Kat Bjelland
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| Kat Bjelland | |
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 Issue #41 ROCKRGRL featuring singer Kat Bjelland
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Katherine Bjelland |
| Born | December 8, 1963 Salem, Oregon, United States |
| Origin | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock Grunge Indie rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Years active | 1985-present |
| Label(s) | Treehouse Twin Tone Southern Reprise Sympathy for the Record Industry Rish |
| Associated acts | Sugar Babydoll Pagan Babies/Italian WhoreNuns Babes in Toyland Crunt Katastrophy Wife |
| Website | www.katbjelland.com |
Kat Bjelland (Katherine Bjelland, born December 8, 1963) was the lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Babes in Toyland. She is also the lead singer/guitarist and founder of the band Katastrophy Wife. Bjelland is known for her loud, dramatic, and powerful vocal range, as well as her keen, intense, powerful physical presence.
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[edit] Childhood
Though most associate Bjelland with the music scene that sprung up in the city of Minneapolis, she was actually born in Salem, Oregon and grew up in nearby Woodburn, Oregon. Her mother was Lynne Irene Higginbotham (married to Lyle Bjelland).
She attended Woodburn High School where she was a popular student and cheerleader. It was while a teenager that Bjelland became interested in music. Her uncle, David Higginbotham, taught her to play guitar, and her first performance was at a small bar in Woodburn called Flight 99 (now defunct), with the band called 'The Neurotics'. A Portland band called 'The Dots' opened for them.
[edit] Early career
Shortly after graduation from high school in 1982, Bjelland moved to Portland, Oregon, where she formed a series of bands, first The Neurotics and then an all-female band called The Venarays, which Bjelland has described as "rock with a '60s edge":
The Neurotics were comprised of Kat Bjelland (rhythm guitar); her uncle David Higginbotham (lead guitar); Marty Wyman (vocals); Dave Hummel (drums); and Laura Robertson (bass).
- After The Neurotics I got this band together with my best friends, so it was an all-girl band. We were called The Venarays. The name came from the word venary which means actively hunting out sex! We began as a way of having fun with each other.[1]
In reality, the Venarays was not an all girl band. Drums were performed by Dave Hummel, and later, Jack Rhodes. The name 'Venarays' was originally taken from a Television character from the early 50's program called 'Rocky Jones Space Ranger' in which actress Sally Mansfield portrayed Vena Ray. After the band was named, some members of the band discovered the word 'venary' in the dictionary and became confused regarding the origin.
After quitting The Venarays, Bjelland formed a band with a new friend, Courtney Love, and bassist Jennifer Finch. Love went on to form the band Hole, while Finch would be part of L7. The band went by several names, including: Sugar Babydoll, Sugar Babylon and Sugar Bunnyfarm.
Around 1985, in San Francisco, Bjelland and Love formed a new band called Pagan Babies with Deidre Schletter on drums and Janis Tanaka (later in Stone Fox, L7, and with the famous singer Pink) on bass.[2] When Love left, this lineup played under the name Italian WhoreNuns.[3]
Demo versions of songs that Bjelland and Love worked on together, including "Best Sunday Dress", which was later played by Hole on numerous occasions, are available on various Hole fan sites.
[edit] Babes in Toyland
In the mid-1980s, Bjelland moved from Portland to Minneapolis, where she would eventually form Babes in Toyland, becoming their lead singer and guitarist. Babes in Toyland would achieve minor success in the early 1990s. Babes in Toyland's debut single on Treehouse Records ("Dust Cake Boy" b/w "Spit to See the Shine") was an instant success. Bjelland's pro-female approach soon earned her recognition as a feminist icon. Bands such as Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Sleater-Kinney have all given respect to Bjelland and named her as a main influence, while less political female bands like Jack Off Jill, 7 Year Bitch, and Fluffy have also cited Bjelland and Babes in Toyland as a major inspiration. The Babes' career peaked in mainstream exposure when they headlined the Lollapalooza tour in 1993.[4]
[edit] Crunt
Earlier in 1993, Bjelland had begun a side project called Crunt with new husband Stuart Gray (aka Stu Spasm), formerly of Lubricated Goat. Bjelland played bass and Gray guitar, while Russell Simins of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was the drummer. In February 1994, the band released a self-titled debut, along with its first single, "Swine". For a time there was talk that Crunt would replace Babes in Toyland as Bjelland's main project, but by the time Bjelland and Gray divorced in January 1995, Crunt was over.[5]
[edit] Courtney Love and the Kinderwhore controversy
Love and Bjelland have had a long and complex relationship. They are sometimes referred to as "friends/enemies." In 1992, Bjelland accused Love of stealing the Kinderwhore look, which involved babydoll dresses and girlish vintage pieces paired with red lipstick and other sexualizing signifiers, while Love accused Bjelland of the same thing.
Bjelland and Love eventually made amends. Bjelland collaborated with Love on the track "I Think That I Would Die" on Hole's second album, Live Through This. In a recent interview, Bjelland was asked if the song "Bruise Violet" was written about Courtney Love, since one of Hole's hits was entitled "Violet". Her response was no, and that "Violet" was a muse that both she and Love wrote about.
In 1996, Bjelland and Love appeared in Lisa Rose Apramian's feminist punk documentary, "Not Bad For a Girl."
[edit] Katastrophy Wife and current projects
With Babes in Toyland playing only sporadically in the late 1990s, Bjelland started the band Katastrophy Wife in 2000. The band toured at venues, such as Ladyfest, worldwide. Katastrophy Wife have so far released two albums, Amusia and All Kneel; as well as a new single Heart On on the Australian record label Rish in April 2007.[6] Bjelland has also done some soundtrack work. In an update to the Katastrophy Wife website, Bjelland reported that "Katastrophy Wife have had a few incarnations but from here on I will only re-incarnate my self."[7]
She produced the album The Seven Year Itch for the band Angelica, released in 2002.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- 1990-Spanking Machine (Babes in Toyland)
- 1991-To Mother (Babes in Toyland)
- 1992The Peel Sessions (Babes in Toyland)
- 1992-Fontanelle (Babes in Toyland)
- 1993-Painkillers (Babes in Toyland)
- 1994-Crunt (Crunt)
- 1994-Dystopia(Babes in Toyland)
- 1995-Nemesisters (Babes in Toyland)
- 2000-Lived(Babes in Toyland)
- 2000-Devil(Babes in Toyland)
- 2000-Viled(Babes in Toyland)
- 2001-Minneapolism(Babes in Toyland)
- 2001-Amusia (Katastrophy Wife)
- 2004-All Kneel (Katastrophy Wife)
- 2004-The Best of Babes In Toyland and Kat Bjelland
- 2007-Pregnant (Katastrophy Wife)
[edit] Singles
- 1989-Dust Cake Boy (Babes in Toyland)
- 1990-House (Babes in Toyland)
- 1991-Handsome and Gretel (Babes in Toyland)
- 1991-Bruise Violet (Babes in Toyland)
- 1993-Catatonic (Babes in Toyland)
- 1994-Swine (Crunt)
- 1995-Sweet '69 (Babes in Toyland)
- 1995-We Are Family (Babes in Toyland)
- 2001-Gone Away (Katastrophy Wife)
- 2003-Liberty Belle (Katastrophy Wife)
- 2003-Money Shot (Katastrophy Wife)
- 2004-Blue Valiant (Katastrophy Wife)
- 2007-Heart-On (Katastrophy Wife)
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.katbjelland.com/venerays/indexvenerays.html Katbjelland.com Retrieved on 05-10-07
- ^ http://www.katbjelland.com/paganbabies/indexpaganbabies.html Katbjelland.com Retrieved on 05-10-07
- ^ http://www.katbjelland.com/italianwhorenuns/indexwhorenuns.html Katbjelland.com Retrieved on 05-10-07
- ^ Karlen, Neil Playboy Magazine 1/96 http://www.nirvanafreak.net/art/art54.shtml Playboy Magazine 1/96 Nirvanafreak.net
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:aw7zeflk7gf2~T0 Allmusic.com Retrieved on 05-10-07
- ^ http://www.rishrecords.com
- ^ http://katastrophywife.com/kat.html Katastrophywife.com Retrieved on 05-10-07
