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Team Dresch Are Queercore Punk Legends
Confirmed
In Short: Donna Dresch, the band's founder, began Team Dresch in the early Nineties, a period marked by the rise of Nirvana and the riot grrrl movement. The band's two classic albums, 'Personal Best' in 1994 and 'Captain My Captain' in 1996, solidified their status as queercore legends.
Team Dresch, the pioneering queercore punk band, has reunited for live performances and released their first album in 30 years, 'Furthermore,' at a time when their message is more relevant than ever.
Furthermore' is a testament to the band's enduring impact and relevance. 'There is no equivalent band to “the team” on the musical landscape today,' said a fan.
The album's lead single, 'One Song,' declares, 'I do it for you,' addressing the countless lonely young ones who have found solace in Team Dresch's music.
Furthermore' combines punk energy with melodic pop immediacy and math rock complexity, creating songs that evolve through metamorphoses before reaching a conclusion.
Team Dresch's upcoming performance on June 22 at Bottom of the Hill will showcase their continued relevance and the enduring power of their music.
The three of us initially started the band together, me and Donna and Jodi,' said Wilson, highlighting the band's origins in Olympia's vibrant punk scene.
Team Dresch's return is a testament to the enduring power of punk and the importance of queer voices in music.
Background
Donna Dresch, the band's founder, started Team Dresch in the early Nineties, a period marked by the rise of Nirvana and the riot grrrl movement. The band's two classic albums, Personal Best in 1994 and Captain My Captain in 1996, solidified their status as queercore legends.
What's confirmed
- Team Dresch, the pioneering queercore punk band, has reunited for live performances and released their first album in 30 years, 'Furthermore,' at a time when their message is more relevant than ever.
- Furthermore' is a testament to the band's enduring impact and relevance. 'There is no equivalent band to “the team” on the musical landscape today,' said a fan.
- The album's lead single, 'One Song,' declares, 'I do it for you,' addressing the countless lonely young ones who have found solace in Team Dresch's music.
- Furthermore' combines punk energy with melodic pop immediacy and math rock complexity, creating songs that evolve through metamorphoses before reaching a conclusion.
- Team Dresch's upcoming performance on June 22 at Bottom of the Hill will showcase their continued relevance and the enduring power of their music.
- The three of us initially started the band together, me and Donna and Jodi,' said Wilson, highlighting the band's origins in Olympia's vibrant punk scene.
- Team Dresch's return is a testament to the enduring power of punk and the importance of queer voices in music.
What's still developing
- Queercore or homocore true pioneers Fifth Column even wrote a song called “Donna” about guitar and bass goddess Dresch, who played with proto-grunge dudes Screaming Trees and helped forge Olympia’s celebrated punk scene through the zine and label Chainsaw, the latter of which released Sleater-Kinney’s galvanizing 1996 album Call the Doctor.
- The present-day picture is scary and infuriating and demands the sort of direct statements and actions that have always been core elements of Team Dresch’s overall project.
- But Team Dresch aren’t just relevant in terms of all-queer lineup and explicit politics.
- Olympia, Washington rocker Donna Dresch started this DIY lesbian all-star crew when she was already one of the most respected musicians in the Northwest scene, playing guitar in Dinosaur Jr., Screaming Trees, and Fifth Column, also publishing her influential feminist punk zine Chainsaw.
- The early Nineties was a turning point in rock history, where bands like Nirvana brought mass appeal to guitar rock, while the riot grrrl movement exploded as women punks started their own bands, zines, labels, scenes, on a level that had never happened before.
- Punk rockers began refusing to hide the queer sensibility that had always been in the music.
- It’s a punk rock dream come true: the legendary Nineties rebels in Team Dresch are back with new music, for a world that needs them more than ever.
- The Pacific Northwest queercore band made noise in the Nineties, with two classic albums, Personal Best in 1994 and Captain My Captain in 1996.
- The Personal Best song “Hate the Christian Right” and Captain My Captain song “I’m Illegal” could apply to the state of being female in the South and Midwest, where growing waves of anti-abortion legislation are robbing women of autonomy, including in response to crimes such as rape and incest.
- “What he’s looking for/He won’t find in school,” Jody Bleyle sings, her strong, declarative voice rising to a challenge in the first line and descending into disappointment on the second.
- “Seeing young people at the show is the best feeling,” Bleyle says.
- As Bleyle quips, “Should we just thank religious extremists for the fact that we can just keep on doing what we do?” “I didn’t know that,” Bleyle marvels with a hearty laugh.