Stacy Russo - We Were Going to Change the World: Interviews with Women from the 1970s and 1980s Southern California Punk Rock Scene

Copyright 2017 by Stacy Russo

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ISBN-13 978-1-59580-795-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Russo, Stacy Shotsberger, 1970- author.

Title: We were going to change the world: interviews with women from the 1970s and 1980s Southern California punk rock scene / Stacy Russo.

Description: Solana Beach, CA: Santa Monica Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017020339 (print) | LCCN 2017025345 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Punk rock music--California, Southern--History and criticism. | Women punk rock musicians--California, Southern--Interviews. | Rock music fans--California, Southern--Interviews. | Punk culture--California, Southern--History.

Classification: LCC ML3534.3 (ebook) | LCC ML3534.3 .R87 2017 (print) | DDC 781.66082/097949--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017020339

Cover and interior design and production by Future Studio

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

RIGHT FROM THE START, me and d boon found something really different about this movement we stumbled upon versus the other two ways we had experienced rock and roll music up to that time: women were involved, I mean REALLY involved. it was a bags gig up in west hollywood and we drove all the way up from pedro in what became a HUGE sea change for our lives. up to that point, music for me and him was either us together in his bedroom trying to copy the licks of songs from records which was in a way happening cuz it was very personal (except for not realizing music could be actually a form of YOUR OWN expression and not just trying to imitate someone else) or arena gigs where we sat way in the back to experience something which was feeling more and more like for us nuremberg rallies, the way we felt froze out, less and less we wanted to be there.

anyway, a chance encounter w/nickey beat (he was drumming for the weirdos and was from our pedro town) provided us w/news there was a scene where people wrote their own songs (he mustve heard us all pathetic trying to recreate someone elses recording) and thats what led us to see the bags... there were actually two women in the band, one was on bass. definitely the singer was using lyrics to express herself, it didnt seem like connect the dots to ussadly, we didnt really think about lyrics as anything more than lead guitar or some kind of sound. sure, there was bob dylan but he seemed like a weird old relative at a thanksgiving chow, muttering stuff w/meanings meant for him. alice bag sang words like she meant for you to be trying to get exactly what she meantit was profound on us. w/out thinking, my mouf fell open and out fell we can do this towards d boon and he shook his headnot left to right but up and down. if this lady was willing to let the freak flag fly then what the fuck were we trying to do w/music except just be together?

it was incredible and empowering. everything for us after that changed forever. we started going to gigs, all kinds of ladies were in the bands, were also gig-goers... pretty much it seemed like the folks onstage and those who were not were actually like taking turns playing for each other. it was all so unpredictablethis was late 70s punk for us and things hadnt been codified or whatever word for lamed-out that really hurt big parts of the movement... although that never really fucked w/us cuz luckily those ethics we found so happening we kept personal and miles from getting compromised.

people like me and d boon werent supposed to be involved in what some claimed to be rock and roll and so very much we felt kindred spirits to the sisters involvedthey were inspiring and balls out. it was an exciting time for us and believe it or not, alice bag is still charging hardI heard shes gonna make another solo album soon. I was invited last year to be on a panel to talk about the old days at a famous university that was being organized by a lady but all the people on the panel were gonna be guysWHAT?! I told her thank you very much but no, cuz thats not the way it was for us, its not what made me what I am today.

I am so glad this book is coming out, its very important to set the record straight and let people know about the women involved in the moment in the old days cuz in my opinion it can mean a lot for younger ladies AND men these days who might be trying to figure out how to really open things up and change rusted corrupt hierarchies that do nothing but strangle genuine human spirit. punk was not just a way of dressing or even a style of music, it was for us a state of mind and hallelujah the sisters who were part of it then to make it real for some corndogs like me and d boon down in the harbor. I just cant express enough gratitude for that. let these ladies tell you in their own wordsits the best way I think to explain what Im trying to get at here in this foreword spiel.

IN THE SUMMER OF 2012, I attended an oral history workshop by the social justice organization Voice of Witness. Im a librarian and professor at Santa Ana College and I participated in the workshop to discover projects I could do with students. I ended up imagining something entirely different: interviewing other women like me, now in our middle or later years, who grew up in the punk rock scene in Southern California. Did punk rock influence the rest of their lives? What attracted them to punk rock and how did they get involved? What was it like being a woman in the scene?

What you are holding in your hands is the final result of a project that took several years and countless hours to complete. How did I do it? I created a flyer about the project. I posted the flyer a few places around Orange County and Los Angeles and on Facebook. Women started contacting me to participate. I wrote up a list of questions and bought two digital recorders. I emailed some women directly and asked if they would be willing to participate. Then I started calling women and meeting them, mostly in their homes. A friend called it punk rock anthropology.

I had no idea what an amazing experience this would be. I often say it is my favorite project of my life. Sitting on couches or at a dining room table or in a caf or on a park bench while these women shared their stories with me was a powerful thing. I felt much love and a responsibility to treat their stories with care. Each story was received as a gift.