Team Dresch

Team Dresch is a queercore band who performed and recorded in the 1990s and made a significant impression on that movement, as well as on the independent music scene. In the 2000s the band reformed and continue to perform.

History

Beginnings

Donna Dresch

Donna Dresch, founder of the band, had been involved in the queercore scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s as creator of her own fanzine Chainsaw and, in addition to contributing to other zines such as Outpunk and J.D.s, she contributed to and was featured on the cover of issue five of Homocore and appeared in the girl-gang film The Yo-Yo Gang by G.B. Jones.

First album line-up

The line up of the group for its first album was Donna Dresch, guitar and bass; Jody Bleyle, guitar, bass, and vocals; Kaia Wilson, guitar and vocals; and Marci Martinez on drums. All were veterans of other musical outfits; Donna Dresch had previously played and recorded with such bands as Dinosaur Jr., Dangermouse, Screaming Trees, Rastro!, Fifth Column, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Lois, Mary Lou Lord and The Go Team; Jody Bleyle was simultaneously in the bands Hazel and Lovebutt while playing in Team Dresch; Kaia Wilson had been in the band Adickdid and Marci Martinez in Calamity Jane. Scott Plouf, then of The Spinanes, now of Built to Spill was the drummer on the first 7".

Personal Best

Their first single, "Hand Grenade", appeared on Kill Rock Stars in 1994. Personal Best, the album which followed it, appeared in 1995 as a co-release on the independent labels Chainsaw Records, run by Dresch and Candy Ass Records, run by Bleyle. Washington Post writer Chris Richards called Personal Best "a fiery, all-but-forgotten punk masterpiece that sealed the gap between Sonic Youth's pop leanings and Superchunk's noisier fare."^[1] Candy-Ass then released the compilation Free to Fight, a double LP of all-women bands addressing issues such as harassment and rape and dedicated to self-defense. The band toured with self-defense instructor Alice Stagg, who spoke and gave demonstrations to the audience prior to the band's performance. The members were committed to a DIY ethic, running their own record labels and booking their own tours.

Captain My Captain

On their second recording drummer Melissa York, previously of the hardcore punk bands Vitapup and Born Against, replaced Marci Martinez. This LP, Captain My Captain, released in 1996, also featured a guest appearance by Phranc, well known lesbian musician. The song "Uncle Phranc", written as a tribute to Phranc, appears on this album.

End and further projects

After Captain My Captain, Kaia Wilson and Melissa York left the band to form The Butchies, while Dresch and Bleyle continued recording with the addition of new member Amanda Kelly and with Marci Martinez once again on drums. The band stopped playing in 1998, with Dresch increasingly involved in running her record label which was releasing many recordings by newer Queercore bands, including The Need, Longstocking and Sleater-Kinney. Marci Martinez went on to play in The Vegas Beat.

In 2002, Jody debuted a new band, Family Outing, which includes her brother, Allen, and in 2004, Donna returned to the stage with a new band, Davies vs. Dresch. They appeared as part of "Queercore Blitz", a group of queer bands touring the U.S together.

Reunion

In the summer of 2004, Jody, Donna, Kaia, Marci and Melissa came together to headline the homocore festival Homo-a-Go-Go in Olympia, Washington. In the summer of 2006, the same members played shows in the Northwest, New York City, San Francisco, California, Los Angeles, California and Chicago and continue to tour. A review of a June, 2007 show in Washington, D.C. quoted a fan as saying "You sound so much better now!"^[1]

Discography

Albums

• Personal Best, a Chainsaw Records/ Candy Ass Records co-release (1994)
• Captain My Captain, Chainsaw/Candy Ass (1995)

Singles

• Hand Grenade on Kill Rock Stars
• Take On Me on Banda Bonnet
• What Can A Lover Do?, a split 7" with F-80, Shove and Dahlia Seed on Marigold Records
• It's A Conversation, a split 7" with Longstocking on Sub Pop
• Temporary Insurance, a split 7" with Automaticons on Metal Monkey Records
• The New Team Dresch v.6.0 Beta on Outpunk Records

Songs in compilations

• "Fake Fight" on Periscope Yoyo Recordings (1993)
• "Song For Anne Bannon" on Free to Fight, a Chainsaw Records/Candy Ass Records co-release (1996)
• "She's Amazing" on Yoyo a Go Go, Yoyo Recordings
• "Seven" on Rock Stars Kill Kill Rock Stars
• "Hand Grenade" on Some Songs Kill Rock Stars
• "Detached" on Join The Queercorps Outpunk Records
• "Fake Fight" and "My Voice" on The Shiner Cassette Slo-Mo Records

Trivia

• In 1996, the influential German band Tocotronic paid homage to Team Dresch with their song "Die Sache mit der Team-Dresch-Platte" ("The Thing about the Team Dresch record"), eventually contributing to the popularity of Team Dresch in Germany.
• The band performs and is interviewed in the documentary film She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane.
• Lesbians on Ecstasy remixed Team Dresch's song "Screwing Yer Courage" as "Summer Luv". Jody Bleyle remixed this remix of her own song for the Lesbians On Ecstasy record Giggles in The Dark".

See also

• List of queercore bands
• List of all-women bands

References

External links

• Team Dresch Factsheet
• Interview with Donna Dresch
• Chainsaw records
• Team Dresch on My Space

Donate to Wikimedia