Articles + interviews

Team Dresch Rocket Article #1

Team Dresch Rocket Article #2

Team Dresch Article from Raygun

My interview with Jody Coyote (from my zine, ballroom etiquette #2 )

The interview w/ Jody from Interview magazine

Team dresch interview from Like, DUH! zine

Interview with Donna Dresch from Outpunk zine

The Rocket JANUARY 18-FEBUARY 1, 1995 by Keyan Y. Meymand

Team Dresch are guerrilla warriors set on a path of fighting for what they believe. Consider this-the band asked me to tell

any young lesbians trapped in the homes of homophobic parents: "Hang on. You fucking rule. We will get you out." They

meant it as a literal promise.

As an all-lesbian band, Team Dresch have powerful messages directed to lesbians. However, in the process of speeking to

others like them, they also educate all kinds of people. They are outspoken in their opinions and beliefs, most of which will

appear on their upcoming Candy-Ass/ Chainsaw LP, Personal Best. During the course of our interview, we got into various

misunderstandings and squabbles that led them to alternately suggest yoga and therapy to me.

Bassist/guitarist Donna Dresch, singer/guitarist/bassist Jody Bleyle and singer/guitarist Kaia Wilson have a game plan. Their

interests lie in self-defense as a means of empowerment. They made it a focus on their recent tour by brining Alice Stagg, a

Portland self-defense instructor, along to perform an onstage self-defense demonstration at every show. The band

participated in various scenarios and Alice taught the audience basic and useful self-defense techniques. "The role playing

we did was really fun," says Jody. "It taught us all a lot about standing up for ourselves because you actually use the things

you learn in real life. When you do it, it becomes instinct, it's like creating instinct in yourself."

The band introduced their audience to a certain set of ideas, especially the concept of coordinating music with self-defense

. "It seemed like [music] was something we could use to communicate the ideas of self-defense, which are parallel to rock,”

says Jody, "That was one of the things about putting them right next to each other and making them a part of the show. It

shows that they are the same things. Women playing rock is self-defense. You make all these connections in your own

mind. You see Kaia screaming, and holding her guitar, and you see me screaming five minutes before holding a baseball

bat. The similarities are there."

Because of their recent involvement with self-defense, Candy-Ass, a label run by Jody, plans to release a compilation

album called Free to Fight with two Portland self-defense instructors, Anna LoBianco and Staci Coller. Free to Fight, due

out in February , will be accompanied by a book which illustrates many of the same techniques demonstrated on the tour.

The album will have spoken instructions on self-defense techniques between songs performed by an impressive line-up of

Northwest musicians. One of the songs, entitled "Target Practice," is designed to teach the key targets on an attacker's

body.

The band is concerned with expressing their messages to others. They speak passionately about the need for self-worth,

self-confidence, and inner strength. To illuminate Jody's own self-confidence, I asked her, seriously, if she thought she could

deck me. I'm nearly 6 foot 7 inches, and not small. Jody can't be taller than 5 foot 8 inches. She said she knew that she

could.

Team Dresch has had an excellent opportunity to voice their ideas on their two-month national tour. They met people who

expressed gratitude to the band for making them feel like they're not alone, and for the self-defense instruction. "I realize

that it's important to get the word out, more than I thought it was before the tour," says Donna, "just because of some of the

mail we've gotten from kids. They were really inspired by our self-defense demo. Now they're rewriting us that they're

taking self-defense classes."

All three of the primary members of Team Dresch have established, interesting histories in the Northwest music

communities. Donna Dresch has been in many bands including Rastro!, Nisqually Delta Podunk Nightmare, Dangermouse,

Lois, and, although she doesn't like to talk about it, Dinosaur Jr. and the Screaming Trees. She also has a fanzine/record

label called Chainsaw and used to work at K Records. Jody Bleyle played in Portland's Lovebutt and currently drums in

Hazel. She runs Candy-Ass records, which put out recordings by her own bands as well as the Surf Maggots, Sone, Thirty

Ought Six and the New Bad Things. Kaia Wilson has a concurrent solo career and was previously

in Eugene's Adickdid.

Despite their musical histories, listening to Team Dresch doesn't echo any of these other bands. They got together in late

'93, and played their first show opening for the Spinanes and Lois at La Luna in Portland on January 1st, 1994. For several

months, the band played without a steady name. They considered the monikers Magic Animal and Dyke Access Road.

The band have recorded their first album, put out a single on Kill Rock Stars and appeared on a handful of compilations.

During the past year, Team Dresch have had five drummers. Jody jokes that Team Dresch is like the Fastbacks in that

regard. Some drummers have lasted for entire tours and albums, some for just a practice or two. At the time of the

interview, they had just parted ways with drummer number four, Marci Martinez (who still drums in Portland’s Pimpslap).

Their interim drummer is Teddy Miller (li'l E of The Brothers E), late of Crackerbaash and currently of Satan's Pilgrims.

Team Dresch's debut LP should be out on January 23rd. Artwork has been delaying its release a couple of months. The

album is entitled Personal Best, after the 1982 movie in which Mariel Hemingway played a lesbian track runner. "For a lot

of people it was their first glimpse at lesbian lovemaking," says Jody. "Seeing your future can be frightening."

Personal Best is a far better reflection of the band's live sound than previous releases, which have shown a more mellow

and sedate side of Team Dresch. Many of the songs are startling because they charge along furiously and then hit a patch of

lush tranquillity. For as adept as the band is at full-throttle rocking, they also intersperse truly serene interludes that bring to

light their formidable musical talent.

Although all three members want to rock and have a good time, they take their music and it's meaning very seriously.

According to Jody, "The band means a lot to us; it means everything to us. It's a way to save ourselves through connections

with other people who are like us, so we feel like we exist. It makes us feel good, you know, self-worth, self-celebration."

A large portion of the band's lyrical content addresses their hatred for mainstream society, particularly organized religion.

The song, "Growing Up in Springfield," off Personal Best, is about one of the first girls with whom Kaia feel in love. Kaia

was 14. The girl was a straight, and a devout Christian. She told Kaia that she was evil and needed to pray, and to change

her lesbian ways. The song "Hate the Christian Right" is about the band's distaste of organized religion.

"They want to kill us and want to kill them," says Jody. "And we will be victorious."

From THE ROCKET by ??

Everyone's throwing the term "queercore" around these days. Queercore this, queercore that. Queercore for the queercorps. Because

Portland's Team Dresch openly announce that they are an all-queer band, they run the risk of getting thrown in with what is basically an

undefined genre. Team Dresch deserve to be set apart from the majority of their compatriots in queer bands like Tribe 8 and Huggy

Bear, who are known for their extremely aggressive music. Team Dresch know how to do aggressive, but there is a textural gentleness

to their music that is almost, well, soothing.

Named after their bassist Donna Dresch, Team Dresch is a strange name for a band. When asked why they chose the name, guitarist

Jody Bleyle says, "Because we love Donna, Donna's our hero, and because we're a team and we love each other." And also because they

couldn't settle on anything else. They went several months without a name, playing as "Jody, Donna, Kaia and okay, Scott too." They even

sometimes asked their audiences to help them choose a name, but didn't settle on one until just right before thier first 7" came out.

The four women in Team Dresch have all been in other significant bands--singer Kaia Wilson was in Adickdid, Dresch has been in bands

ranging from Dangermouse to Dinosaur Jr., Bleyle currently plays drums in Hazel, and drummer Marci Martinez was in the last line-up

of Calamity Jane.

The band got together in December of '93, and played their first show on January 1st. When starting out, the band also included

drummer Scott Plouf (of the Spinanes) who has since moved on because he's just too busy for two bands. Marci Martinez later filled his

shoes, rounding out what is now an all queer band.

As a band consisting of four lesbians, they have set a few rules for themselves. They don't play straight bars, unless on a queer bill. They

prefer to play queer all-ages shows, when possible. On a recent tour down the West Coast they encountered "old lesbians sitting at a

weird bar in Los Angeles, at happy hour, who ended up staying there all night, just drinking," says Bleyle. "And by the end of the night

they were attacking us, and we had to fend them off with our guitars." While they insist that their sexual preferences are a very

important aspect of their identities, it is not all that they're about. They're not very likely to put off straight audiences.

As for their sound, the best way to describe is diverse. Some of the songs are speedy little pop-punk numbers, but the band also have a few

slower songs. Most of the songs feature Wilson's voice, which is as precious as it is powerful. Live, they often swap instruments, with

Jody, at various tiimes, tackling singing, guitar, bass, and drums in the course of one show.

The band recently put out a single on Olympia's Kill Rock Stars label, which is a surprising choice, considering that Donna works at K

Records, and both Donna and Jody have their own labels (Chainsaw and Candy-Ass, respectively). Jody and Donna will co-release the

band's first full length, which they promise will be ready in October.

Team Dresch article from RAYGUN April, 1996 by ??

Wynona Ryder? WhatEVER! Jodie Foster? Latrrr, laydee! Its time to wipe clean your pin-up wall, kids of all ages, cause the new Team

Dresch artwork is cumming soon to a bedroom near you! Nearly two years ago after the release of their debut disc Personal Best (the

title a wink-wink, nudge-nudge to Mariel Hemmingway's girl-girl love movie), the Portland-based quartet known as Team Dresch have

returned with an even stronger shock o' tunes entitled Captain My Captain. It's fresh! It's hot! It's lesbionic!

Team Dresch members make beautiful music, both seperately and together. First up to the plate, there's Donna Dresch, the group's

namesake and seasoned veteran (ex- Screaming Trees, Dinosaur Jr and Dangermouse). In the on-deck circle is Jody Coyote (a.k.a. Jody

Bleyle, Hazel drummer/co-vocalist), another talented musician and all-around bright spark. Both instrumental switch hitters, Donna and

Jody swap guitar and bass duties. New to this year's roster is drummer Melissa York (also a member of New York's Vitapup), an East

Coast resident/West Coast transient who's in town just long enough to film a video, practice the songs, and talk to folks like me. Last but

not least, there is Kaia Kangeroo, the groups hunka-hunka burnin punk. Kaia's melodic punk rock vocals can make any young girl weak

in the knees: her deperate screams and pleadings especially whos her greatness. So much swooning occurs, in fact, that fellow

Kangaphiles have started up a Kaia Krush Help Center on the Web (www.jett.com). Her solo album is out this summer. Hang tight, kids.

Help is coming.

Jody and Donna are more than just musicians. Punk rockers by night, record company execs by day...sort of. Donna's label Chainsaw

(which has released works by Heavens to Betsy, Excuse Seventeen, The Fakes, and more) is housed in the same room as Jody's

Candy-Ass Records (Thirty-Ought Six and Free To Fight, a self-defense compilation for girls). Like so many labors of love, these labels

just scrape by financially, powered more by enthusiasm than a quest for profit. In this seemingly indie-positive era, Jody penned

"Enemies" to remind people that some folks' musical motivations aren't always as pure as they seem. "It's not taking on a specific band;

it's not even taking on specific labels. It's just taking on the attitude that people shouldn't have to do any work to get anything. Bascially

the reason that indie labels are cool because they are a lot of hard work and I think that's been forgotten."

"When people are ready to sign to a major label," adds Donna, "they'll say, 'I think you should put a record out on an independent, ' and

that's really insulting. It's thought of as being like a little farm team. It's insulting if you really believe in something. It also makes it

hard to maintain your integrity, which everyone struggles with all the time."

There are a number of re-occuring themes that weave through Captain My Captain. Most prevalent are fear and introspection. (Don't you

worry, pin-up fans...there's lots of love and lust, too). At the root of the very raw pains Jody's struggle to get healthy following her

breakdown in 1995.

"I went mental," she recalls, looking half-amused, half self-conscious. "They thought I was manic depressive. I think that after 25 years

of being manic, I just collapsed and coldn't get out of bed for five months. Then I got better." It's still a fresh wound- writing about it

cathartically is one thing, but talking publicly about it, admits Jody, is entirely another. "I wouldn't answer your question if I didn't wa

nt to...here's why I have: We're so out about being queer, but it's important to be public about other things in life that might be

stigmatized - such as mental illness -because you realize how important it is for people to find each other, no matter what their problems

are. At this point, saying that you're gay isn't half as hard as saying you're manic depressive. So it reminds you that you really need to

try to reach out and touch and comfort each other."

"Queer magazines don't interview us!" Jody interjects. This seems incredible, since the '90s will likely be remembered as the

"It's-Cool-To-Be-Bi-Curious" age. And why not? "Cause we rock! 'Cause we're not Tribe 8, and they've already interview Tribe 8," she

laughs, only half-kidding. Will this, then be the year that brings both critical and commercial success their way? Can the press lose it's

control-freak mentality long enough to realize how good an album is? Is 1996 the year that MTV finally plays a Team Dresch video?

"There is NO way," insists Kaia. "The only way it would possibly happen is if we totally desexualied ourselves. And that's not gonna

happen."

My interview with Jody for my zine, Ballroom Etiquette

ME:Why did you choose to start a record label of your own? & Is there any sort of story as to why you chose to call your label Candyass?

JODY:I started the label as a resource for musicians in Portland to share information i was picking up touring with Hazel and to be able to

branistorm projects like Free to Fight and to know how to get them made. I also want to be able to support queer musicians especially

gender freaks who are taken advantage of and not repressented fairly other places because people don’t know what we’re all about. The

name Candy Ass was sort of a joke on the big biz of music because it sort of means weak so we could say ”why don’t you take your candy

ass bullshit back to LA where someone will buy it” combined with many references to gay culture.

When did you come out to your parents? What was it like? How did they take it?

I came out to my parents when i was 20. My mom didn’t hear me and 6 months later when I was talking to her about it she was like, “what, I

didn’t know you were gay?” And I said “MOM I explicitly told you 6 months ago!!!” and she didn’t remember. Denial is powerful. Then

she said what about grandkids?? And I had to explain that I hadn’t had my uterus removed. They haven’t really dealt with it in terms of

talking about it and it being normal, they just ignore it. But when my 15 year old brother came out this year I told them that although they

haven’t dealt actively with my homoness, they better deal with his or they’ll find him dead in his room. They’ve been dealing better with

him.

Where does the whole Jody Coyote (and Kaia Kangaroo, etc, etc...) thing come from?

We wanted alliterative last names like Donna’s (I guess mine just rhymes)

If you could create a national holiday, what would it be?

It’s like may day the stay home spend no money communist holiday to be made an offical US holiday.

The media seems to put so much emphasison the fact of Team Dresch being lesbians...do you think that is an important aspect of Team

Dresch as a band? (Do you feel like you guys are “spokesmodels” of sorts for queer punk?)

Being Lesbos is a very important aspect of our lives and of our band’s life. I like talking about it, I think it’s an interesting dialogue going

on about gender and sexual identity and I want it to be as challenging and talked about as possible. I’m learning shit, I know that.

Do you ever sing in the shower?

All the time and I’m starting to feel like I already did this interview but maybe I just read the ?s and didn’t answer them. If I did you’ll get

two sets of answers and see what shit I make up!

How old were you when you got your first record? What was that record?

Well it’s hard to say because I loved Bobby Vinton in first grade but I’d say the first record I bought myself was Kiss Destroyer. I actually

convinced my dad to buy it for my mom’s birthday but he knew I just wanted it. I used to buy all the top 40 7”s back in the day.

What was life like for you in high school? Did you like it?

I hung out with my friend John and drank wine coolers and recorded on his 4track a lot. I hated school because of all the horrible ways kids

get treated there and my house was an emotional vacuum so I tried to spend as little time there as possible but it seems like I always had

one or two teachers who I could talk to as real people and ditto with friends so it wasn’t so bad. I also lived 45 miles from NYC so I could

go there a lot. But yeah it sucked.

Say you are trapped somewhere. like a deserted island or something to that effect, and you can have one person on that island that you

don’t know..who would it be?

Joni Mitchell

Interview with Jody from Interview Magazine,

JAMES PFEFFER: It seemslike a lot of "queer" musicians have had to start their own labels, like you and Donna have done with

Chainsaw and Candyass. Is this because of the difficulty of getting signed to majors?

JODY BLEYLE: It is, and has been, difficult for queer artists to get signed by a major label. But I think for the people you're talking

about, it's a matter about wanting to have complete self-representation. We're not interested in handing ourselves over to a bunch of

people who don't understand us.

JP: Are you making a concerted effort to sing about queer issues because so few people do?

JB: I write about queer issues only inasmuch as I make a concerted effort to write songs not just about my life, but about what I see. For

me, most of the songs I write are written to myself because it's what I need to hear, what I need to rmemeber, and what I need to convince

myself of so that I don't forget who I am.

JP:Do you think the world is ready for an all-female punk band?

JB: The world has already experienced all-woman punk bands. If you mean, do I think a female punk band could sell a million records,

then yeah, if they're Hole or whatever. But do I think that institutionalized sexism is going to fall? No.

JP: What kinds of assumptions do people make about you?

JB: That we're man haters and that the only emotion we feel is anger.

JP:Do you feel any obligation to be a role model?

JB: I feel an obligation to be myself and to be as honest as possible about all aspects of my life. I don't think the way to be a role model is to

be positive all the time. I think the point is to show yourself as a full human being: good, bad, brave, and scared.