Photo by Adrian Saenz.

It’s 2017, and, like Fannie Lou Hamer before us, we’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. What do we want? In the words of gSp: TOTAL LIBERATION. gSp (short for girlSperm, a name they’ve previously discussed) is an idea as much as it’s a band. It’s about hanging out with your friends, watching movies, skating for fun, and talking about the radical possibilities of change. Composed of punk stalwarts Marissa Magic, Layla Gibbon, and Tobi Vail, gSp laments life under late capitalism with catchy, dual guitar riffs, chanted gang vocals, and drumming that drives the beat ever forward. Towards what? Hopefully a brighter future where this feminist punk supergroup can be the soundtrack we play in the streets. The debut gSp self-titled 12-inch is out now on Thrilling Living Records. . . .

November 13, 2017 - It’s been a few days and I still can’t articulate the joy I felt playing drums for The Raincoats this past weekend at the Kitchen in New York. We were celebrating the band and the release of the amazing book The Raincoats, written by Jenn Pelly, about their self-titled LP. This weekend brought out so many old friends who mean the world to me. I was so happy and honored to celebrate The Raincoats and Jenn’s work with them.

Being a random person who grew up in Alabama, I am still processing all of my feelings from this experience. Most of the songs we played were from The Raincoats’ first album, and the drummer who helped write these songs and performed them was there with us. This drummer is Palmolive, a legend and icon. She is one of the most unique and forward-thinking drummers. Since I was a kid, she has always inspired me to be creative and to test the limits of musicianship. Palmolive, like the rest of The Raincoats, has really tapped into an energy that is beyond anything obtained through technical mastery. The Raincoats hadn’t played with Palmolive since 1979 and I was lucky enough to not only share the kit with her for these three nights, but to also experience all three of their performances of “Adventures Close to Home” together, which the band concluded the set with at each show. . . .