Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1981
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Vim Renault
1y ago
Many people reading this won’t remember 1981. You can listen to the Banshee’s fourth album Juju, released in June ’81 and read the many reviews online about what this ‘post-punk classic’ represents in the history of rock music. Loads of blogs tell you about the songs, the musicianship, the legacy of Juju, but we’re here to put things in context. What was it like to be Siouxsie and the Banshees? Let’s try to understand what life was like for a touring band undertaking endless dull interviews at a time when women musicians were even rarer than they are now. Here’s a taster: “When Siouxsie stalk ..read more
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But will you be there? Flaky bandmates in the post-punk era
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Vim Renault
1y ago
One of us did a band rehearsal the other day. It was listed on the shared band online calendar; an alert pinged an hour before, to remind us to leave. Arriving at the studio, the drummer messaged to say there were traffic jams and they’d be 10 minutes late. It’s all very grown-up and sensible, but it’s also undramatic, predictable and lacking in excitement. Scroll back to 1979 and it’s surprising that anything happened at all – let alone post-punk rehearsals, gigs and recording sessions. Each band would need someone determined, who would telephone people, or if they didn’t have a house phone ..read more
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Jordan Mooney RIP – with 1988 Jon Savage interview transcript
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Vim Renault
1y ago
Yesterday we heard the sad news that Jordan Mooney (born Pamela Rooke) has died at the age of 66. Jordan’s often been called an icon, a punk creator, the Queen of Punk or the original punk stylist etc, and so this is one of the most significant blog posts we’ve had to do. Punkgirldiaries doesn’t often publish writing, blogs or interviews by other people, but we do value and respect the experience, opinions and stories of those who are older and, more importantly, who were there at the time. Yesterday, we were very honoured when writer Jon Savage offered to let us publish the complete transcrip ..read more
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Exene Cervenka – 40 years a Punk
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Lene Cortina
1y ago
In 2020, and in the midst of lockdowns we were delighted to find Exene Cervenka at a similarly loose end. Catching up by phone from her home south of Los Angeles we talked about the most recent X album ‘Alphabetland’, touring the UK and X’s place in the mosh pit of modern musical history. Here’s an excerpt for the full interview we did with Exene that appears in Blogzine 5. In 1977 Exene along with band-mates John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer DJ Bonebreak formed what would soon become one of the most successful bands to come out of the LA punk scene. Releasing the seminal punk album ..read more
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Talking with Wendy James
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Lene Cortina
1y ago
Taken from a full interview with Wendy which can be found in Blogzine 4. These days, there’s a massive gap between fresh-faced pop stars and those earthier, dangerous-sounding musicians. Sweet funky K-Pop, romantic soul or flat-personality boy bands line up against Parental Advisory Grime, metal heads and the edgier EDM. Nowadays not so many musical artists walk the line between the two worlds – accessible clean-living on the one hand and glamorised under-worlder on the other.  It’s something we miss from the punk and post-punk era – the way that bands would pull good and bad together – r ..read more
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Louise Disease – Fake ID
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Lene Cortina
1y ago
In 1980 Louise Disease fronted the band, The Anemic Boyfriends. Their first single ‘Guys Are Not Proud’, made it in to John Peel’s fireproof ‘special box’, and in 1981 they released the teen-rage anthem ‘Fake ID’. She was 17 years old. Based in Anchorage, Alaska, and raised on a diet of her older siblings record collections, Louise was roped into her sister’s boyfriend’s band. Her sister Maggie was 10 years older than Louise, and so it follows that the boyfriend – guitarist John Firmin – and his band were also a decade or so older. Wanting to try something more ‘edgy’, they asked Maggie to s ..read more
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Rachel Nagy
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Lene Cortina
1y ago
If you’re reading this, then you’ve probably been seeing some of the many tweets and tributes to Rachel Nagy that have been appearing on your social media feeds since the sad news of her death broke last week. Evidently loved, Rachel was best known in the music world as the vocalist and co-founder of  ‘Detroit’s most famous cover band’, the Detroit Cobras. Before forming the band, legend has it that Nagy worked as both a dancer and indeed a butcher before turning to her attentions to Rock’n’Roll. Along with guitarist Mary Ramiraz – who had cut her garage chops in Detroit’s Vertical Pillo ..read more
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Women Buy a Beer
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Vim Renault
1y ago
Here in England, the Covid restrictions mean that table service has been adopted by many pubs. Whether you click on an app or click your fingers to attract someone’s attention, it seems a lot better than before. As two fairly short women, our young adult days seemed to be spent standing on tiptoes at a bar waving a five pound note to try and attract the server’s attention. In the worst places, five-deep bar queues provided a drunken smokescreen for unwanted touching as bar staff continued to ignore you. At gigs, there never seemed to be enough bar staff so it was better to go without any drink ..read more
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Denim – Blue Jeans and Punk Fashion
Punk Girl Diaries Blog
by Vim Renault
1y ago
Denim was a youth uniform in the early 1970s, but by 1978, punk had somehow given us the message that blue denim was not cool. It would be great to be able to pinpoint some interview, or NME article that started the turn away from blue – maybe someone out there knows, and can comment. But for us young girls, it was a word of mouth thing, combined with the images of bands that we saw in the music press. The Slits – Photo by Ray Stevenson Early photos of The Slits and The Ramones show the band members all wearing the (blue) denim jeans that everyone wore, although because the music press printed ..read more
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