Jody Bleyle
Encyclopedia
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 acclaim. Jody Bleyle played drums and sang for the band.
In 1993, Bleyle teamed up with Donna Dresch
and Kaia Wilson
to create the band Team Dresch
, in which she played guitar and sang. The group's first release was a single on the Kill Rock Stars
label, which immediately garnered them much attention and they quickly became one of the defining bands of the Queercore
scene. Their first LP, Personal Best, was co-released on both Dresch's label Chainsaw Records
and Bleyle's label Candy Ass Records
. Candy Ass Records went on to issue recordings by a number of bands including Hazel, Cypher In The Snow
, and New Bad Things
, but is best known for the 1995 release of the double-album compilation Free to Fight
.
Free To Fight was a multi media project incorporating both recordings by artists such as Lois Maffeo
, Excuse 17
, Heavens to Betsy
, Fifth Column, and Bleyle's own band Team Dresch, as well as a seventy-two page booklet featuring writers and artists such as bell hooks
, Bridget Irish, and Roberta Gregory
. The recording and booklet featured self defense instructions for women, and Team Dresch toured with instructor Alice Stagg, who demonstrated defensive tactics onstage before the band performed. Jody Bleyle was interviewed for the film She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane
, in which she speaks about her record label and in particular, the Free To Fight project. This recording was later followed by a Free To Fight split single by the bands Sleater-Kinney
and Cypher In The Snow
.
In the late 1990s Team Dresch broke up after releasing a number of singles and another LP, Captain, My Captain. After the breakup, Bleyle joined with Tamala Poljak of Longstocking
and Whitney Skillcorn of The Little Deaths
to form the band Infinite Xs. In 2002, the group released a recording on Chainsaw Records. Also in the early 2000s, Bleyle began performing with her brother in the group Family Outing. The band played at the Homo-A-GoGo festival in Olympia, Washington
in 2002.
In 2004 and 2005, Bleyle recorded and toured with Amy Ray
for her second solo release, Prom, playing bass. Bleyle didn't play the third leg of the tour because her partner, actress Nina Landey, was pregnant. Their first son Twylo was born in July 2005 and their second son, Lucian, in 2007.
In 2004, the group Lesbians On Ecstasy
released their first album, Lesbians On Ecstasy
featuring a revamped version of the Team Dresch song "Screwing Yer Courage", retitled "Summer Luv"; Jody Bleyle remixed this version for the followup Lesbians On Ecstasy album entitled Giggles In The Dark, released in 2005.
In the summer of 2004, Team Dresch reunited for a concert at the biannual Homo-A-Go-Go festival. Afterwards, the band members decided to reunite for a series of concerts and Team Dresch has been touring and recording again since then.
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:...
owner.
Jody Bleyle first gained public attention in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
music scene of the 1990s, in the Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
–based band 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 ....
. The group, formed in 1992, released two albums on the Sub Pop
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
label, to critical acclaim. Jody Bleyle played drums and sang for the band.
In 1993, Bleyle teamed up with Donna Dresch
Donna Dresch
Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch and the Queen of Grunge....
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 create the band 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...
, in which she played guitar and sang. The group's first release was a single on the 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...
label, which immediately garnered them much attention and they quickly became one of the defining bands of 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. Their first LP, Personal Best, was co-released on both Dresch's label 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:...
and 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....
. Candy Ass Records went on to issue recordings by a number of bands including Hazel, Cypher In The Snow
Cypher in the Snow
Cypher in the Snow were an all women queercore band from San Francisco.One of the band's first appearances was at the Dirtybird Queercore Festival in San Francisco in 1996. This historic festival also featured Tribe 8, Sta-Prest, Behead the Prophet, No Lord Shall Live, The Need and many others...
, and New Bad Things
New Bad Things
New Bad Things were a Portland, Oregon indie rock band active during the 1990s. They recorded for Candy Ass Records,Rainforest Records, Lissy's Records, Pop Secret, Punk in my Vitamins Records, Kill Rock Stars, and Freewheel Records....
, but is best known for the 1995 release of the double-album compilation Free to Fight
Free to Fight
Free to Fight is a project consisting of a 1995 double album and booklet, and a single later released by Candy Ass Records.The release is subtitled "an interactive self-defense project." The theme of the project is self-defense for women, and it includes records featuring all-women bands and a...
.
Free To Fight was a multi media project incorporating both recordings by artists such as Lois Maffeo
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...
, Excuse 17
Excuse 17
Excuse 17 was a punk rock band from Olympia, Washington that performed and recorded from 1993 to 1995.Carrie Brownstein, Becca Albee and CJ Phillips came together to form Excuse 17, a band that would only last a few years but would prove to be influential. Carrie and Becca both played guitar and...
, Heavens to Betsy
Heavens to Betsy
Heavens to Betsy was an American indie-punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1991. They were part of the DIY riot grrrl movement in the punk rock underground in the early 1990s, and were the first band of Sleater-Kinney vocalist/guitarist Corin Tucker....
, Fifth Column, and Bleyle's own band Team Dresch, as well as a seventy-two page booklet featuring writers and artists such as bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
, Bridget Irish, and Roberta Gregory
Roberta Gregory
Roberta Gregory is an American comic book writer and artist best known for her character Bitchy Bitch from her Fantagraphics Books series Naughty Bits.Gregory's father was Disney comics artist Bob Gregory...
. The recording and booklet featured self defense instructions for women, and Team Dresch toured with instructor Alice Stagg, who demonstrated defensive tactics onstage before the band performed. Jody Bleyle was interviewed for the 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....
, in which she speaks about her record label and in particular, the Free To Fight project. This recording was later followed by a Free To Fight split single by the bands 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...
and Cypher In The Snow
Cypher in the Snow
Cypher in the Snow were an all women queercore band from San Francisco.One of the band's first appearances was at the Dirtybird Queercore Festival in San Francisco in 1996. This historic festival also featured Tribe 8, Sta-Prest, Behead the Prophet, No Lord Shall Live, The Need and many others...
.
In the late 1990s Team Dresch broke up after releasing a number of singles and another LP, Captain, My Captain. After the breakup, Bleyle joined with Tamala Poljak of Longstocking
Longstocking
Longstocking were a Los Angeles queercore-punk band.Formed in 1995 by singer and guitarist Tamala Poljak, the group had originally been a guitar and drums duo. Tamala had previously been in the bands Oiler and Fleabag...
and Whitney Skillcorn of The Little Deaths
The Little Deaths
The Little Deaths was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1997. The band was associated with the 1990s Queercore movement and became part of the San Francisco Bay-Area's late-90's musical renaissance which spawned bands like Subtonix, The Phantom Limbs, Erase Errata, The...
to form the band Infinite Xs. In 2002, the group released a recording on Chainsaw Records. Also in the early 2000s, Bleyle began performing with her brother in the group Family Outing. The band played at the Homo-A-GoGo festival in Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
in 2002.
In 2004 and 2005, Bleyle recorded and toured with Amy Ray
Amy 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....
for her second solo release, Prom, playing bass. Bleyle didn't play the third leg of the tour because her partner, actress Nina Landey, was pregnant. Their first son Twylo was born in July 2005 and their second son, Lucian, in 2007.
In 2004, the group Lesbians On Ecstasy
Lesbians on Ecstasy
Lesbians on Ecstasy is an electronic band from Montreal, Quebec.The band toured across Canada and the U.S. with Le Tigre before the release of their first recording.The first album, the self-titled Lesbians on Ecstasy was released on October 26, 2004...
released their first album, Lesbians On Ecstasy
Lesbians on Ecstasy (album)
Lesbians on Ecstasy is the self-titled debut album of Montreal based electropunk group Lesbians on Ecstasy. It contains 11 songs, including a live bonus track. The first single is the track "Tell Me Does She Love The Bass", a reworking of the 1988 Melissa Etheridge hit "Like the Way I Do".This...
featuring a revamped version of the Team Dresch song "Screwing Yer Courage", retitled "Summer Luv"; Jody Bleyle remixed this version for the followup Lesbians On Ecstasy album entitled Giggles In The Dark, released in 2005.
In the summer of 2004, Team Dresch reunited for a concert at the biannual Homo-A-Go-Go festival. Afterwards, the band members decided to reunite for a series of concerts and Team Dresch has been touring and recording again since then.