Tobi Vail
Encyclopedia
Tobi Vail is an independent musician, DIY zine
Punk zine
A punk zine is a zine devoted to punk culture, most often punk rock music, bands, or the DIY punk ethic. Punk zines are the most likely place to find punk literature....

ster, and feminist activist from 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...

, noted primarily as the drummer of the defunct punk band Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill was an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington in October 1990. The group consisted of vocalist and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band is widely considered to be the pioneer of the riot grrrl movement,...

. She formed one of her first bands as the drummer for 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:...

 when she was 15, later collaborating in several other groups figuring in the Olympia music scene
Olympia music scene
The city of Olympia, Washington has been a center of post-hardcore, anti-folk, and other youth-oriented musical genres since at least the late 1970s. Along with Washington D.C., Olympia was a center for the riot grrrl movement in the early 1990s...

. Vail also briefly dated her friend Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

.

Currently, she fronts Spider and the Webs and plays drums in Knife in the Eye.

Biography

Vail was born on the day of the first moon landing
Moon landing
A moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...

. Growing up in a very musical family, she started playing music early.

The Go Team and Doris

One of her first bands was 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:...

, an 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...

 punk
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...

 project started with Calvin Johnson in 1985. The group released several cassettes
Cassette culture
Cassette culture, or the cassette underground , refers to the practices surrounding amateur production and distribution of recorded music that emerged in the late 1970s via home-made audio cassettes...

 and 9 single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

s on the independent label K Records
K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson, formerly of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, The Go Team, The Halo Benders and presently in the bands Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Hive Dwellers...

, mostly on the 7" vinyl format - a practice Vail continues to this day. Billy "Boredom" Karren
Billy Karren
Billy Karren is an American musician and feminist most commonly known as the lead guitarist of the influential punk band Bikini Kill. He was also active in many other music projects in the Olympia music scene including: The Go Team, The Frumpies, Corrections, and Spray Painted Love.He was not often...

 was one of the rotating musicians who played with The Go Team, and it was in this band that he and Vail played together for the first time, later collaborating in several other bands like Bikini Kill, The Frumpies, the upallnighters, and Spray Painted Love. Other guest musicians included Rich Jensen, David Nichols, and 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....

. They toured the West Coast as a two piece, adding Billy Karren for two U.S. tours.
Vail was also working as a DJ for KAOS (FM)
KAOS (FM)
KAOS is a hybrid college-community radio station licensed to The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. It broadcasts in HD Radio at a power of 1,100 watts and also streams live via the Internet. The station continues to offer free radio broadcasting training to any member of the...

 and playing in an all-teenage girl band
All-women band
An all-female band is a musical group composed of female musicians exclusively. A distinction is made here with a girl group, in which the members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed.-1920s-1940s:In the Jazz Age and during the 1930s, "all-girl" bands such as...

 called Doris with Cheryl Hooper, Heidi Keys and Tam Orhmund at this time (1986–1988), which played shows around the Northwest with Beat Happening
Beat Happening
Beat Happening is an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members...

, Spook and the Zombies, Rich Jensen, Oklahoma Scramble, and Snake Pit. They made a demo tape, which was recorded by Steve Ross (Cactus Love, the Briefs
The Briefs
The Briefs are a punk rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2000 and originally consisting of Daniel J. Travanti , Steve E. Nix , Lance Romance and Chris Brief . They play punk rock music, influenced by acts such as Buzzcocks, The Undertones and The Adverts...

) but never released. After the demise of The Go Team, Vail played in various project bands and made a record as the drummer for 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...

.

Bikini Kill

Vail is best known as the drummer of Bikini Kill, which lasted from 1990 to 1998. The band was often met with resistance and misunderstanding due to their chaotic live performances, controversial lyrics, and political zines which dealt with various activist-punk topics like anti-racism
Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...

, vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...

, anti-corporatism, anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....

, anti-heterosexism
Heterosexism
Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships. It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the only norm and therefore superior...

, and in particular feminist issues such as rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

, incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...

, domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...

, abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, 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...

, body image
Body image
Body image refers to a person's perception of the aesthetics and sexual attractiveness of their own body. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his masterpiece The Image and Appearance of the Human Body...

 and eating disorders, stalking
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...

, patriarchy
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...

, sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....

, and sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...

 in general - all with a strong emphasis on community and DIY culture.

Vail recalls:
Despite frequent mainstream media
Corporate media
"Corporate media" is a term which refers to a system of mass media production, distribution, ownership, and funding which is dominated by corporations and their CEOs....

 misrepresentation and serious violence
Violence against women
Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women...

 at shows, they continued for several years and today are largely credited (along with Bratmobile
Bratmobile
Bratmobile was an American punk band. Bratmobile was a first-generation "riot grrrl" band, which grew from the Pacific Northwest and Washington, DC underground...

) with starting 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...

, a movement that merged Do It Yourself punk culture
DIY ethic
The DIY ethic refers to the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for one's behalf. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...

 with feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

. The actual word 'grrrl' was coined in Vail's seminal journal, Jigsaw (1988–present), one of the first Northwestern
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...

 punk zine
Punk zine
A punk zine is a zine devoted to punk culture, most often punk rock music, bands, or the DIY punk ethic. Punk zines are the most likely place to find punk literature....

s to address gender issues
Gender studies
Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyses race, ethnicity, sexuality and location.Gender study has many different forms. One view exposed by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one"...

 explicitly. Prior to this, many influential female-centric bands like The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...

, Girlschool
Girlschool
Girlschool are a British heavy metal band originating out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in 1978 and frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest running all-female rock band, still active after more than 30 years...

, and Bush Tetras
Bush Tetras
Bush Tetras are an American post-punk band from New York City, popular in the Manhattan club scene in the early 1980s but never achieving much mainstream success. Their music combined funk rhythms and dissonant guitar riffs.-History:...

 had long resisted the notion of being thought of as "girl bands" and almost always avoided the word "feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

", with the occasional exceptions of bands like Poison Girls
Poison Girls
The Poison Girls were an English anarcho-punk band. The female singer/guitarist, Vi Subversa, was a middle-aged mother of two at the band's inception, and wrote songs that explored sexuality and gender roles, usually from an anarchist perspective...

, Frightwig
Frightwig
Frightwig was an American 1980s all-women band from San Francisco, California. They pioneered the riot grrrl movement and were influential to its development. They often played at The Farm. They were known for inviting a male audience member on stage to "dance" during the song "A Man's Gotta Do...

, and Au Pairs
Au Pairs (band)
The Au Pairs were a British post-punk band that formed in Birmingham in 1979. Music historian Gillian G. Gaar noted in her history of women in rock that the band mingled male and female musicians in a revolutionary collaborative way, as part of its outspoken explorations of sexual...

.
Bratmobile
Bratmobile
Bratmobile was an American punk band. Bratmobile was a first-generation "riot grrrl" band, which grew from the Pacific Northwest and Washington, DC underground...

's Girl Germs
Girl Germs
Girl Germs was a zine created by University of Oregon students Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman, both members of the band Bratmobile.Feminism was influential in the Pacific Northwest in the early nineties: Girl Germs heralded an explosion of zines that accompanied the rebirth of feminism...

and riot grrrl, Jigsaw and Bikini Kill (zine) are credited as the first manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...

s of riot grrrl, reclaiming feminism for the punk scene in an attempt to disrupt the straight white male bias thereof, and rebelling against such annoyances as having the women at their shows fall victim to sexual assault when attempting to enter the mosh pits or even get closer to the stage, their bodies often groped, their clothes deliberately torn off. In response to such attacks, not only against the girls in the audience but often against themselves and their friends, Bikini Kill encouraged girls to stand at the front of the stage and start their own bands.

The general feeling of wanting to encourage more girls to start bands, zines, make their own culture and create their own homemade and fiercely independent media grew rapidly in popularity through a largely underground
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...

 network of similar-feeling fans, artists, musicians and writers, and soon regular meetings started taking place, usually in punk house
Punk house
A punk house is a dwelling occupied by members of the punk subculture. Punk houses are similar to the hippie crash pads of the 1960s and the slan shacks of science fiction fandom. The Factory, an alternative living space founded by Andy Warhol as the home base of The Velvet Underground, is directly...

s like Positive Force
Positive Force
Positive Force DC is an activist organization founded in 1984 by members of the punk community in Washington, D.C. It has organized hundreds of benefit concerts for community and activist groups, and worked alongside Fugazi, Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses, Girls Against Boys, Q and Not U and other...

. Bikini Kill had started working there with friends like Nation of Ulysses
Nation of Ulysses
The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kroner on guitar, Steve Gamboa on bass guitar, and James...

 and Fugazi
Fugazi (band)
Fugazi is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987. The band's continual members are guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty....

 after moving to Washington DC in 1991.

Much like her influences Billy Childish
Billy Childish
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...

 and Moe Tucker, riot grrrl emphasized a strong advocacy for the DIY indie-punk philosophies and "you can do anything" attitude of amateurism.
The band itself released several LP
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s and single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

s on their friend Slim's
Slim Moon
Slim Moon is the founder of the independent music label, Kill Rock Stars. He also started its sister label, 5 Rue Christine...

 then-new label ill Rock Stars] and toured extensively across the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, which helped spread the word further.

The Frumpies

In 1992 Tobi started The Frumpies
The Frumpies
The Frumpies was a punk rock band formed in 1992 Olympia, Washington. The original line-up consisted of singers/guitarists Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren , and Bratmobile drummer Molly Neuman. Their debut was the 7 inch single Alien Summer Nights on the Chainsaw label...

 in DC with bandmates Kathi Wilcox
Kathi Wilcox
Kathi Wilcox is an American musician. Currently the bass player in The Julie Ruin, she has previously been in bands such as Bikini Kill, The Casual Dots and The Frumpies.- Music :...

 and Billy Karren
Billy Karren
Billy Karren is an American musician and feminist most commonly known as the lead guitarist of the influential punk band Bikini Kill. He was also active in many other music projects in the Olympia music scene including: The Go Team, The Frumpies, Corrections, and Spray Painted Love.He was not often...

, Molly Neuman
Molly Neuman
Molly Neuman is a musician originally from the Washington, D.C. area who has performed in such influential bands as Bratmobile, The Frumpies, and the PeeChees. She was a pioneer of the early-to-mid '90s riot grrrl movement, penning the zine which coined the phrase in...

 of Bratmobile and The PeeChees, and later Michelle Mae
Michelle Mae
Michelle Mae is an American musician from the state of Washington, who is known for playing in rock 'n' roll groups such as The Make-Up and Weird War.-Biography:...

. They wrote and recorded several 7" singles, most of which are compiled on the Kill Rock Stars release Frumpie One Piece, and many recorded on a cassette four track Distinctly less overtly political in nature than either BK or Bratmobile, and refining a much different sound (no bass player, 3 guitar players), they toured the U.S. with Huggy Bear in 1993 and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 with "yes wave"
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...

-electro
Electroclash
Electroclash is a style of music that fuses New Wave and electronic dance music. It emerged in New York and Detroit in the later 1990s, pioneered by acts including I-F and those associated with Gerald Donald, and is associated with acts including Peaches, Adult, and Fischerspooner...

-avant-punk-noise
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...

 band Dada Swing in 2000.

Other projects

Apart from the 5 other above mentioned bands, and occasionally releasing under her own name and various pseudonyms, Vail has played in quite a few underground bands before and after the friendly break-up of Bikini Kill in 98, including:
|}
  • Frenchie and the German Girls
  • Spider and the Webs - with James Maeda and Chris Sutton of Hornet Leg and Dub Narcotic Sound System
    Dub Narcotic Sound System
    Dub Narcotic Sound System is an Olympia, Washington based indie-funk musical group founded by Calvin Johnson, signed to K Records.-Origins:The band is named after Calvin Johnson's basement recording studio, Dub Narcotic....

    .
  • The Old Haunts
    The Old Haunts
    The Old Haunts were an Olympia, WA Rock group last consisting of Craig Extine , Scott Seckington , and Tobi Vail . The band was typically defined as punk but exhibited additional qualities similar to southern swamp rock. Arpeggiated twangy guitar riffs, pounding bass lines and rock drumming were...


"tobi for me is heroic"
Mike Watt
Mike Watt
Michael David Watt is an American bassist, singer and songwriter.He is best known for co-founding the rock bands Minutemen, dos, and Firehose; , he is also the bassist for the reunited Stooges and a member of the art rock/jazz/punk/improv group Banyan as well as many other post-Minutemen...


Bands Against Bush, Ladyfest, and FAB

Vail still keeps with her DIY efforts to encourage more women into the independent punk scene as a founding member of Ladyfest
Ladyfest
Ladyfest is a community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for female artists that features bands, musical groups, performance artists, authors, spoken word and visual artists, films, lectures, art exhibitions and workshops; it is organized by volunteers. The first ever Ladyfest...

, a volunteer-based music and arts festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....

 for female independent musicians, performance artists, spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....

 poets, visual artists, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

s, for which most of the proceeds are donated directly to non-profit organisations. The festival also holds workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...

s for girls on everything from music lessons, to how to make a zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

, to self defense courses.

She is also one of the founders of Bands Against Bush, an international resistance network of artists and musicians dedicated to promoting and organizing activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

 and direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...

 against George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

, his administration and the rest of the PNAC. It was inspired by the very first show she ever attended: a Rock Against Reagan benefit in 1983. A recent New York Times article claimed BAB was under surveillance by the U.S. government.

She also founded FAB (Feminist Action Brigade), a feminist book club based in Olympia that attempted to start an activist network using zines and the internet. Recent publications are Spider Magic, F.A.B. and Pogo for Peace.

Bumpidee

In 1994, Vail started her own DIY cassette label called Bumpidee (named after the Portland
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 Sunday morning children's show and eponymous character Bumpity
Bumpity
Bumpity was an American children's television show that aired locally in the Portland, Oregon area on the ABC affiliate KATU, from 1971 to 1985. Bumpity, a green "bump on a lawn" with one pronounced tooth, along with his friend and side-kick, a red and purple striped worm named Fred, hosted the...

) and released music by Worst Case Scenario, the Corrections, the Bonnot Gang, and the Slatternlies. Recent releases include demos by Spider and the Webs and Marissa Magic and a compilation called "Spider Friends". Each tape comes with a newsletter called The Bumpidee Times which contextualizes each release, and many are often free in the anti-capitalist DIY punk spirit of sharing.

Although many KRS
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...

 artists have since signed to major labels Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna is an American musician, feminist activist, and punk zine writer. In the early- to mid-1990s she was the lead singer and songwriter of Bikini Kill, before fronting Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s...

, The Gossip
The Gossip
Gossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...

), Vail's output has always remained consistently independent of corporate ownership. A letter she wrote appears in the liner notes of a KRS compilation called Stars Kill Rock:
Later, in Mark Andersen
Mark Andersen
Mark Andersen is a punk rock activist and author who lives in Washington D.C.. He was born and raised in rural Montana, and moved to Washington D.C. in 1984 to attend graduate school at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies ....

's book Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capitol, she continued:

Personal

Vail grew up in Naselle and Olympia Washington. She began working in the mail order department of 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...

 prior to the breakup of her band Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill was an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington in October 1990. The group consisted of vocalist and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band is widely considered to be the pioneer of the riot grrrl movement,...

 in 1997. She was laid off in 2011 when her job was outsourced. Vail also maintains a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

, in which she discusses feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

 and reviews music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

.

From July to October 1990, Vail dated her friend, Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

 frontman Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

, with whom she had collaborated during her tenure in The Go Team on another side project called The Bathtub is Real. Some inaccurate information may have been circulated about the relationship between Vail and Cobain. It has been purported that neither Vail or Cobain ever spoke publicly of their relationship. There is, therefore, a possibility that Nirvana biographers and rock journalists may have relied, in part, on second-hand information, rumors, and other misinformation stating that information as fact. Vail's friend Jenny Toomey
Jenny Toomey
Jenny Toomey is an American indie rock musician and arts activist from Chevy Chase, Maryland, and later, Washington, D.C. She was a member of the bands Geek, Tsunami, Liquorice, Grenadine, So Low and Choke, among others, and has also recorded under her own name...

 relates, "Tobi refuses to speak publicly and participate in the exploitation of the Cobain myth by hack journalists trying to make a career, record companies trying to sell records, and feeble attempts made by ex-"friends" to mark their place in history." The only interview she's ever given on the subject of Cobain was for Everett True
Everett True
For the cartoon character, see The Outbursts of Everett True.Everett True is a British music journalist, who grew up in Chelmsford, Essex...

. True is the only biographer who actually knew both of them.

Singles

  • "Sand/Jigsaw" (January 1989)
  • "Outside/Stay Ready" (February 1989) with Billy Karren
    Billy Karren
    Billy Karren is an American musician and feminist most commonly known as the lead guitarist of the influential punk band Bikini Kill. He was also active in many other music projects in the Olympia music scene including: The Go Team, The Frumpies, Corrections, and Spray Painted Love.He was not often...

    , Louise Olsen, Dave Nichols
  • "Breakfast In Bed/Safe Little Circles" (March 1989) with The Legend!
  • "Milquetoast Brigade/She Was Sad" (April 1989) with Jeffery Kennedy
  • "Ribeye/935 Patterson" (May 1989)
  • "Go Team Call/Three Ways To Sunday" (June 1989) with Quang H., Billy Karren, Brad Clemmons
  • "Scratch It Out/Bikini Twilight" (July 1989) with Tamra Ohrmund, Louise Olsen, 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....

    , Kurt Cobain
    Kurt Cobain
    Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

  • "Tummy Hop/Maverick Summer" (August 1989) with Brad Clemmons
  • "The Pines Of Rome" (September 1989) with Brad Clemmons

Cassettes

  • Recorded Live At The Washington Center For The Performing Arts
  • Your Pretty Guitar with Steve Peters
  • Archer Come Sparrow
  • Donna Parker Pop

Albums

  • Revolution Girl Style Now!
    Revolution Girl Style Now!
    Revolution Girl Style Now! was the very first work by the punk rock band Bikini Kill. It was self-released in cassette form in 1991. Recorded at Yo-Yo studios.-Track listing:# "Candy"# "Daddy's Li'l Girl"# "Feels Blind"# "Suck My Left One"...

    self-released cassette (1991)
  • Bikini Kill (EP)
    Bikini Kill (EP)
    Bikini Kill was the first label work by the punk rock band Bikini Kill. It was released in 1992 on Kill Rock Stars.-Track listing:# "Double Dare Ya" - 2:40# "Liar" - 2:35# "Carnival" - 1:30# "Suck My Left One" - 2:24# "Feels Blind" - 3:21...

    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...

     (1991)
  • Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
    Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
    Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah is the Bikini Kill side of a split album between American and English riot grrrl bands Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear. It was released in 1993 on Kill Rock Stars. The song "Rebel Girl" is in the game Rock Band 2....

    split LP with Huggy Bear on Catcall Records in the UK, Kill Rock Stars in the US (1993)
  • The C.D. Version of the First Two Records
    The C.D. Version of the First Two Records
    The C.D. Version of the First Two Records is the 1994 first CD release of punk rock band Bikini Kill, collecting their 1992 eponymous EP and their half of the 1993 EP Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, an album they shared with the band Huggy Bear...

    , compilation (1993)
  • Pussy Whipped
    Pussy Whipped
    Pussy Whipped is the debut full-length album of punk rock band Bikini Kill. It was released in 1993 on Kill Rock Stars. The album includes the track "Rebel Girl", which is #27 on the Rolling Stone list of "Most Excellent Songs of Every Year Since 1967", a playlist assembled by the magazine in 2006...

    on Kill Rock Stars (1994)
  • Reject All American
    Reject All American
    Reject All American was the second full-length and last studio album by punk rock band Bikini Kill, released in 1996.-Track listing:All songs composed by Kathleen Hanna.# "Statement of Vindication" – 1:11# "Capri Pants" – 1:40...

    on Kill Rock Stars (1996)

Singles

  • New Radio/Rebel Girl 7" single on Kill Rock Stars (1993)
  • The Anti-Pleasure Dissertation Single on Kill Rock Stars (1994)
  • I Like Fucking/I Hate Danger 7" single on Kill Rock Stars (1995)

Compilations

  • Kill Rock Stars on Kill Rock Stars LP/CD (1991)
  • Throw: The Yoyo Studio Compilation on Yoyo Records (1991)
  • "Daddy's Lil' Girl" on Give Me Back LP, Ebullition Records
    Ebullition Records
    Ebullition Records is an independent record label and distro based out of Goleta, California. It published HeartattaCk, a zine focusing on independent punk and hardcore from around the world, informed by an anti-consumerist and D.I.Y. ideology....

     (1991)
  • "Suck My Left One" on There's A Dyke In The Pit, Outpunk Records (1992)
  • Bikini Kill: The Singles (1998)

Singles

  • Alien Summer
  • Babies & Bunnies
  • Safety First
  • Tommy Slich
  • Eunuch Nights
  • Frumpies Forever

Spider and the Webs

  • Self-Titled demo on Bumpidee
  • Split 7" w/ Partyline on Local Kid
  • Spider Magic on Bumpidee
  • Frozen Roses EP" on K

External links

  • Spider and the Webs Myspace
  • Tobi Vail's zine Jigsaw at ZineWiki
    ZineWiki
    ZineWiki is an open-source online wiki devoted to zines, fanzines, small press publications, chapbooks, and independent media. It covers the history, production, distribution and culture of the small press.-History:...

  • Tobi Vail's zine Bikini Kill at ZineWiki
    ZineWiki
    ZineWiki is an open-source online wiki devoted to zines, fanzines, small press publications, chapbooks, and independent media. It covers the history, production, distribution and culture of the small press.-History:...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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