Eschewing songwriting hierarchy, dismissing apolitical gender readings, and blurring the musical distinctions that typify “form” and “content,” San Francisco-based trio Grass Widow definitely ain’t your typical all-female rock act. According to the band:
We want to thrive in our scene as musicians, with a focus on our musicianship first, not our gender. Our goal is to normalize the role of gender in our craft and have an avenue to express our intelligence and our love of music. We acknowledge that movements of the past created by or affecting women in the art and music worlds are hugely influential, but there is potential for the original sentiments to lose potency if the meaning is misinterpreted or not redesigned for a modern context. Even the riot grrl movement is kind of antiquated. You never really hear people talk about that ‘new riot grrl’ band. We owe a great deal to that lineage but it’s time for something new. We want to be portrayed as the responsible, thoughtful people that we are.
And thoughtful people they are: Grass Widow are playing Beijing’s Tanglewood Music Festival later this month before returning to the US for more dates throughout September. Their second full-length, Past Time, is out today on Kill Rock Stars, making this particular Chocolate Grinder post utterly relevant.
• Grass Widow: http://myspace.com/grasswidowmusic
• Kill Rock Stars: http://www.killrockstars.com
