punk band Bikini Kill, before fronting the dance-punk band Le Tigre in the late '90s and early 2000s. In 1998, Hanna released a solo album under the name Julie Ruin. She has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians, appearing on records with numerous artists, including Joan Jett, Mike Watt, Atari Teenage Riot, Comet Gain, Green Day, Metal Church, Helter Skillet, Internal/External and Yoko Ono. Hanna appeared as a dancer in Sonic Youth's "Bull in the Heather" music video.

She also appeared in friend Juliana Luecking's series of interviews entitled "People are a Trip".[1]

Contents

[edit] Childhood

Born in Portland, Oregon, Hanna moved with her family to Calverton, Maryland in 1971. As Hanna's father changed occupations, the family moved several more times. Hanna's parents were divorced while she was in high school.

Hanna first became interested in feminism around the age of nine, after her mother took her to a rally in Washington D.C. where feminist icon Gloria Steinem spoke.

Though several years would pass before she became an outspoken feminist, the event left an impression on her. In a 2000 interview with BUST magazine, Hanna recalled:

“ My mom was a housewife, and wasn't somebody that people would think of as a feminist, and when Ms. magazine came out we were incredibly inspired by it. I used to cut pictures out of it and make posters that said "Girls can do anything", and stuff like that, and my mom was inspired to work at a basement of a church doing anti-domestic violence work. Then she took me to the Solidarity Day thing, and it was the first time I had ever been in a big crowd of women yelling, and it really made me want to do it forever.[2] ”

In the 2006 documentary, Don't Need You: the Herstory of Riot Grrrl, Hanna elaborates on the effect feminism had on her in childhood, recalling that her interest grew when her mother checked out a copy of Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" from the library. Yet Hanna and her mother's involvement in the women's rights movement had to be done quietly in the years before her parents' divorce, due to her father's disapproval.[3] Hanna has also appeared in the documentary Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?' 'Don't Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrrl' is titled after a Bikini Kill song. [4]

[edit] College

Hanna attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington in the late 1980s. During this time she began working as a stripper to support herself while studying photography. Working with fellow Evergreen student and photographer Aaron Baush-Greene, she set up a photo exhibit featuring the pair's photography, which dealt with, respectively, sexism and AIDS. However, the school administrators took the photos down before they got the chance to be viewed, an act of censorship that prompted what Hanna refers to as her "first foray into activism"–the creation of an independent feminist art gallery called Reko Muse with friends Heidi Arbogast and Tammy Rae Carland. The three women then formed a band called Amy Carter, which put on shows before the art exhibitions.[5]

Hanna also began doing spoken word performances that addressed sexism and violence against women, issues with which she became concerned after volunteering for a domestic violence organization over the next two years. Eventually she abandoned spoken word in favor of music, being inspired by one of her favorite writers, countercultural icon Kathy Acker. Hanna recalled, "Acker asked me why writing was important to me, and I said, 'Because I felt like I'd never been listened to and I had a lot to say,' and she said, 'Then why are you doing spoken word—no one goes to spoken word shows! You should get in a band.'"[6]
Hanna later started another band called Viva Knievel that toured the United States for two months before disbanding. Upon returning to Olympia, Hanna began collaborating with fellow Evergreen student and punk zinester Tobi Vail after seeing a performance of The Go Team, (a band made up of Vail, Billy Karren, and Calvin Johnson) and recognizing Vail as the mastermind behind the fanzine Jigsaw, which Hanna greatly admired and loved.

[edit] Bikini Kill

Hanna and Tobi Vail's first collaboration was a zine called Revolution Girl Style Now. This led to a later zine titled Bikini Kill, a response to sexism in the punk rock scene, written with fellow Evergreen student and friend Kathi Wilcox. The three women decided to form a band to personify their ideals and recruited Vail’s bandmate Karren as the fourth member, naming the band after their zine.

Bikini Kill soon became part of the seminal Olympia, Washington music scene of the early 1990’s, which was characterized by political awareness, a strong artistic do-it-yourself ethic, and an emphasis on local collaboration and support.

The band's first release for the Kill Rock Stars label was a self-titled EP produced by Ian MacKaye of Fugazi. Bikini Kill then toured the UK, recording a split LP with UK band Huggy Bear. This tour was filmed and the band was interviewed by Lucy Thane for her documentary, It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill In The UK. Upon returning to the U.S., the band began working with Joan Jett, who produced their single, "New Radio/Rebel Girl". After the release of this record, Hanna began co-writing some songs with Jett for her new album.

At the same time Hanna produced several solo pieces for the Kill Rock Stars "Wordcore" series of recordings, including the 7" single "Rockstar" and the song "I Wish I Was Him" (a song Ben Lee would later cover about alternative rock heartthrob Evan Dando) on the KRS compilation Rock Stars Kill.

The first two Bikini Kill EPs were released on CD as the appropriately titled The C.D. Version of the First Two Records in 1993.[7] The band released two more full-length albums, Pussy Whipped in 1994 and Reject All American in 1996, and in 1998, Kill Rock Stars released Bikini Kill: The Singles, a collection of the group's seven inch and compilation tracks. Bikini Kill broke up on friendly terms around April 1998.

[edit] Influence on Riot Grrrl

In 1991, the band spent a summer in Washington, D.C., where Hanna began collaborating with Allison Wolfe, Molly Neuman and Jen Smith from the band Bratmobile on the zine riot grrrl, which became a call to action for increased feminist activity and female involvement in the punk rock scene. In a 2000 interview with Index Magazine, Hanna relates:

“ We wanted to start a magazine, and Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman from the band Bratmobile had started a little fanzine called riot grrrl and we were writing little things for it. I'd always wanted to start a big magazine with really cool, smart writing in it, and I wanted to see if the other punk girls in D.C. that I was meeting were interested in that. So I called a meeting and found a space for it, and it just turned into this sort of consciousness-raising thing. I realized really quickly that a magazine wasn't the way to go. People wanted to be having shows, and teaching each other how to play music, and writing fanzines, so that started happening. It got some press attention, and girls in other places would be like "I wanna do that. I wanna start one of those." ”

Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and zines like Jigsaw and Girl Germs helped define the movement that came to be called Riot Grrrl.[citation needed]

[edit] Between bands

Post-Bikini Kill, Hanna moved to Durham, North Carolina, home of Mr. Lady records, which was run by her close friend Tammy Rae Carland. Hanna began a series of projects, the first of which was The Fakes, in which she enlisted the help of Rachel Carns of The Need. The resulting CD, Real Fiction was released on Chainsaw Records.

Her next project, Julie Ruin was a sampler-driven lo-fi electronic project recorded in the closet of Hanna's Olympia apartment using only a sampler, a drum machine and an 8-track recorder. It was released on the Kill Rock Stars label. Hanna has done some spoken word work as "Kathleen Hanna".

[edit] Le Tigre

In Portland, Oregon, Hanna began working with friend and zine editor Johanna Fateman on a live show for Julie Ruin. The collaboration resulted in the two briefly forming a band called The Troublemakers, named after a G.B. Jones film, which ended when Fateman relocated to New York City to attend art school.

Hanna joined Fateman on the East Coast, and with the addition of filmmaker Sadie Benning, they started another band called Le Tigre (French for The Tiger). This band continued to pursue a more electronic style of music similar to the sampler-driven sound Hanna had begun to explore with Julie Ruin. The band recorded for the Mr. Lady Records label, its first recording being the self-titled Le Tigre, which included the singles "Hot Topic" and "Deceptacon." After the first record, Sadie Benning left the band to be replaced by JD Samson for the follow-up CD Feminist Sweepstakes. When Mr. Lady Records closed down, the group switched labels to Universal Records for the 2004 release of This Island. Le Tigre toured the United States in 2005 and again in 2006, with a small tour of Europe afterwards. They also released two remixed albums before announcing an extended hiatus in January 2007.

[edit] Recent

Le Tigre is currently on hiatus. According to the Le Tigre website, during her time off from the band Hanna has been volunteering as a band coach for "The Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls". She also taught an art class at NYU's grad school in the Fall 2007 semester.[8]

[edit] Family

Hanna is married to Adam Horovitz of the hip hop group the Beastie Boys. The two have been together since 1997, marrying in 2006.

[edit] Abortion

In interviews, Hanna has openly discussed having an abortion when she was younger, saying, "It was one of the first things I did on my own; I worked at McDonald's, raised the money and did it. I'm really, really passionate about pro-choice, because I wouldn't be here talking to you right now if I'd had a kid at 15." Hanna has expressed her belief that talking about her abortion will encourage other women to openly discuss the topic, lessening social stigmas and creating further political momentum for the pro-choice movement. [9]

[edit] In popular culture

  • She was mentioned in an episode of The L Word. A group of friends are playing celebrity at a dinner party, when the character Shane McCutcheon selects her name. Most of the lesbians seem to know it's her from the description -"Le Tigre, and Julie Ruin, Bikini Kill"- yet the straight people at the party have no clue who she is. This results in the character of Alice joking, "Oh, she just pretty much started the whole riot grrrl music scene, but hey...", which leaves one straight man asking, "What's the riot grrrl music scene?"[10]
  • The NOFX song "Kill Rock Stars" is titled in reference to the record label which released records by Kathleen Hannah's band Bikini Kill. The lyrics read as a response to accusations of misogyny made by Kathleen against Fat Mike, with the final line being "I wish I could have seen Courtney demonstrate some real misogyny", most likely referring to an altercation between Courtney Love and Kathleen Hannah at Lollapalooza in 1995.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Bikini Kill

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

  • New Radio/Rebel Girl 7" single on Kill Rock Stars (1993)
  • The Anti-Pleasure Dissertation Single on Kill Rock Stars (1994)
  • I Like Fucking/I Hate Danger 7" single on Kill Rock Stars (1995)

[edit] Compilations

  • Kill Rock Stars on Kill Rock Stars LP/CD (1991)
  • Throw: The Yoyo Studio Compilation on Yoyo Records (1991)
  • "Daddy's Lil' Girl" on Give Me Back LP, Ebullition Records (1991)
  • "Suck My Left One" on There's A Dyke In The Pit, Outpunk Records (1992)
  • Bikini Kill: The Singles (1998)
  • Sinner, Joan Jett, contributes to the songs "Five", "Watersign", "Baby Blue" and "Tube Talkin" (2007)
Julie Ruin Cover, August 11, 1998

[edit] Julie Ruin

  • Julie Ruin on Kill Rock Stars (1997)

[edit] Le Tigre

[edit] Full-Length Albums

  • Le Tigre on Mr. Lady (1999)
  • Feminist Sweepstakes on Mr. Lady (2001)
  • This Island on Universal (2004)

[edit] Singles and EPs

  • Hot Topic (1999)
  • From the Desk of Mr. Lady EP (2001)
  • Remix (2003)
  • Standing In The Way Of Control 12" split EP with The Gossip on Kill Rock Stars
  • This Island Remixes Volume 1 EP, Chicks On Speed Records
  • This Island Remixes Volume 2EP, Chicks On Speed Records

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • Real Fiction, The Fakes, Kill Rock Stars
  • Inside Out, Internal External, K Records
  • Featuring..., Internal External, K Records
  • Rock Star / Mean (wordcore v. 1) as Kathleen Hanna and Slim Moon, Kill Rock Stars[12]
  • Rock Stars Kill, includes Hanna's "I Wish I Was Him", Various Artists, Kill Rock Stars, 1994
  • Ball-Hog or Tugboat? LP/CD "Heatbeat"-Mike Watt
  • Decomposition 00, Suture, Kill Rock Stars, 1991
  • Suture!, Suture, Kill Rock Stars, 1992
  • Home Alive, The Art Of Self Defense, Epic, 1996, includes "Go Home", written and performed with Joan Jett and Evil Stig
  • Realistes, Comet Gain, Hanna featured on the track "Ripped-Up Suit"
  • Play Pretty For Baby, The Nation of Ulysses, includes backing vocals by Hanna
  • American Idiot, Green Day, the song "Letterbomb" begins with vocals by Hanna as Whatsername
  • Viva Knieval 7" single, Ultrasound Records, 1990
  • "60 second wipe out" Atari Teenage Riot Hanna featured on lead vocals on the song 'No Success' 1999
  • "Playgroup" Playgroup Hanna featured on lead vocals on the song 'Bring it on' 2001
  • "Wordy Rappinghood" Chicks on Speed features Hanna on vocals 2003
  • "Kiss on the lips" from the album 'Naked' from Joan Jett is a duet with Hanna 2004
  • "Hey Hey My My Yo Yo" Junior Senior Hanna featured on the song 'Dance, Chance, Romance' 2007

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Fanzines

  • My life with Evan Dando: Popstar
  • The Kathleen Hanna newsletter
  • Le Tigre zine/tour program

[edit] References

  1. ^ YouTube - People are a Trip, Example #2
  2. ^ "About Kathleen"
  3. ^ "Don't Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrrl", 2006, Kerri Koch
  4. ^ www.ackerfilm.com
  5. ^ Hanna's "herstory"
  6. ^ Kathleen Hanna's Fire
  7. ^ Buckley, Peter. (November 20, 2003) The Rough Guide to Rock, 3rd ed. revised. Rough Guides. ISBN=1843531054. pp 93–94.
  8. ^ Le Tigre news website
  9. ^ Salon.com Article
  10. ^ The L Word clip
  11. ^ Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994. ISBN 0-385-47199-8, pp. 211-212
  12. ^ Salon.com Audio | Kathleen Hanna

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Hanna"
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