It is a
well-known fact that
punk rock girls are
God's greatest invention. On this basis, the Lunachicks have a very serious claim to Rulers Of The Entire
Known Universe.
The band formed in 1988 in
New York City, and comprised
frontwoman Theo Kogan,
bassist Squid,
guitarists Sindi B and Gina and
drummer Becky. Influenced by classic NYC punk bands like the
Ramones and lumped in with the emerging
riot grrrl scene, they are also great fans of 'gross-out' humour and a kind of weird
performance art. The girls realised that
boredom is... well, boring, they avoided it at all costs. They look like a glam riot, with '
eccentric'
make-up application, lots of
leather and immense
wigs. Possibly Theo's sexiest moment came on the cover of the
Babysitters on Acid album, wearing eight-inch
stack heels, her
underwear outside her clothes and with one
finger wedged up her
nose. When they played the
Vans Warped Tour, they demanded to have one roadie specifically to buy and protect their
doughnuts.
They were 'discovered' by
Thurston Moore and
Kim Gordon from
Sonic Youth while gigging. Having been recommended to
Blast First records, they released their second album
Babysitters on Acid (eponymous debut having sunk without a trace). They moved back to Plan in 1993 for the excellent
Binge and Purge, losing Sindi somewhere along the way. Subsequent albums
Jerk of All Trades,
Pretty Ugly,
Drop Dead Live and
Luxury Problem have all been released on
Go Kart Records, along with a video, the promisingly titled
XXX Naked. Further personnel changes along the way included replacing Becky with Chip, and then replacing her with Helen (
surnames suck, remember?).
Discography:
- Lunachicks (Plan, 1989)
- Babysitters on Acid (Blast First, 1990)
- Binge & Purge (Plan, 1993)
- Jerk Of All Trades (Go Kart, 1995)
- Pretty Ugly (Go Kart, 1997)
- Drop Dead Live (Go Kart, 1998)
- Luxury Problem (Go Kart, 1999)