Team Dresch

Infobox musical artist
Name = Team Dresch


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Background = group_or_band
Origin = Olympia, Washington, USA
Genre = Punk rock
Queercore
Indie rock
Riot grrrl
Years_active = 1993—1998
2004—present
Label = Kill Rock Stars
Chainsaw
Candy Ass
Associated_acts = Hazel, Adickdid, Vitapup, Born Against, Dinosaur Jr., Screaming Trees, Fifth Column, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Lois, Mary Lou Lord, The Go Team, The Spinanes, Built to Spill, Phranc
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Current_members = Jody Bleyle (vocals, guitar, bass)
Kaia Wilson (vocals, guitar)
Donna Dresch (bass, guitar)
Marci Martinez (drums)
Melissa York (drums)
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =

Team Dresch is an American punk band that performed and recorded in the 1990s and made a significant impression on the DIY queercore movement, as well as on the independent music scene. The band reformed in the early 2000s and continues 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 (not to be confused with 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 (a band, not the singer of the same name). Scott Plouf, then of The Spinanes, now of Built to Spill was the drummer on the first 7". "Hand Grenade" appeared on Kill Rock Stars in 1994.

"Personal Best"

:"Main article: Personal Best""Personal Best" appeared in January 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."Citation
last = Richardson
first = Chris
author-link =
title = Team Dresch Digs Deep Into Its Playbook
newspaper = Washington Post
pages =
year = 2007
date = 2007-06-22
accessdate = 2007-06-27
url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102405.html] 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"

:"Main article: 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.

Original disbandment & 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!"

Team Dresch has announced that it will release a new album, its first in 13 years, in 2008.

Discography

Albums

*"Personal Best", a Chainsaw Records/ Candy Ass Records co-release (1994)
*"Captain My Captain", Chainsaw/Candy Ass (1995)
*Upcoming album (2008)

ingles

*"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

ongs 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
*"Deattached" 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".

ee also

*List of all-women bands

References

External links

* [http://www.killrockstars.com/artists/viewartist.php?id=531 Team Dresch Factsheet]
* [http://www.emplive.com/archives/index.asp?section=intv&id=97&pg=1 Interview with Donna Dresch]
* [http://www.chainsaw.com Chainsaw records]
* [http://www.myspace.com/teamdresch Team Dresch on My Space]