Bikini Kill is a band
from Jigsaw Fanzine (Issue #5½)
Written by Tobi Vail
January 1994
BIKINI KILL IS A BAND MADE UP OF FOUR INDIVIDUALS: Kathi, Tobi, Billy and Kathleen...
We have been written about a lot by big magazines who have never talked to us or seen our shows. They write about us authoritatively, as if they understand us better than we understand our own ideas, tactics and significance. They largely miss the point of everything about us because they have no idea what our context is/has been. Their idea of punk rock is not based on anything they have ever experienced directly or even sought an understanding of by talking to those who have, yet they continue to write about it as if their stereotypical surface level view of it is all it is. A lot of times we have been asked why we don't do interviews very often if we are so concerned with being misrepresented. To us this seems obvious... it is mostly based on our experiences. As a rule we don't do interviews with mainstream newspapers or magazines. In the few cases where we did do them we felt like we were totally fucked over by the way our words were framed to back up ideas that weren't our own. Quotes were taken out of context, we were made to look like we were dissing other women in bands when that wasn't our intention and in worst case scenarios our confidence was totally violated by having stuff we told the individual writers NOT to focus on exploitatively (abuse histories, where we work/have worked, etc.) turned into the main focus of the article. We have constantly told writers to leave out personal information about us (our last names, who we go out with/used to date) out of articles and they always are sure to include it if we tell them not to. We always try to include perspectives of different band members but often times the writer only puts in quotes by Kathleen, our singer. When she has done interviews by herself as an individual it is often seen as an interview with the whole band even though she continually says she is only speaking as an individual member of Bikini Kill whose opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the whole band. When we have granted these sources interviews it made us look like everything they said about us was done with our co-operation. The times when we have asked to see articles or edit them before they come out it has never really worked out. One time in particular we were told by N.M.E. in the U.K. that we could write our own articles and they would not in anyway comment on or edit it. When the articles came out Kathi's was not included, but was rather taken out of context and cited to back up their ideas about us in the introduction they wrote to my article (something that to our understanding they weren't going to do). They laid it out in a way that included catty remarks bigger than our own words and put in a bunch of dumb pictures we didn't send them. This was the last time we ever tried to co-operate with a big magazine but they have continued to write stuff about us. This is really frustrating but what is even more frustrating is when people who should know better, other punks for instance, believe these takes on who we are as being based on reality rather than on conjecture and in most cases on ill intentions of the writer/magazine (when you refuse to grant interviews people get really insulted and make a point of going out of their way to use their influence to elaborately dis you — usually this is to the point of spreading deliberate lies or saying really naïve sexist things in an effort to provoke a response from you) I want to make it clear that we do not give a shit what people think of us. That is not what we object to in all of this. It is not about us being pissed off because of a bad review...it is about feeling like no matter what we say or do there continues to be this media created idea of 'Bikini Kill/riot girl' that has little or nothing to do with our own ideas and efforts...we want to be an underground band, we don't want to be featured in Newsweek magazine...maybe this sounds like a weak complaint to some of you who have worked really hard to get people to hear about your band, projects, record label, ideas, etc. and would appreciate any kind of publicity...we recognize that different strategies are totally valid for different situations...we are not trying to set any 'correct' standard, we are just trying to present our views on what our experience with the media has been in order to start to comment on how it has affected us as a band...we stopped doing interviews altogether for a while mainly because we felt like we didn't need any more publicity but also because these experiences led us to not feeling like talking about our ideas at all...sometimes not even to each other, but fuck that you know and right now we are making nu fanzine(s) about this whole weird machine media spectaclization process we have been going thru and so you should look forward to that...
IN THE MEANTIME WE ASK YOU TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT US AND THINK ABOUT HOW YOU GOT THAT INFORMATION, CUZ IN MOST CASES IT PROBABLY ISN'T TOO ACCURATE...
One huge misconception for instance that has been repeated over and over again in magazines we have never spoken to and also by those
who believe these sources without checking things out themselves is that Bikini Kill is the definitive 'riot girl band'...
We are not in any way "leaders of" or authorities on the 'Riot Girl' movement. In fact, as individuals we have each had different experiences with, feelings on, opinions of and varying degrees of involvement with "Riot Girl" and tho we totally respect those who still feel that label is still important and meaningful to them, we have never used that term to describe ourselves AS A BAND. As individuals, we respect and utilize and subscribe to a variety of different aesthetics, strategies and beliefs, both political and punk-wise, some of which are probably considered 'riot girl'...
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