Rock bitch
| Rock bitch | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Alternative rock , crossover |
| founding | 1996 as Red Abyss |
| resolution | 2002 |
| Website | www.rockbitch.com |
| Founding members | |
| Julie Worland | |
| Luci "Stage Slut" | |
guitar |
Lisa "Babe" Wills |
| Amanda "The B * tch" Smith-Skinner | |
| Nikki Fay | |
| Joanne Heeley | |
guitar |
Tony Skinner "Beast" |
"Sex Magick " priestess |
Chloe, Martina, Kali |
| Last occupation | |
singing |
Julie Worland |
guitar |
Luci "Stage Slut" |
guitar |
Lisa Wills "Babe" |
Fretless bass |
Amanda Smith-Skinner |
Keyboard |
Nikki Fay |
Drums |
Joanne Heeley |
"Sex Magick" priestess |
Chloe, Martina, Kali |
Rockbitch was a British , mostly female rock band. She was known for performing sex acts with concert goers and pagan rituals during the stage show.
Band history
Rockbitch was originally founded as Red Abyss by bassist Amanda "The Bitch" Smith-Skinner, the founder of a matriarchal , polyamorous , pagan, feminist commune . The band's last appearance was originally supposed to take place at a biker festival. At short notice the band decided to integrate some pagan sex rituals of their commune into the performance. This new approach to performance brought a new era for the band.
In 1997 a live album was released, and in 1999 their only studio album. By 2000 the line-up became an all-female line-up: Amanda “The Bitch” Smith-Skinner on fretless bass , Julie Worland on vocals, Lisa “Babe” Wills as lead guitarist , Luci “Stage Slut” as rhythm guitarist , Nikki Fay on keyboard and Jo Heeley on drums and several "sex magick priestesses" dancing on the stage and some of the sexual magical supported rituals. Former lead guitarist Tony "The Beast" stayed on as manager and producer.
A second studio album called Psychic Attack was never officially released, but several times as a bootleg released and is available on various torrent to find pages.
The band encountered increasing resistance: performances were banned and albums censored in several countries. After a video-recorded concert in Almelo , the mayor's announcement that the band would be banned in future concerts provided a further boost in popularity.
In 2002 Rockbitch broke up. The cast was later active "in a dressed, less theatrical incarnation" under the name MT-TV . Amanda Smith-Skinner and Jo Heeley founded the all-female band Syren with singer-songwriter Erin Bennett; this dissolved after drummer Joanne Heeley died of breast cancer in 2012. The remaining ex-Rockbitch members still live together as a commune.
Music genre
Rockbitch played "theatrical heavy rock " with operatic vocals from Worland, Smith-Skinner's "fluid, often funky bass lines" and Wills's "burning guitar".
The music was initially influenced by jazz , funk and rock as well as the Janis Joplin- inspired singing of singer Julie. Over time, the music got heavier, significantly influenced by punk and metal.
Concept and appearances
As Red Abyss, Lisa “Babe” Wills said in the official biography, the band hid their lifestyle behind a facade and censored their natural behavior. The sexually aggressive behavior of Rockbitch was also a reaction to the sexism in the music business, in which men were allowed to behave in a sexualized manner, whereas women were treated with hostility for it.
At concerts, a “golden condom” was thrown into the audience, the catcher, whether male or female, was invited to backstage sex with the musicians; according to Wills, only men pinched, Babe pointed out. The singer penetrated the guitarist on stage with a strap-on dildo . The appearance should not primarily shock, but liberate female sexuality from its stigma.
In addition to sexuality, paganism was also important to Rockbitch's music and philosophy. Babe emphasized in this context that the band represented neither Wicca nor Satanism . Apparently sex, especially cunnilingus and vaginal penetration , was considered sacred and this celebration of sexuality was extended to the worship of nature in general.
Discography
- 1992: Luci's Love Child (as Red Abyss)
- 1997: Rockbitch Live in Amsterdam
- 1997: Bitchcraft (concert / documentary video , TV Amsterdam, 76 minutes)
- 1998: The Bitch'O'Clock news (concert / documentary video )
- 1999: Motor Driven Bimbo
- 2002: Psychic Attack (unreleased, available as a bootleg and through torrent sites)
- 2002: Sex, Death & Magick (concert / documentary video)
- 2003: This Is Rockbitch (documentary video, afp Films, 49 minutes)
Web links
- Official website (archive)
- Rockbitch in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Rockbitch at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Alan Cross: This all-woman rock band had sex with their fans during gigs. In: A Journal of Musical Things. January 23, 2018, accessed July 9, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rockbitch. In: The Weirdest Band in the World. January 4, 2015, archived from the original on January 6, 2015 ; accessed on December 7, 2019 .