Saying the F-Word
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Saying The F-Word Feminism, Indie-Rock Style DANA AYOTTE AND JACQUELINE GULLION Inspirées par le « rock », les Stunts dès clambered up to stage dive, and Dana: We practiced and played 1999 ont été la seule formation musi- for most of my twenties wanted together for another year before we cale à Vancouver de lesbiennes « indie- to be on the stage. Not beside the entered a local battle-of-the-bands rock » jusqu’en 2004. Leur politique de stage smiling up at the front man, called SHiNDiG. The Stunts really participation leur a permis de collaborer not selling merch, not getting into gelled as a band during this time, avec les jeunes femmes et les inspirer à shows on the guest list. I wanted to and we decided that costumes and créer une musique qui utilise le « punk be shouting into the mic, bantering a more performance-art take on rock » comme un exutoire et une façon wittily between songs and sweating the rock show was the direction we de s’exprimer et de résister au sexisme. in the spotlight. wanted to go in. Some of our lyrics Dana: When I joined The Stunts were angry and crass and occasion- The Stunts formed in 1999, even- I had recently started volunteering ally blatantly feminist but we saw tually becoming Vancouver’s only with Vancouver Rape Relief and it was possible to have fun and de- lesbian indie-rock band. Performing Women’s shelter, a collectively run, liver a feminist message at the same together until 2004, this power trio woman-only, anti-violence organi- time. consisted of Dana Ayotte (vocals, zation where I met Jacqueline. We bass), Jacqueline Gullion (guitar, were working on the rape crisis line One of the most entertain- vocals), and Jackie Sidoni (drums). and in the transition house on a ing bands to watch during last The following is a conversation be- weekly basis. As a result we brought year’s SHiNDiG was the even- tween Dana Ayotte and Jacqueline a shared political vision to the band, tual second runner-up, The Gullion. Lyrical excerpts are taken even though when we started out Stunts. This pop-punk trio was from the CD Over It (SOCAN 2003), we didn’t sit down and say, “let’s having a blast on stage and it available at http://www.myspace.com/ form a feminist band.” We were all showed. They were having fun. thestuntsvancouver. tired of the endless number of boy- The crowd was having fun. bands in the scene and agreed the That’s the formula for a great I Wish band would be woman-only. Song- show ten times out of ten. (Dis- She stands in front, she sings writing would be collaborative, and corder Magazine, 246, Novem- along, she knows the words to all everyone would have to push herself ber 2003) the songs. past her own self-consciousness to Band band girlfriend, band write the earnest, cheesy, painful, Dana: Many of our fans simply band girlfriend. truthful, hilarious, and rocking liked our music or loved us and songs about women’s lives we all came out to our shows to support Jacqueline: I discovered indepen- wanted to hear. us. Sometimes these were cowork- dent “alternative” rock upon mov- Jacqueline: After playing together ers from our various jobs, sometimes ing from my small-town home to for about a year, we changed from they were our punk-rock friends. Of- Vancouver at age 19. Since then I an all woman band to an all-lesbian ten they were our rugby teammates have dated independent musicians, band as some members were re- and occasionally our ex-husbands. helped boyfriends lug guitar amps, placed, while others replaced their They played us on their college radio sung along at the front of the stage, boyfriends with lesbian girlfriends. programs and bought our CD, they VOLUME 25, NUMBERS 3,4 137 artist Nomy Lamm. We organized Rock Out With Your Frock Out in honour of Jacqueline’s 30th birth- day where The Stunts wore tutus dusted off from my early teenage ballet days. Finding ourselves in the final round of SHiNDiG we real- ized that we had come a long way from our first show in Jacqueline’s living room. The costumes we selected were often a parody of women’s roles (Brownies, lady Naval officers, gym teachers) or a mockery of political figures (Stockwell Day) or sometimes they were just off-the-wall (mad sci- The Stunts give their best Stockwell Day impersonations. Hallowe’en, 2000. entists, masked superheroes). The costumes provided another way for us to express our politics in a fun and entertaining way. Mr. Magic Thumb Was it boyish charm or sneering mirth? You were so smug while she doubted her self-worth. Never knew if she was pretty, ugly, lucky, sulky Now nothing’s funny anymore. Dana: In the beginning I felt un- certain about how to present our- selves. Should we label our band as feminist? I knew of only one other Dressed in ballet tutus and rocking out with their frocks out, The Stunts perform band at the time that openly identi- at the Marine Club, Vancouver, BC, May 2003. fied as feminist (Le Tigre). Though they inspired me the fear of being invited us to play shows with them Women loved The Stunts. They marginalized as a feminist band (in and came to every show. They stood came to see women on stage, to addition to the easy dismissal of in front, they sang along and they dance instead of standing on the “chick” bands) kept us from doing knew the words to all the songs. fringes of a male mosh pit, laughed so at first. But we had a desire to be Jacqueline: The rocker boyfriend along with our inside lesbo jokes, known as a political band and even- whom I left for my radical lesbian and loved that we were naming tually we made a conscious decision future not only bought me my names in our songs about the men to describe ourselves as such. first guitar, but loaned The Stunts who pained us. his gear for years, and provided Dana: Our shows included a Hal- In the opinion of “indie-rock straight-up advice from one rocker loween party in a metalworking stu- dyke band” and recent SHiN- to another. The men in our lives en- dio and a film opening at Gallery DiG finalists The Stunts, Riot couraged our woman-only project Gachet for Nikola Marin’s Coming Grrrl never really ended.… with practical support and showed and Going to Paris, which featured While their own project is “in- up at shows without sexualizing, the Stunts on the soundtrack. In tentionally a political band,” undermining, interfering with, or other shows we shared the stage they believe that Riot Grrrl patronizing our efforts. We appreci- with crusty punk rock bands and opened up the rock scene for ate this as our due and expect noth- once played a heavy metal house a large spectrum of women in ing less for other women making party in Nelson, B.C. We performed music. As Dana said “There are feminist art. in Victoria with queer performance a lot of newer bands that aren’t 138 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME as overtly feminist. Their lyrics boobs, three dykes in goofy outfits? Perhaps may not be feminist, and they I know he gets off on my phone it was that sometimes we were pain- may not identify as feminist, voice. fully out of tune (occasionally I hol- but they still came out of that Masturbate to this you bastard, lered “close enough” and launched movement, and they still pro- Masturbate to this you bastard. into a song without tuning). Maybe vide inspiration for women in it was because some of our songs rock music.” (“After the Riot,” Jacqueline: When organizing were overly earnest. Maybe there Discorder Magazine, 238, March shows, we actively sought out oth- was some misconception that by 2003) er women-only and pro-feminist once dressing as Stockwell Day we bands. We were inspired by women had meant to indicate our support Dana: As a political band we in rock who came before us. As a for his controversial right-wing poli- were excited when we got to share band we hoped to inspire young tics (not very likely!). the stage with Submission Hold women to create music and use Dana: In fact it was the radi- and Che: Chapter 127, both local punk rock as an outlet and a way cal feminist politics of Rape Relief bands known for their anti-capital- to resist sexism and express them- that were at the center of contro- ist, antiestablishment politics and selves. versy. The organization’s determi- social justice bent. It became clear nation to choose its own members that we had established ourselves as I see [Riot Grrl] as a way for from among folks born and raised a political band when we were called young women to discover fem- as women, and to operate a wom- upon to play May Day events two inism; a cultural manifestation. en-only transition house and rape years running, were asked to play a I was 19 years old in 1991, and crisis center had come under fire. fundraiser for Environmental Youth I was like, “Kathleen Hanna, (To learn more about this political Alliance, and when we performed at where have you been all my herstory visit www.rapereliefshelter. Under the Volcano, a local political life?” She’s still around, play- bc.ca/issues.htm.) As longtime col- music festival.