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Bratmobile has always been one of the most respected and lovable bands to have come
out of the Olympia,Washington scene(eventhough none of them live there anymore) even
with all of the craziness surrounding their demise in 1994 they still seem to love to Rock n
Roll!! As do I so I followed them around the eastern United States during my spring break
and figured out just how much they do rock!! A while back I sat and had a chat with Allison
the singer. We talked about boys and all that jibber jabber and here it goes..
Line And Ink(#1 Zine in the World): Okie dokie
Allison(singer for Bratmobile): Ok, I'm here!
Line And Ink: So we get to meet at last
Allison: Yeah, Sorry I'm so flaky
Line And Ink: What has it been like 3 months since i was going to
originally do this?
Allison: Really? 3 months?
Line And Ink: See I originally wanted to do this at your show in Nashville.
Allison: Oh. Do you live in Nashville??
Line And Ink: No, I’m from Bowling Green which is 50 miles north of Nashville.
Allison: KY?, Oh like the song!{Ed. Note: Referring to the Neko Case song “Bowling Green” I
believe}
Line And Ink: Yep the good ole KY!, Have you ever played in my area before?
Allison: Well, i don't know exactly where Bowling Green is, but
we've played Louisville.
Line And Ink: Yeah, we are about an hour from Louisville, where did you play there?
Allison: Back during our first tour in the summer of '92. We were with Heavens to Betsy.
Line And Ink: Back in the day..huh?
Allison: We stayed at John Cook's Rocket House. i think we played at a sandwich shop
Line And Ink: Hmm..never heard of him
Allison: With King Kid International, that was Jason Noble and Jeff's band.
Line And Ink: Oh Ok
Allison: John Cook from the band Crane?
Line And Ink: Ok Yes!!
Allison: And this other guy from Crane lived at the Rocket House too, but i forgot his name.
Molly liked him, cuz he had an AC unit in his room, it was a hot summer
Line And Ink: Oooh,What has the response been to the album and the touring youve done so
far?
Allison: This time around, it's been good. We really didn't know what to expect when we first
started again, in the late '90's.
Line And Ink: Alot of 2nd time around fans?
Allison: Yeah, Louisville was rad. We cancelled the rest of our tour so we could just hang out
there for a week until John Cook kicked us out of his house!
Line And Ink: Your kidding me?
Allison: One night he was talking like a ghost through the air vents in his house, "Bratmobile,
go home..." So we packed up and shipped out the next morning! Molly didn't tell us why, until
we were on the highway leaving.
Line And Ink: Thats funny...I know that Louisville has a great scene and all but I'm
not sure if I dont get it but I just dont go there much
Allison: That was the time we met so many great people from there, Jeff, Jason Noble, David
Pajo, Tara Jane O'Neal
Line And Ink: Sounds fun!
Allison: Tara took me through the neighborhood, jumping in a fountain til some yuppie guy
kicked us out of there.
Line And Ink: Ha.
Allison: Sorry, i'm reminiscing too much on Louisville! i loved it! We painted there, played
ping pong, went to Krispy Kreme. Erin punched Molly there, for no apparent reason. Heavens to
Betsy's roadie Hannah made out with some guy within 5 minutes of
arriving in Louisville, it was funny
Line And Ink: Happens to me all the time!!!
Line And Ink: Did you eat a Burrito the size of your head?
Allison: I don't remember any burritos there.
Allison: What's Jeff's last name, you know, from June of 44?
Line And Ink: uh....the guy from Slint?
Line And Ink: I dont know I'll add it in as an Editors note later.
Allison: We also met some guy named Brit maybe? Maybe he was in Slint? David Pajo was
too, right?
Line And Ink: I believe so
Allison: Yeah, do some research so i don't sound stupid!
Line And Ink: Some of these people I know and others I dont.What has the response been to
the album and the touring youve done so far?
Allison: Maybe i'm dating myself too much! Oh yeah, that question!
Line And Ink: sorry:)
Allison: It's been good, lots of young girls. I was surprised, that our crowed actually got
younger, girls who maybe didn't get to see us the first time around.
Line And Ink: My girlfreind saw you at CMJ and said it was crazy packed!!
Allison: Some of our shows are like that. But there's a lot of un-glamorous ones too.
Line And Ink: I know what ya mean(like every show in Bowling Green)!
Allison: Yeah, i'm happy to have a girl crowd. What if it was all gross boys? i feel sorry for
Fugazi and like The Melvins sometimes for having that audience.
Line And Ink: Ha. The Melvins kill me!! Thats funny you brought them up
Allison: i love the bands, but sometimes not their crowds.
Line And Ink: One of the only songs I have heard off of the new CD is "It's common(but we
dont talk about it") and ,its great by the way,Whats that song about?
Allison: That's funny, i was just reading the lyrics to that song today, and wondering if anyone
could tell what it's about, or what any of my songs are really about.
Allison: But i'm probably pretty obvious. But alot of times, people think they know exactly who
or what my songs are about, but it's not really that, they're off.
Line And Ink: Well i got it off the Lookout page and didnt have the luxury of looking at
anything about you guys but i was very interested in a lot of the stuff i heard
Allison: It's Common is definitely a song about some situation I was experiencing in the Bay
Area. i felt like these people were creating drama, maybe to spice up their own lives, but it was
affecting me really negatively.
Line And Ink: I know what ya mean.
Allison: And i really couldn't see why they involved me, like what it really had to do with me. I
felt like they were stalking me.
Line And Ink: Ha.
Allison: Like it somehow made their lives more meaningful to have a conflict with me, so that
was what I was trying to point out.
Line and Ink: Is it snooty out there?
Allison: No, not really. Those people are just kind of isolated, and nuts, i suppose.
Allison: i've been spending a lot of time in the Bay Area since the band got back together, so
some of our new songs reflect that.
Line And Ink: Have you ever heard Sicko?
Allison: No.
Line And Ink: They have a song called "Big Deal People" that is sort of the same
Allison: Come Hither is also a song about a Bay Area situation.
Line And Ink: I have to get out that way sometime
Allison: It's nice. Good food.
Line And Ink: I love songs about people you dont like!!
Line And Ink: Now "Eating Toothpaste" Who's that about? And it seems to me that you guys
arent fond of them..am i wrong?
Allison: Weren't fond of them? Who?
Line And Ink: That might answer my question.
Allison: Eating Toothpaste is sort of about growing up with my sister, and sort of about how
sometimes friends, or ex-friends, have no idea what your life was/is really like, cuz they only pay
attention to themselves and not much else around them.
Line And Ink: OK, I'm very bad at interpreting songs/lyrics/musical
genres etc...by the way
Allison: How things aren't what they seem. During the early riot grrrl '90's, a lot of people i
hung out with, we talked about privilege and oppression alot, which is important.
<b>Line And Ink: Thats cool
Allison: But sometimes, if you're immature, it becomes a game, a competition to some people. And they use political rhetoric to achieve their personal agendas, that may really have nothing to do with anything but theirown jealousies or whatever.
Line And Ink: Did you ever see the riot grrl episode of "Roseanne"?
Allison: I think I saw it, Where the ladies play a Bikini Kill tape in the car?
Line And Ink: Yeah
Allison: I loved Roseanne so much! She's my idol!
Line And Ink: Great!!! Great!!!
Line And Ink: I thought I was the only one that saw it!
Allison: Oh no, i heard a lot about it, of course.
Line And Ink: ok ok back to the questions!!
Line And Ink: Do you expect this album to do better than your other
considering its on Lookout! or do you guys worry about stuff like that?
Allison: Well, i hope so. But i don't know. The climate in independent music is so different
now. i don't know what to expect.
Allison: i know that Lookout! will do a good job for us, they don't slack.
Line And Ink: Yeah you cant have much of a better hook up.
Line And Ink: Do you think that you guys are going to change anything
now that you're on lookout?
Allison: Well, maybe we do things a little more business-like now. I think it's just good to be on
a regional label that can represent you, that you can keep a good report with. We aren't an
Olympia band anymore, none of us live there anymore. 2 of us live in the East Bay, so it makes
sense to be on an East Bay punk label, and they both work there too, so that helps.
Line And Ink: And since you guys put out your Cd on there I think it marked, sort of the
"Return of Lookout!!"...you know!!
Allison: I think Ted Leo's on Lookout now. i was hoping that Mooney Suzuki and Gene Defcon
would be too.
Line And Ink: Oh yeah!!
Allison: Maybe Bis too!
Line And Ink: Bis is great
Allison: Yeah, well i hope it's the start of more awesome bands, especially girl bands, on that
label. Of course there's the Donnas.
Line And Ink: I know alot of stupid people will give you shit about having the co-owner of
Lookout! in your band, but I just say..tell them to fuck off!
Allison: No, i think it makes sense to people. i think people always wondered why the
PeeChees were on KRS instead of Lookout, that didn't seem to make sense. But i understand
wanting some distance between your work and your art. But i also understand trying to make it
work together.
Line And Ink: Yes and you always have the "Big deal people" that over analyze things.
Allison: Yeah
Line And Ink: So how long have you guys been off of your "hiatus"?
Allison: Well, originally Bratmobile broke up in the spring of 1994. Then we got back together
again in 1998.And now it's the new millenium.
Line And Ink: Why did you guys go on hiatus anyway?
Allison: Well, we broke up, really.
Allison: There were so many pressures, with riot grrrl getting so exploited and played out, with
expectations from without and from within of what it meant to be a girl, a punk girl, a girl in a
band, an all-girl band, etc.
Line And Ink: I only used hiatus cuz i heard it used in another interview, I’m not a dork or
anything.
Allison: Yeah, I think that's a euphemism we created! To make it not sound like a monsters of
rock 20 year reunion!
Line And Ink: Not getting back in it for the money!!
Allison: We had become stressed out, not comfortable with what was happening to us,
distrustful of each other.
Line And Ink: Do you still consider yourselves riot grrls? do you think its a good thing to be
labeled that these days?
Allison: We were just young and crazy!
Allison: I don't necessarily consider us riot grrrls now, since we're more like old ladies! But I
don't shun the label either. I sort of consider the term riot grrrl to be attached to an era, a special
time/place/loose community that was going on in punk in the early '90's. But in so much as the
riot grrrl term connotes feminism, I'm all for it. I don't believe in shying away from labelling
myself as feminist. I think that is emotional suicide for girls to do that.
Line And Ink: Its good that you still keep the ideals from the movement instead of just casting
them aside like most straight edgers.
Allison: Yeah, they become horrible drunks later, right?
Line And Ink: I cant speak but yes
Line And Ink: I've read some interviews where you guys have said that there are no long term
plans for Bratmobile, but that was a while ago..does that still apply now?
Allison: I think we're planning on staying together, and doing this for as long as we can, as long
as it feels right to us.
Allison: I'm sort of working on more songs, well more ideas about people or situations that piss
me off!
Line And Ink: ha...more albums on lookout?
Allison: Hopefully. We haven't made a writing plan, but probably.
Line And Ink: Thats cool...So do you guys have any interesting tour stories so far?
Allison: Let's see. Bratmobile at the drive in, and we're not watching the movie! That's our new tour slogan!
Line And Ink: Ha. Shirts coming soon
Allison: Yeah, but i don't think we have the big hair.
Line And Ink: Any fights?
Allison: We kept coming across Murder City Devils and At the Drive In on our last US tour,
some crazy nights.
Line And Ink: Any romance?
Allison: Well, not many fights. None that i'll mention at least.
Line And Ink: ok i already forgot about that questions lets get to the juicy stuff with ATDI.
Allison: What's romance when you're on the road? Maybe more of a pretense to romance. Cell
phone romance!
Line And Ink: Cant spill the beans huh?
Allison: But i could get romantic in a hurry if those boys would just take us on tour to one of
these awesome countries they always get to go tour in.
Line And Ink: uh oh
Allison: I'm secretly in love with Omar, but he's a coward. And i'm probably old enough to be his mother, he'd just want me to mother him!
Line And Ink: Thats funny for so many reasons.
Allison: But that's just on the party boy front. There's many layers to Bratmobile On Tour.
Line And Ink: Thats cool
Allison: I think he's too skinny for me too, i prefer them buff.
Line And Ink: Im glad you let me in on the juicy stuff first.
Allison: Ha!
Line And Ink: Now your catching on
Allison: We had a crazy show at The Smell in LA, people are insane there! Girls in crazy Madonna-wannabe outfits, moshing the stage, screaming, freaking, and
freaking our poor little Erin out.
Line And Ink: Was Buddyhead there?
Allison: Who's Buddyhead?
Line And Ink: This little zine that rips us off alot[Ed. Note: Tongue in Cheek]
Allison: Yeah, i was kinda scared at first, but it's better than some town where everyone just
stands there, and asks you where the bass player is.
Line And Ink: No bass clears the place!!
Allison: Yeah, ask Europe!
Line And Ink: Ok I have to ask this:
Allison: Ok?
Line And Ink: You guys do a cover of "Where Eagles Dare" whose idea was that?
Allison: Did. past tense!
Line And Ink: Did, sorry
Allison: That was Molly's bad idea! I'm sure she just felt like we needed another song for
the EP. We really shouldn't have rushed into the studio, so soon after writing some new songs.
Line And Ink: It came out great in my opinion
Allison: I love Danzig and all, but i don't know, that song is too cheezy to do. And it was my
idea to have Slim [Moon] sing on it with me, which was weird. He has a great voice, but i don't
think our voices went well together on it. I was singing really stupid that day.
Line And Ink: Yeah I liked that. Would you guys ever consider covering a Suzi Quatro song?
Allison: What song?
Line And Ink: umm i dont know the names it has a line like "if i had a dime for every nickel..."
Allison: My other band Deep Lust does covers, but not really Bratmobile.
Line And Ink: Deep Lust?...tell me more.
Allison: Deep Lust did a Doors song, a Love song, and Tobacco Road, whoever wrote that.
Line And Ink: Cool
Allison: It's my boy band in DC. 2 guys, Steve Dore, who used to be in Huasipungo, Maude,
The Corrections, The Finger.
Line And Ink: *//58/69[p7u[hhhhhh70vb.;jk\ ---my kitty wanted to say hi...cool!
Allison: And Tommy, Michelle Mae from Makeup's younger brother, he's an animal on guitar!
Line And Ink: Do you guys have a record?
Allison: We have a self-titled album out on Kill Rock Stars.
Line And Ink: OK ill check that out...Oh are you friends with Michelle,so shitty about the Makeup Breakup
Allison: Yeah, she's a good girl yeah, but they'll always do something cool, they'll figure it out
soon enough.
Line And Ink: OK i have to ask another stupid queston:
Allison: OK
Line And Ink: Just let me get them outta my sytem. I got this from another inerview
Allison: uhhuh
Line And Ink: The post-'94 punk commercialization "boom" has vastly changed the dynamics of the underground. It seems that only now, six years later, people are starting to see diminishing
returns and are reverting back to a late-'80s/early-'90s mentality as far as viewing making music or doing a band. Bratmobile achieved its notoriety before the big punk "boom" of '94 and the
band ended well before the boom really caught on, giving you a fairly unique perspective with
which to view the whole circus. Do you think this extra knowledge will add to the brightness of
the B-Mob's future? What do you do when peopl ask you those kinds of questions?
Allison: That's a smart question. i don't know if i have a smart answer!
Line And Ink: I would just say "yeah". Thats too much for me too!
!
Allison: Well, to me, the boom was on, and maybe coming to a close already, but i think that
was just in the punk underground that we felt that way.
Line And Ink: Yeah
Allison: So the mainstream or whatever always catches on a few
years late.
Line And Ink: I agree, except for in cases like Weezer where they satisfy both the
underground and mainstream markets.
Allison: But i definitely felt that when we broke up, we were just peaking, just really coming
into our own musically, and that was too bad, kind of heartbreaking.
Allison: While many of our friends bands continued on, to thrive. And then there was the whole
Sleater-Kinney thing. Sleater-fever!
Line And Ink: Ha. Ill have to use that sometime. Do you think you had to "start over"?
Allison: Yes maybe some people think of us as more authentic because we broke up before
things got too cheezy. But i think we just cut ourselves short, or had to. i'm happy for what
many of these other girl bands went on to do, to achieve for themselves.
Line And Ink: Do you think your band was responsible for that?
Allison: But i think many music critics and whatnot just forgot about us! Or think we're the
stupid kid sisters of Bikini Kill or Sleater-Kinney, refusing to let go or grow up or something.
Allison: It's possible we helped pave the way. I think all girls who put their shit out there boldly
help pave the way, in whatever field or area. But yeah, i think the mainstream broke the story on
our backs, only to later accept certain token females finally as "musicians."
Line And Ink: How do you feel about the "less conservative" type of girl bands(ex.
Donnas,Peeps..)?
Allison: conservative?
Line And Ink: I couldnt think of another word, maybe concsious or aware
Allison: By "us", i don't just mean Bratmobile, i mean all sorts of crazy riot grrrls and artists in
the early '90's. I like the Donnas, they rock.
Line And Ink: Ok
Allison: i think there's room for all kinds of girls, girl music, etc. We can all do things
differently, and that's cool.
Line And Ink: Cool, youre friends with the Donnas right?
Allison: Yeah, we're friends. We toured together a year ago in Europe, and we'll be doing a US
tour with them in February and March.
Line And Ink: Cool come to my town!!! I’ll make spaghetti.
Line And Ink: Well thats all i have for you.
Allison: Ok, that's it?
Allison: Well, it looks like we'll be in St. Louis...Chapel Hill.
Line And Ink: St. “Lause” is close.Give me some addresses and stuff like email,mail,websites..etc..
Allison: Oh ok. www.bratmobile.com
www.lookoutrecords.com
Line And Ink: Its been awesome talking to you and i have had a blast. I'll keep in touch and you do the same
Allison: Me too!
Line And Ink: See ya
