I’m still shocked that Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore have separated after 30 years together and 24 years of marriage.
As a band, Sonic Youth is undeniably emblematic of the couple’s creative and personal partnership; news of the split cannot help but leave the band at a major crossroads. A Matador press release puts the band’s future at “uncertain,” and leaves it at that.
Sonic Youth sprang out of NYC’s fertile and fractured No Wave scene of the early 1980s. Some of the bands — von LMO, Swans — were heavy and masculine, often violent and over-the-top. Sonic Youth, despite their emphasis on guitar abstraction, brought an intriguing balance of masculine and feminine energy.
Going all the way back to the beginning, you can hear that energy in one of their very first shows, from 1981’s Noise Fest at White Columns. Vocal duties here are shared by Thurston, Kim and artist friend Ann deMarinis, who left to pursue performance art.
Video stills are from Charles Atlas’ rare and wonderful oral history of the mid80’s NYC scene, Put Blood Into the Music. (Here’s hoping this gets proper release some day.)
EMPOWERING GIRLS THROUGH MUSIC
“Music was —and is— such an incredible outlet for me,” she says.
“That’s what I love about Girls Rock! Doing music for the love of it is so positive and powerful. Their whole focus on the experience feels so punk rock —like a budding revolution!” She laughs. “It reminds me of growing up in DC at the height of the DIY Dischord scene. That community was so supportive, and Girls Rock Camps have that same spirit.”
Joyce volunteers at the Boston and RI rock camps as much as she can. Teaching teens has been a huge source of inspiration to her.
“It’s so cool how much they support each other. It’s all about playing and sharing and being in the moment. And whatever these girls do with it, they’re going to be amazing. They’re going to have these skills forever.”
She’s not just talking about barre chords and rock star moves. “The girls always ask me, ‘What’s your advice on becoming a rock star?’ and I always tell them, ‘As a woman, you’ve got to respect yourself. It’s important. Respect yourself and others will respect you. Focus on finding your own inner strength.”
ROCK N’ ROLL FOREVER
Joyce’s music education began abruptly when he older brother Steven volunteered her for bass playing duties in a friend’s band. Amazingly, she said yes. “I worked so hard at it,” she says.
And she stuck with it, joining scrappy punk rock bands and finding inspiration in the community-minded and mixed-gender energy of the DC scene.
“I was so lucky to be a part of that community,” she says. “People like Ian [Mackaye, from Fugazi] were doing it out of passion. Music was so attainable. There was no focus on becoming a rock star —it was all about the music.”
Music quickly transformed her sense of self-worth. “It gave me the power to rise above teenage insecurity. I had a secret life outside of junior high misery.”
WHAT IT’S LIKE BEING A ROCK STAR, A TEENAGER + A GIRL —AT THE SAME TIME
“Misadventures” follows a similar trajectory. Joyce’s heroine, Alex, doesn’t have superpowers. She’s not model-pretty. She’s just a shy 14-year-old who picks up a bass and changes her life. (But not overnight.)
Joyce doesn’t sugarcoat what it’s like being a teenager. There are cliques, catfights and petty betrayals. Through it all —stumbles and triumphs alike— Alex picks herself up, dusts herself off and keeps going.
“Every step along the way is a little step, but she’s moving forward and figuring things out,” Joyce says. “In the end, Alex doesn’t become a rock star, but she becomes her own person.”
All book events will feature a reading by Joyce and a performance by Scarce and other musical guests. Exene Cervenka will be joining them for the 7/24 reading at Stories Books & Café.
July 23, Pasadena:
Vromans Bookstore, 3pm
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
July 23, Los Angeles:
The Viper Room, 8pm sharp* (opening for the Posies)
8852 West Sunset Boulevard
July 24, Los Angeles:
Stories Books and Café, 4pm
1716 West Sunset Boulevard
w/Exene Cervenka
July 24, Long Beach, Calif.:
Alex’s Bar (562-434-8292)
2913 E. Anaheim St.(next to Auto Zone; entrance in back)
July 26 San Francisco:
Apple Store, 7pm*
One Stockton Street
July 27, San Francisco:
Girls Rock Camp lunchtime show
Grant and Green Saloon, 10 pm* (free)
1371 Grant Ave (btwn Green St & Vallejo St)
July 29, Portland, Oregon:
Girls Rock Camp lunchtime show
A Children’s Place Bookstore, 5:30 pm
4807 NE Fremont Street Portland, OR
July 30 Seattle:
Rain City Rock Camp, 4:30 pm
The Blue Moon Tavern, 10:30pm*
712 NE 45th St (btwn N 7th & N 8th Ave)
July 31 Seattle:
Secret Garden Books, 2pm
2214 NW Market Street Seattle, WA
The term “freak-folk” is often bandied about when describing Boston-area musician Marissa Nadler’s work.
She recently stopped by her alma mater RISD to talk about artistic process and what drives her to create. Along the way, she cheerfully upended all the usual clichés attached to her music: “sepia-toned,” “ethereal” and “death-obsessed.”
A funny, down-to-earth presence, she was refreshingly open about her struggles with stage fright, as well as those of balancing painting and music.
“There’s a mythology that surrounds my work,” she said. “But that’s not who I am. It’s just what comes out in the music.”
A self-taught guitarist and singer who’s been writing songs since she was a teenager, she didn’t begin playing in public until she arrived at RISD in the early 2000s. Upon receiving her MAT in 2004, she taught briefly, but has been touring and playing music ever since.
After the intensity of school, she stopped painting for a long time. But she’s recently picked up the paintbrush again. She’s also started selling hand-crafted CDRs, original paintings and needlework items on Etsy.
As an artist, she doesn’t draw lines between her music and her painting and illustration work —it’s all part of a continuum. An obsessive creator by nature, she admits, “It’s hard to balance the two.” But she says it’s getting easier.
I’m posting a couple of older tracks here: “Mexican Summer,” the luminous single from her 2006 album Songs III: Bird On The Water, and the Daniel Johnston classic “True Love Will Find You in the End,” from her 2010 collection of covers.
(Pay special attention to her exquisite trio of Townes van Zandt covers.)
Her new album, due out in spring 2011, will be self-released. Visit Marissa’s Bandcamp site for more info. She’s also on Twitter.
Sonic Youth, “Track 1” (Live at White Columns | Noise Fest, 6.18.81)
