“A few months after we’d started Bikini Kill, Kurt [Cobain] asked Tobi [Vail] to be the drummer for Nirvana, and Tobi said no because she was convinced our band was going to change the landscape for women in music,” Kathleen Hanna revealed in her recently released memoir. “Tobi Vail could have been the drummer for Nirvana, but she chose to be in a feminist band instead.”
Over thirty years later, the riot grrrl veterans haven’t lost any steam — in fact, they’ve only picked up more. Despite years of inactivity and no fresh material since the 90s, their message continues to get louder as younger generations emulate it in a world made better by their punk predecessors. Today, Kathleen, Tobi and Kathi [Wilcox] simply need to take the stage, turn the volume up to maximum and play their ageless catalogue to remind the world that nothing has been the same since they stormed the music circuit and altered it in ways even their greatest critics have failed at undoing.
Bikini Kill, along with all the acts that emerged around and after them, are purveyors of advancement, and their multiplying troops are a testament to their impact — the group’s back-to-back shows at the Wiltern in Los Angeles on August 15 and 16 are proof of that.
Performing a string of hits such as “Double Dare Ya,” “I Hate Danger,” “Reject All American” and, of course, “Rebel Girl,” they once again stoked their drive for equality through songs that have historically proven to be dangerously contagious. As the ladies switched roles and Tobi took the mic for a few songs, it became clear that of all the 90s bands and movements, the one they led has persisted with more force than the rest.
“We don’t have to keep answering illogical questions with logic all the time,” Kathleen told the roaring crowd. “We can answer them with songs; we can answer them with poetry; we can walk the fuck away.”
Bikini Kill, of course, did anything but walk away.
Bikini Kill At The Wiltern In Los Angeles
Kathleen Hanna w/ Bikini Kill in Los Angeles | Photo Credit: Karan Singh
Kathi Wilcox w/ Bikini Kill in Los Angeles | Photo Credit: Karan Singh
Kathleen Hanna w/ Bikini Kill in Los Angeles | Photo Credit: Karan Singh
