Bikini Kill :: Ghost Ease

Bikini Kill

“…For all the people making sense out of nonsense and nonsense out of sense.”

-Kathleen Hanna

The question isn’t, ‘where did Bikini Kill go?’, the real question is, ‘where’s my The Singles CD?’  Would there be Riot Grrrl rock without Bikini Kill? Possibly…there were other radical feminist punks in the Pacific Northwest.  But, despite the real pushback they received at the time, would that movement have struck a real cord in the zeitgeist and brought with it its politics and raw ferocity without Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox and Tobi Vail?  I’m just going to mansplain and tell you, without a doubt…no. With their twenty year hiatus (1997-2017) (see: Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin, The Frumpies), behind them, Bikini Kill has been touring relentlessly, making up for lost time with tours in Australia, Europe and some extensive North American dates under their (sequined) belts.  The whole band is multi-instrumental, switching instruments seamlessly throughout the set, with Vail even helping deliver a few of the hits, including the balls-to-the-wall “Hamster Babies” and “Feels Blind”. Hanna is chock full of stories and quips and gratitude (at some point a 13-year old girl handed Hanna a DIY zine she had brought as a gift for Bikini Kill), telling the Warfield audience how much she takes inspiration from young people for, “…putting an end to the workweek and never having a day off…” or about how she was so happy to be back in San Francisco, where the band had one of many heydays in the mid-nineties (“It’s good to be back here…”)  Reminiscing about their career, Bikini Kill is also a testament to a cultural struggle that continues to this day: “…Keep being too much,” Hanna told her devotees, “…Keep being an overflowing fucking vase!”  And in a more somber note, Hanna sang (for the second time ever live) the song “R.I.P.,” (Rest In Pissed-off-ness) a tribute song she wrote for late friend and radical faerie Portia Manson / Gene Barnes. If you came hoping for some new releases, you’re out of luck, because Hanna has stated that she isn’t interested, but also, who the fuck knows? So…if you happen to see your Bikini Kill jewel case, or your 200-count CD binder with Reject All American lying around, toss it on the stereo and remember why these rebels are the queens of your world.