Donna Dresch
Encyclopedia
Donna Dresch is an American
punk rock
musician
, perhaps best known as founder, guitar
ist and bass guitar
ist of Team Dresch
and the Queen of Grunge.
Dresch has been actively involved in the queercore
scene since the 1980s, as the creator of the fanzine
, Chainsaw, and contributor to several other seminal zines such as Outpunk
and J.D.s
, as well as contributing and being featured on the front cover of issue five of Deke Nihilson
and Tom Jennings
' zine Homocore
. Additionally, she was a contributor to Tobi Vail
's influential proto-Riot Grrrl
fanzine, Jigsaw and Tammy Rae Carland
's zine I (heart) Amy Carter. In 1992, she appeared in the cult film
The Yo-Yo Gang
, by G.B. Jones.
She founded the queercore independent record label
Chainsaw Records
in the early 1990s. Shortly after, she joined forces with Jody Bleyle
and Kaia Wilson
to form Team Dresch. Once drummer Marci Martinez was added to the line-up, the group began recording. The first single was released in 1994 on Kill Rock Stars
. Their debut album in 1994, Personal Best and its follow-up, Captain My Captain
, were released jointly by Chainsaw Records and Jody Bleyle's label Candy Ass Records
. Team Dresch performs live and the members are interviewed in the documentary film She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane
.
Since its inception, Chainsaw Records has housed many well-known bands such as Tracy and the Plastics and Sleater-Kinney
.
In 2004, she founded a new band, Davies vs. Dresch. In 2006, Team Dresch reunited and began touring again.
's Prom; Third Sex's Card Carryin' (as producer, engineer and mixer); Phranc
's Goofyfoot
EP (bassist); Some Velvet Sidewalk
's Shipwreck (guitarist and bassist); Hazel
's Are You Going to Eat That? (producer); and Fifth Column's 36-C
(guitarist). http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/links/0,,594268,00.html#artist_name Also, she temporarily replaced Van Conner
in the Screaming Trees
and had a brief stint as bassist in Dinosaur Jr. Additionally, she has worked with Slim Moon
in the '80s Olympia-based garage band Nisqually Delta Podunk Nightmare, played bass in Olympia grunge punk band, Danger Mouse, also, Rastro! (with Jen Smith
), The Go Team
, Mary Lou Lord
, and Lois
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, perhaps best known as founder, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist and bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist of Team Dresch
Team Dresch
Team Dresch is an American punk band from Portland, Oregon, originally formed in Olympia, Washington, which was initially active from 1993 until 1998. The band made a significant impression on the do-it-yourself movement queercore, which gave voice through zines and music to the passions and...
and the Queen of Grunge.
Dresch has been actively involved in the queercore
Queercore
Queercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay, bisexual, and lesbian communities and their "oppressive agenda"...
scene since the 1980s, as the creator of the fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
, Chainsaw, and contributor to several other seminal zines such as Outpunk
Outpunk
Outpunk enjoys the distinction of being the first record label entirely devoted to queer punk bands.The label was run out of San Francisco and began as an extension of Matt Wobensmith's fanzine, Outpunk. Outpunk ran for seven issues, from 1992 till 1997, with contributions from queer punks such as...
and J.D.s
J.D.s
J.D.s is a queer punk zine founded in Toronto by G.B. Jones and co-published with Bruce LaBruce, that ran for eight issues from 1985 to 1991....
, as well as contributing and being featured on the front cover of issue five of Deke Nihilson
Deke Nihilson
Daniel "Deke" Frontino Elash is an American zine editor, musician, actor, activist and historian.In 1988, he and co-editor Tom Jennings began publishing Homocore zine out of San Francisco. One of the earliest queercore zines, it followed in the wake of J.D.s and was instrumental in the expansion...
and Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings is a Los Angeles-based artist and technician. He is the creator of FidoNet, the first message and file networking system for BBSes...
' zine Homocore
Homocore (zine)
Homocore is an American anarcho-punk zine created by Tom Jennings and Deke Nihilson, and published in San Francisco from 1988 to 1991. One of the first queer zines, Homocore was directed toward the hardcore punk youth of the gay underground...
. Additionally, she was a contributor to Tobi Vail
Tobi Vail
Tobi Vail is an independent musician, DIY zinester, and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington, noted primarily as the drummer of the defunct punk band Bikini Kill. She formed one of her first bands as the drummer for The Go Team when she was 15, later collaborating in several other groups...
's influential proto-Riot Grrrl
Riot grrrl
Riot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement based in Washington, DC, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest which existed in the early to mid-1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism...
fanzine, Jigsaw and Tammy Rae Carland
Tammy Rae Carland
Tammy Rae Carland is a zine editor, artist, filmmaker and owner of the independent lesbian music label Mr. Lady Records.In the late 1980s she co-founded an independent art gallery in Olympia, Washington with Heidi Arbogast. The two teamed up with Kathleen Hanna, who often did spoken word...
's zine I (heart) Amy Carter. In 1992, she appeared in the cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
The Yo-Yo Gang
The Yo-Yo Gang
The Yo-Yo Gang is a thirty minute 'exploitation movie' about girl gangs released in 1992 that has become a cult film.Directed by G.B. Jones, this 'no budget film' follows the exploits of two girl gangs, the "Yo-Yo Gang" and the "Skateboard Bitches", as a gangwar erupts between them...
, by G.B. Jones.
She founded the queercore independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Chainsaw Records
Chainsaw Records
Chainsaw Records is an independent record label run by Donna Dresch, devoted to Queercore bands and operating out of Portland, Oregon.-History:...
in the early 1990s. Shortly after, she joined forces with Jody Bleyle
Jody Bleyle
Jody Bleyle is an American musician, songwriter and independent record label owner.Jody Bleyle first gained public attention in the Pacific Northwest music scene of the 1990s, in the Portland, Oregon–based band Hazel. The group, formed in 1992, released two albums on the Sub Pop label, to critical...
and Kaia Wilson
Kaia Wilson
Kaia Wilson is a musician from Portland, Oregon, best known as a founding member of both Team Dresch, a revered 1990s queercore punk band, and The Butchies, a pop-rock spin-off from her solo work. In addition to singing, songwriting and guitar, Wilson co-established and operated Mr...
to form Team Dresch. Once drummer Marci Martinez was added to the line-up, the group began recording. The first single was released in 1994 on Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission...
. Their debut album in 1994, Personal Best and its follow-up, Captain My Captain
Captain My Captain
Captain My Captain is Team Dresch's second and last album, released June 11, 1996 by Chainsaw Records.-Track listing:#Uncle Phranc - 3:23#107 - 4:05#My Dirty Hands are Mined - 3:00#The Council - 3:20#Don't Try Suicide - 3:11...
, were released jointly by Chainsaw Records and Jody Bleyle's label Candy Ass Records
Candy Ass Records
Candy Ass Records is an independent record label run out of Portland, Oregon by Jody Bleyle, a member of the band Team Dresch as well as member of Hazel and formerly of the queercore bands Family Outing and Infinite Xs....
. Team Dresch performs live and the members are interviewed in the documentary film She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane
Lucy Thane
Lucy Thane is a documentary filmmaker.One of her most notable works is It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill In The UK in which she followed the 1990s riot grrrl band Bikini Kill while they were on tour in the UK with Huggy Bear....
.
Since its inception, Chainsaw Records has housed many well-known bands such as Tracy and the Plastics and Sleater-Kinney
Sleater-Kinney
Sleater-Kinney was an alternative rock band from Portland, Oregon that formed in 1994. Originally formed in Olympia, Washington, the group's name is derived from Sleater-Kinney Road, Interstate 5 off ramp #108 in Lacey, Washington, the location of one of their early practice spaces. They were a...
.
In 2004, she founded a new band, Davies vs. Dresch. In 2006, Team Dresch reunited and began touring again.
Other appearances
Dresch has appeared on many other artists' recordings, including Amy RayAmy Ray
Amy Elizabeth Ray is an American singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls. She also pursues a solo career and has released four albums under her own name, and founded a record company, Daemon Records....
's Prom; Third Sex's Card Carryin' (as producer, engineer and mixer); Phranc
Phranc
Phranc is an American singer-songwriter whose career has spanned several decades.-Biography:She began her performing career in the late 1970s and early 1980s punk scene in Los Angeles...
's Goofyfoot
Goofyfoot
Goofyfoot is an EP by folk singer-songwriter Phranc, released in 1995.Recorded in Olympia, Washington with session musicians including Donna Dresch and Tobi Vail, as well as members of Satan's Pilgrims, Goofyfoot is an independent tribute to the surfer-punk ethic of the Californian coast. It covers...
EP (bassist); Some Velvet Sidewalk
Some Velvet Sidewalk
Some Velvet Sidewalk was an experimental lo-fi rock band from Olympia, WA on the independent label K Records.-History:Some Velvet Sidewalk was formed in Eugene, Oregon in 1987 by Al Larsen and Robert Christie . Their first release was From Playground 'Til Now, and was independently released on...
's Shipwreck (guitarist and bassist); Hazel
Hazel (band)
Hazel was an United States alternative rock band based in Portland, Oregon. The group was a quartet, consisting of Jody Bleyle , Pete Krebs , Brady Smith , and Fred Nemo ....
's Are You Going to Eat That? (producer); and Fifth Column's 36-C
36-C
- Personnel :*Caroline Azar – vocals, keyboards*Beverly Breckenridge – bass, background vocals*Michelle Breslin – guitar, background vocals*Jena von Brücker – photography, background vocal*Torry Colichio – drums...
(guitarist). http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/links/0,,594268,00.html#artist_name Also, she temporarily replaced Van Conner
Van Conner
Van Conner is an American rock musician. In 1984 he co-founded the band Screaming Trees with his brother Gary Lee Conner and close friends Mark Lanegan and Mark Pickerel. On the 25 June 2000 Screaming Trees announced their official breakup...
in the Screaming Trees
Screaming Trees
Screaming Trees was an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington in 1985 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bass player Van Conner and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel had been replaced by Barrett Martin by the time the band reached its most successful period...
and had a brief stint as bassist in Dinosaur Jr. Additionally, she has worked with Slim Moon
Slim Moon
Slim Moon is the founder of the independent music label, Kill Rock Stars. He also started its sister label, 5 Rue Christine...
in the '80s Olympia-based garage band Nisqually Delta Podunk Nightmare, played bass in Olympia grunge punk band, Danger Mouse, also, Rastro! (with Jen Smith
Jen Smith
Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States.Jen Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term Riot Grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement...
), The Go Team
The Go Team
The Go Team was a 1980s band from Olympia, Washington, consisting of Tobi Vail and Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening.-Career:The Go Team was founded in 1985. As Vail described:...
, Mary Lou Lord
Mary Lou Lord
Mary Lou Lord is an indie folk musician, busker and recording artist.-Biography:Mary Lou Lord first gained notice playing acoustic guitar and singing in and around Boston's subway stations Lord became friends with...
, and Lois
Lois Maffeo
Courtney Love is an American musician and writer who lives in Olympia, Washington. Although never achieving mainstream success, she has been closely involved with and influenced many independent musicians, especially in the 90s Olympia, Seattle and DC based musician.-as Lois Maffeo:albums*The...
.
Publications
- McDonnell, Evelyn; Powers, Ann, editors: Rock She Wrote, Delta, N.Y.C., US, ISBN 0-385-31250-4 (1995)