L.A. or Bust 004
Good to see you!
Welcome back, listeners and readers. For L.A. or Bust 004 we will be focusing on female and queer punk/rock in Los Angeles. Included in this playlist are some artists from the 70’s like The Runaways and Alice Bag, some from late 90’s/early 2000’s like The Distillers and L7, and beyond. If you’re a fan of legendary L.A. punk venue, The Smell, then you’ll like Mika Miko who was a seminal influence in 2003-2009. If you like what you hear, check out Maddy Melloy’s TRASH MAG playlist from this past week where she highlighted womxn, trans, and non-binary punk artists from Minneapolis in her Twin Cities Mix 2. Here’s the blog for that!
The word “punk” had been in use for hundreds of years before the first straight white boys came onto the scene. Unfortunately, homophobia, sexism, and racism exist in this seemingly inclusive realm today. Punk as we know it is inherently radical and meant for the “outsiders” and anarchists. Its history goes hand in hand with queer, Black, and POC movements and culture. Punk is a vehicle for revolution.
My faves for this week’s playlist come from recommendations from my coworker at Monty’s, Brian, who plays bass in local band, Mo Dotti. Hunx and His Punx is a queercore band fronted by Seth Bogart who is also in another highly recommended queer band Gravy Train!!!! Shannon Shaw of Shannon and The Clams, yet another locally-loved band, also plays with Hunx as well, lots of cool affiliations going on here. Another great recommendation from Brian is Clarke and The Himselfs, a trans rock-and-roller who performs as a one-person band.
Recommended additional readings:
Fuck U Pay Us - A queer black punk band from LA (Cultured Mag)
Bands that helped define the sound of The Smell (LA Times)
Queer as Punk: A Guide to LGBTQIA Punk (NPR)
If you or someone you know is a female, queer, and/or BIPOC artist based in LA and would like to be featured in future L.A. or Bust playlists, please don’t hesitate to reach out to TRASH MAG and/or me.
Happy listening,
Nat
Follow TRASH MAG on Spotify and listen here!
See below for tracklist and playlist.
