God Is My Co-Pilot (band)
Encyclopedia
God Is My Co-Pilot is a queercore
band from New York City
that's been recording and playing music since 1991. The two main members of God is My Co-Pilot are vocalist Sharon Topper and guitarist Craig Flanagin. The band is extremely prolific: all of their many recordings have been released on independent record labels.
Former members of God Is My Co-Pilot include Fly
on high-end bass, Daria Klotz on low-end bass, and Fredrik Haake on drums. Guest musicians, such as John Zorn
and Jad Fair
, are frequently found playing with God Is My Co-Pilot. They've toured before with Melt Banana, a noise rock group from Japan, and released Chan Marshall's first song "Headlights".
They occasionally sing in languages other than English: some of their output has been in French
, Yiddish, German
, Finnish
and Turkish
and other languages. The band's lyrics frequently address sexuality
and gender
. The band states, in their song, "We Signify, "...We're co-opting rock, the language of sexism, to address gender identity on its own terms of complexity...."
Their sound has been described as experimental
, noise rock
, hardcore punk
and avant jazz
. Stay Free zine said of the music, "We hear a new sound, 'free punk' we'll call it."
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"...
band from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
that's been recording and playing music since 1991. The two main members of God is My Co-Pilot are vocalist Sharon Topper and guitarist Craig Flanagin. The band is extremely prolific: all of their many recordings have been released on independent record labels.
Former members of God Is My Co-Pilot include Fly
Fly (artist)
Fly is a comic book artist and illustrator, whose art has been published in several magazines and fanzines, including Slug and Lettuce, Maximum Rock 'N' Roll, World War 3 Illustrated, Village Voice...
on high-end bass, Daria Klotz on low-end bass, and Fredrik Haake on drums. Guest musicians, such as John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
and Jad Fair
Jad Fair
Jad Fair is an American singer, guitarist and graphic artist, most famous for being a founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese.-Biography:In 1974, with his brother David, Jad Fair founded the lo-fi group Half Japanese...
, are frequently found playing with God Is My Co-Pilot. They've toured before with Melt Banana, a noise rock group from Japan, and released Chan Marshall's first song "Headlights".
They occasionally sing in languages other than English: some of their output has been in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Yiddish, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
and other languages. The band's lyrics frequently address sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
and gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
. The band states, in their song, "We Signify, "...We're co-opting rock, the language of sexism, to address gender identity on its own terms of complexity...."
Their sound has been described as experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, noise rock
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
, hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
and avant jazz
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
. Stay Free zine said of the music, "We hear a new sound, 'free punk' we'll call it."
Albums
- I Am Not This Body (1992) Making Of Americans
- Speed Yr. Trip (1992) Making Of Americans
- Straight Not (1993) OutpunkOutpunkOutpunk 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...
- Getting Out of Boring Time Biting Into Boring Pie (1993) Quinnah Records
- Tight Like Fist (1993) Knitting FactoryKnitting FactoryThe Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....
- How To Be (1994) Making Of Americans
- Mir Shlufn Nisht (1994) Avant RecordsAvant RecordsAvant Records was a record label based in Japan specializing in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was started by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1992, as an offshoot of the DIW label...
- Sex is For Making Babies (1994) Disques Du Soleil Et De L'acier
- Neko No Akubi: Nihon No Fi (1995) Making Of Americans
- Puss 02 (1995) Dark Beloved Cloud
- The History of Music vol. 1 (1995) Meldac Records
- The History of Music vol. 2 (1996) Meldac Records
- Peel Sessions (1997)
- Je Suis Trop Content (1997)
- Get Busy (1998) Atavistic RecordsAtavistic RecordsAtavistic Records is an American rock and jazz record label based in Chicago, Illinois, known particularly for its No Wave and free jazz recordings. It has released albums by Glenn Branca, Nels Cline, Lydia Lunch, Peter Brötzmann, various Ken Vandermark projects, Pinetop Seven, Swans, Elliott...
Singles
- Songs of Praise (1991)
- Refused Medical Attention (1991)
- On A Wing And A Prayer (1992) Funky Mushroom
- Gender is As Gender Does (1992)Funky Mushroom
- How I Got Over (1993) Ajax Records
- My Sinister Hidden Agenda (1993) Blackout RecordsBlackout RecordsBlackout! Records was an independent record label which specialized in the hardcore punk genre.It was formed in 1988 by Bill Wilson – now forever known as "Bill Blackout" – and, together with friend Jim Gibson, the label released its first record – a New York hardcore compilation...
- Pissing and Hooting (1993) Dark Beloved Cloud
- Illusions Of Secrecy (1993) Dark Beloved Cloud
- When you See This Remember Me (1993) Dark Beloved Cloud
- Probable Cause; Life under Occupation; Held Down God Is My Co-Pilot/ Fifth Column split single (1993) Outpunk
- Ykt Flot! (1993)
- Sharon Quite Fancies Jo (1994) Soul Static Sound
- This Is No Time To Be Frail (1994) Rough Trade RecordsRough Trade RecordsRough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
- Kitty Bait (1994) Ajax
- Butch Flip God Is My Co-Pilot/ Melt Banana split single (1994)
- An Appeal To Reason (1995) Runt Records
- Ootko sä poika vai tyttö? (1995) Trash Can
- God Is My Co-Pilot / Bz Bz Ueu split 7" (1998) (Music à la Coque)
- Erase-yer-head #9 split EP with Melt Banana, Tear of a dollTear of a dollTear of a Doll, previously called "Tears of a Doll" is a musical group from Paris, France which started as a hardcore punk band and later blended the speed and energy of that style with more complex structures inherited from the experiments of 1970s progressive rock, 1990s noise rock or math rock...
, Camp Blackfoot, God Is My Co-Pilot (1999) Pandemonium