Summary.
Female rock lived one of its historical moments in San Francisco when Frightwig were formed, one of the first all-female punk bands. Taking inspiration from Joan Jett and her Runaways, they filled Cat Farm Faboo (1984) with theatrical anti-macho attitudes and with raw, bare, amateurish playing (centered around Mia Levin's guitar). They de facto pioneered the "riot-grrrrls" movement.
Full bio.
(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Frightwig, an all-female quartet formed in 1983, were for years one of the pillars of San Franciscos alternative music scene. They not only represented the punk voice of the feminist community but also anticipated the riot grrrl phenomenon, with several groups drawing inspiration from their wild screams.
Like Joan Jett and the early British punk girls, their post-feminist punk was a reaction against rocks extreme macho culture. Their live performances were theatrical sketches centered on the independent girl mocking her vain macho counterpart. The absolute star was singer and drummer Cecilia Lynch, a stunning young woman with long blonde hair who unleashed furious emotional bursts, shifting from rage-filled tones to piercing shrieks with the fervor of a lascivious witch.
On Cat Farm Faboo (Subterranean, 1984), her crude, shrill monologuesutterly unconcerned with her extremely limited singing abilitiesunfold in epic horror, blending masochism, drugs, and anguish (My Crotch Does Not Say Go). Many of the thrashier tracks feature absurd choruses sung at supersonic speed (Only You). Overall, their sound is very rough, a heavy metal (Tomorrow Never Comes) distorted with acid-trip mania (Hot Papa, I'll Talk To You And Smile), yet incorporating boogie (Vagabondage), gospel (Freedom), and funk (the tribal dance of A Man's Got To Do).
The following Kill Kill (Caroline, 1986), dominated by the new Susan Miller, emphasizes B-movie voodoobilly ritualistic tones, tribal and sinister (Crazy World), sometimes verging on whispered magical formulas in witchcraft rituals (Punk Rock Jail Bait), other times frenzied like in the most possessed sabbaths (Beverly Prize), though it surprisingly culminates in an impassioned feminist anthem, Freedom.
Frightwig appropriated the semiotic arsenal of male power rock. Less sordid and dark than the Teenage Jesus, their celebration of female solitude forcefully breaks through the ruins of girl-group romanticism, asserting new moral values. Their complete technical ineptitude does nothing to diminish the drama of their shocking confessions.
Wild Women Never Die (Southern) contains both albums.
Their saga ended with the EP Phone Sexy (Boner, 1990). Due to marriages and pregnancies, only Deanna Ashley remained from the original lineup (supported by guitarist Rebecca Tucker and Sister Double Happiness drummer Lynn Perko), and the music was a pale shadow of their former chaos (American Xpress, the best track, had already appeared on the previous album). Guitarist Mia Levin went on to form the Mudwimin.
In 1994, Ashley (now Chirazi) reformed the group with Levin and Cecilia Lynch (now Kuhn).
In 1999, Rebecca Tucker formed Cockfight with her husband Andy 7 of Trash Can School.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
In 1999 former Frightwig guitarist Rebecca Tucker formed Cockfight with
husband Andy Seven, former saxophonist of
Trash Can School.
The EP Cockfight (Jinx, 1998) introduces a singer in love with
Jello Biafra's truculent phrasing and with
B-horror cinema (Catcalls). Seven's legendary saxophone floods
the chilling It Won't Be Me.
Cecilia Lynch, Mia Levin and Deanna Ashley reformed Frightwig in 2002.
