Kat Bjelland

Kat Bjelland
Bjelland performing at Primavera Sound with Babes in Toyland, 2015
Background information
Birth name Katherine Lynne Bjelland
Born (1963-12-09) December 9, 1963
Salem, Oregon, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • bass
  • piano
Years active 1982–present
Labels
Associated acts

Katherine Lynne "Kat" Bjelland /ˈbjɛlənd/[1] (born December 9, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and guitarist. Bjelland rose to prominence as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the alternative rock band Babes in Toyland, which she formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1987.

Born in Salem, Oregon, Bjelland was raised in nearby Woodburn, and learned to play guitar as a teenager from her uncle, with whom she performed in his band shortly after graduating high school. Upon dropping out of college at age nineteen, she relocated to Portland, where she became involved in the city's music scene; there, she met Courtney Love and the two became friends, forming the band Pagan Babies.

After the dissolution of Pagan Babies in 1985, Bejalland relocated to Minneapolis, where she formed Babes in Toyland with drummer Lori Barbero. The band's debut record, Spanking Machine, was released in 1990, after which they toured Europe with Sonic Youth. This was followed by their second album, Fontanelle (1992). The band would release their third studio album, Nemesisters, in 1995. In the mid-late 1990s, Bjelland collaborated on other musical projects, including contributing as a bassist in the band Crunt with her then-husband, Australian musician Stuart Gray.

Babes in Toyland formally disbanded in 2001, and Bjelland began working with Katastrophy Wife, a project under which she released the albums Amusia (2001) and All Kneel (2004). She remained out of the public light after being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 2007, but in 2015, reunited with Babes in Toyland and began touring internationally.

Early life

Bjelland was born on December 9, 1963[2] in Salem, Oregon[3] to Lynne Irene (née Higginbotham) and Lyle Bjelland. She was raised in Woodburn, a small town north of Salem. "It's predominantly Orthodox Russians and Hispanics," Bjelland said of the community, "So being white [was] more like being a minority... We lived at the edge of town, so there was complete wilderness behind us."[4]

When Bjelland was five years old, her mother abandoned their family.[5] Bjelland's father subsequently remarried, after which she claimed to have been physically and verbally abused by her stepmother.[6][7] "You know, I really hate to talk about it because she's great now, but in my childhood she was very abusive," she said. "It probably did help my creativity a lot [though]. I was always grounded. I hate to talk about it because I feel like she doesn't think that she did it, but she was [abusive] and it influenced my life quite a great deal."[7]

Bjelland became interested in music as a young child, and began listening to rock and roll records.[1] As an adolescent, she became enamored with Rush, and attended four of their concerts.[4] She also cited Kiss, Cheap Trick, The B-52's, the Plasmatics, and Captain Beefheart among her favorite artists while growing up.[4] Her uncle, David Higginbotham, taught Bjelland to play guitar in her youth. Her first performance was at a small bar in Woodburn called Flight 99 (now defunct), playing with her uncle in a band called The Neurotics.[1][8][9]

She attended Woodburn High School, where she played on the school basketball team and was a cheerleader.[10][11] After graduating from high school in 1982, Bjelland briefly enrolled at the University of Oregon, but dropped out after her freshman year and relocated to Portland at age nineteen.[12] During this time, Bjelland worked as a stripper to support herself.[12] She became introduced to punk music after attending a Wipers concert in Portland: "I didn't know about punk rock that much," she recalled. "I was from a small town. All of a sudden I was like, 'What the fuck is this?'"[13]

Career

1982–86: Early projects

At age nineteen, Bjelland purchased her first guitar, a Rickenbacker 425, from a pawn shop for $200.[10] In Portland, 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 composed of Bjelland (rhythm guitar); her uncle David Higginbotham (lead guitar); Marty Wyman (vocals); Brian McMillan (drums); and Laura Robertson (bass).[1] Commenting on the band, Bjelland said: "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."[14] In reality, the Venarays was not an all-girl band as drummer Dave Hummel, and later, Jack Rhodes, were men. The name 'Venarays' was taken from a television character called Vena Ray in an early 1950s program called Rocky Jones Space Ranger. 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 met Courtney Love in 1984 at the Satyricon, a Portland nightclub, and the two started a band called Sugar Babydoll.[15] The two relocated to San Francisco in 1985, after which they were joined in the group by drummer Suzanne Ramsey,[16] and bassist Jennifer Finch.[17][18] Bjelland recalled: "We went through a few names, and we only played a couple of shows. It was the smallest thing I've ever done musically."[19] After Finch left the group, they renamed themselves the Pagan Babies and introduced Deirdre Schletter and Janis Tanaka, releasing a four-track demo in December 1985 before disbanding. Love went on to form the band Hole in 1989, while Finch would be part of L7.[20]

1987–2001: Babes in Toyland

Bjelland performing with Babes in Toyland in Paris, 1991

In the mid-1980s, Bjelland moved from Portland to Minneapolis, where she formed Babes in Toyland. She met Lori Barbero at a barbecue not long after moving to Minneapolis in the mid-1980s, and convinced her to become a drummer – something that Lori became talented at. The pair joined with bassist Michelle Leon, and Babes in Toyland was formed. Bjelland has said she intentionally sought out bandmates who had no instrumental experience: "Lori didn't know how to play when I met her. Michelle didn't know how to play. I was self-taught. Hopefully, from being technically inexperienced, you can use your imagination, and play the drums like an instrument instead of just being a beat-keeper. And play the bass like you feel it, from your gut, instead of saying, 'Here's my scales.'"[1]

The band recorded their first extended play, To Mother, in London in 1990, titled in honor of Bjelland's mother, whom she had discovered died of pancreatic cancer on the first day of the recording sessions.[21] After signing to Reprise Records in 1991,[22] Babes in Toyland's debut single, "Dust Cake Boy" b/w "Spit to See the Shine" was well-received. After touring Europe with Sonic Youth, the band recorded their debut album Spanking Machine, which also was well- received, and was compared to the music of The Birthday Party and New York Dolls.[6] The group would become misidentified as part of the riot grrrl movement, though Bjelland has denied having anything to do with the movement, which emphasized female domination. As she said in a 1992 interview: "I don't feel helpless or anything. I don't feel like I have to be like, "I'm a female and I can do this if I want to", cause, of course I can. I already know that, and I never felt being female hurt anything. If anything, it helped."[7]

Bjelland in Minneapolis, circa 1992

In 1991, the band toured in Europe with Sonic Youth, which was documented in the film 1991: The Year Punk Broke.[23] Following this, Babes in Toyland peaked in commercial success when they performed on a portion of the Lollapalooza tour in 1993,[24] and released their second album, Fontanelle (1992), which sold over 250,000 copies.[25] In 1994, the band was featured on the covers of Entertainment Weekly and USA Today.[26]

In 1993, Bjelland moved to Seattle and began a side project called Crunt with her then-husband, Australian musician Stuart Gray (also known as Stu Spasm),[27] formerly of Lubricated Goat.[8] Bjelland played bass and Gray guitar, while Russell Simins of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was the drummer.[28] In February 1994, the band released a self-titled debut, along with its first single, "Swine". During this time, Bjelland also co-wrote the track "I Think That I Would Die" on Hole's breakthrough album Live Through This (1994) with Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson.[29]

In January 1995, Bjelland and Gray divorced and Crunt disbanded;[30] Bjelland turned her focus back to Babes in Toyland, and the group released their third and final full-length album, Nemesisters in 1995. After this, she moved to Brooklyn, New York,[8] and contributed to the 1997 album Songs of the Witchblade: A Soundtrack to the Comic Book, for the Top Cow's comics of the same name. She composed, played and produced most of songs, with many rock and metal artists like Megadeth or Peter Steele (Type O Negative), and also collaborated with a freeform musical project called Last Frenzy in England.[31] Babes in Toyland maintained a loyal following throughout the rest of the decade, and in November 2001, played a farewell show in Minneapolis.[32]

2002–2014: Katastrophy Wife

With Babes in Toyland playing only performing sporadically in the late 1990s, Bjelland started the band Katastrophy Wife in 1998 as a side project with her then-husband, drummer Adrian Johnson.[33] The band toured at venues, such as Ladyfest, worldwide, and released two albums, Amusia (2001) and All Kneel (2004). Tom Edwards of Drowned in Sound gave All Kneel a favorable review, ranking it among Bjelland's best work.[34]

The band released a vinyl and CD single, Heart On, on the Australian record label Rish in April 2007.[35] The single was intended as a trailer for a forthcoming album, Pregnant. Katstrophy Wife's vinyl debut was on an Independent label compilation called The Tundra Sessions, featuring production by Tim Mac.[36] although as of 2011 the album has not been released. Bjelland also produced and contributed guest vocals on the album The Seven Year Itch for the band Angelica, released in 2002.[37]

In 2006, on the official Katastrophy Wife website, Bjelland wrote that "Katastrophy Wife have had a few incarnations but from here on I will only re-incarnate my self."[38] The following year, in 2007, she was diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder and institutionalized for a period, and remained out of the public light for several years.[13]

2015–present: Babes in Toyland reunion

In 2014, Bjelland reunited with former bandmates Maureen Herman and Lori Barbero and began rehearsing to perform live shows.[39] "People would show me on the Internet all these young fans who wanted to see us, and I felt kind of obligated to play," said Bjelland. "You see people with their moms and even grandmothers coming to the shows together. It's super cool. I'm just surprised at how much people still like it."[40]

In February 2015, the band played their first live show together in fourteen years in Joshua Tree, California, and performed additional shows on an international tour throughout 2015.[40][13] Bjelland commented that she intended to write new material, but that it would be concerned with "less anger about people. Now it's about things that are going on in the world. I've got a whole plethora of songs ready to go."[40]

Musical style

Influences

As a child, Bjelland's favorite band was Rush, particularly their fourth album 2112.[4] "It was kind of a band that girls didn't like, just guys liked them... I liked them because they had weird, spacey other-land lyrics, and lots of breaks, and really cool instrumentation," she said.[4] As an adolescent, she also listened to popular rock bands such as Kiss and Cheap Trick.[4] She would later credit Cocteau Twins, The Miracle Workers, and the Wipers as early influences,[8] and also said she listened to Billie Holiday as a teenager.[11] As an adult, Bjelland named Captain Beefheart, Charles Mingus, Leonard Cohen, Frightwig, Girlschool, Motörhead,[13] and other '70s metal bands as important to her.[8][41]

Voice and instrumentation

Bjelland learned to play guitar from her uncle, David Higginbotham (pictured), a local musician[1]

Bjelland has been noted by music critics for her unique screaming vocals,[1] which have been likened to those of Ozzy Osbourne and Diamanda Galás.[42] Journalist Richard Cromelin noted in a 1992 Los Angeles Times profile that "She retches her enraged lyrics, her screams skid across the beat and collide with the blunt riffs. Her voice erupts into laughs and gargles, then croons down low with eerie detachment."[43]

Commenting on her musical aspirations, Bjelland said: "It should sound like nothing that you've heard before. That's my intention... Like my singing, all I try to do is I just push myself into things where I think I can't reach notes and stuff. Sometimes it sounds really ridiculous, but then you just kind of work on it."[43] A 2015 concert review described her voice as one so powerful that it "can strip the chrome off a bumper."[44]

In Babes in Toyland, Bjelland's instrumentation and songwriting has been described as "ugly, crunching post-punk," supplemented by "rudimentary" guitar chords.[1] She learned to play guitar from her uncle, David Higgenbotham, with whom she played in his band, The Neurotics, prior to forming Babes in Toyland.[8][9] Commenting on her guitar playing, Bjelland said: "I think it's not the quantity but the quality, and I don't think it's the speed you play, it's the soul that comes out."[4] In an interview with John Peel, she reveled that she had never played with an effects pedal until 1993: "If you learn how to play without effects, you have to learn how to make your guitar speak instead of the electronics."[4]

Personal life

Bjelland was married to Australian musician Stuart Gray from 1992 to 1994,[3] and later to drummer Adrian Johnson.[31] She has one son, Henry, born c. 1999,[31] with Johnson. Bjelland has suffered with mental health issues and substance abuse problems throughout her life,[40] and claimed to have had a nervous breakdown after the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994: "[I was in Seattle after he died] to hang out with Courtney and support her. In the funeral home, I saw him dead, which was more than disturbing... I had a nervous breakdown right after that."[45] During her original tenure with Babes in Toyland, Bjelland began using heroin, though she denied using it regularly while touring.[46] "Let me make this clear: I never really did heroin on tour," she said in 2011.[46] "When I came home and was bored and depressed [and] with money, yeah, that's when I would do it. In my whole career on tour, I'm thinkin', I did it maybe three times."[46] To kick her habit prior to going on tours, Bjelland would binge drink through withdrawal symptoms.[47]

In 2007, Bjelland suffered a schizophrenic episode for which she was institutionalized.[36][40] She commented on the event, saying: "I don't know how I've progressed musically as such but a major influence in my writing was dealing with my whole schizophrenia episode. I actually haven't spoken to anyone much about this. Dealing with multiple personalities was extremely difficult because some days I didn't know who I was or where I was at. I was very lucky that Adrian stuck by and helped me through it all. So obviously that was going to affect some of what I wrote about."[36] She was later diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.[48]

Bjelland has referred to former bandmate Courtney Love as her "soul sister," commenting in a 2001 interview: "I haven't spoken to Courtney for years but soul sisters don't need to. There will always be a bond between us, regardless of whether we speak or not."[49] In the 1990s, Bjelland and Love were often pitted against one another as rivals in media, with frequent comparisons between the two's visual appearances,[50] and had a falling out after Bjelland told a reporter: "Only about a quarter of what Courtney says is true. But nobody usually bothers to decipher which are the lies. She's all about image."[49] Babes in Toyland's original bassist, Michelle Leon, claimed the rivalry between Love and Bjelland was "blown totally out of proportion," while Bjelland added in a 2011 interview: "The media did that, and it was really hurtful to me for a long time. They'd say it's some kind of battle. Which it wasn't. We were friends."[50] Bjelland participated in the Behind the Music segment on Love in 2010.[51]

Discography

Babes in Toyland

Crunt

Katastrophy Wife

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Schoemer, Karen (March 27, 1992). "Pop/Jazz; Post-Punk Angst of Babes in Toyland". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 7, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  2. ↑ Larkin 2000, p. 28.
  3. 1 2 Escamilla 1996, p. 7.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bjelland, Kat (August 28, 1993). "Kat Bjelland interview" (Interview). Interviewed by John Peel. BBC Radio One.
  5. ↑ Karlen 1994, p. 2.
  6. 1 2 True, Everett (September 22, 1990). "Spanks for the memory". Melody Maker.
  7. 1 2 3 Rose, Lisa Apriam (dir.) (1995). Not Bad for a Girl (VHS)|format= requires |url= (help). Horizon Unlimited.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Swensson, Karen (March 10, 2013). "Babes in Toyland". The Current. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  9. 1 2 Lore, Mark (September 2, 2015). "Return to Toyland". Portland Mercury. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  10. 1 2 Brian, Burrows (July 11, 2000). Natural Babe Killers (CD booklet). Babes in Toyland. United Kingdom: Snapper Music. p. 2.
  11. 1 2 Gaar 2002, p. 388.
  12. 1 2 Gaar 2002, p. 389.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Woodward, Alex (October 27, 2015). "Interview: Babes in Toyland's Kat Bjelland on the band's second coming". Gambit. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  14. ↑ Evans 1994, p. 64.
  15. ↑ St. Thomas & Smith 2004, p. 97.
  16. ↑ Baldwin 2004, p. 97.
  17. ↑ Brite 1998, p. 79.
  18. ↑ "The 15 Grungiest Grunge Artists: A Power Ranking". Paper Magazine. September 24, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  19. ↑ Evans 1994, p. 66.
  20. ↑ Bjelland, Kat et al. (October 5, 2003). "Courtney Love". E! True Hollywood Story. Season 7. Episode 32. E! Networks.
  21. ↑ Leon 2016, p. 110.
  22. ↑ Gaar 2002, p. 390.
  23. ↑ Harvey, Dennis (December 2, 1992). "1991: The Year Punk Broke". Variety. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  24. ↑ Andrews, Charlotte Richardson (February 3, 2015). "Cult heroes: Babes in Toyland's Kat Bjelland – overlooked 90s punk powerhouse". The Guardian. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  25. ↑ Earles 2014, p. 23.
  26. ↑ Karlen, Neal (August 28, 1994). "The Return of the Punk Girl Native". The New York Times. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  27. ↑ Evans 1994, p. 73.
  28. ↑ "Interview with Crunt". Maximumrocknroll (127): 50–51. 1993.
  29. ↑ Liner notes of Live Through This (1994) by Geffen Records/DGC.
  30. ↑ "Crunt – Music Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  31. 1 2 3 Vettese, John (October 22, 2015). "Babes in Toyland Rides Again: The 90s punk icons' road to reunion". The Key. Philadelphia. Archived from the original on June 17, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  32. ↑ Fonarow, Wendy (February 13, 2015). "Babes in Toyland Return as Ferocious as Ever at L.A. Comeback Show". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  33. ↑ "Katastrophy Wife Biography". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  34. ↑ Edwards, Tom (May 30, 2004). "Album Review: Katastrophy Wife: All Kneel". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  35. ↑ Katastrophy Wife (2007). Heart On (CD single)|format= requires |url= (help). Rish Records. RiSHV01.
  36. 1 2 3 Bann, Chantel (May 3, 2007). "Katastrophy Wife's KatBjelland gets her Heart-On". FasterLouder. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  37. ↑ "The Seven Year Itch - Angelica - Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  38. ↑ "Ordeals and Schpiels of the Catastrophe Wife". Katastrophywife.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2006. Retrieved May 10, 2007.
  39. ↑ Hkam, Hso (February 10, 2015). "Babes in Toyland Reunite 18 Years Later: Can They Take Us By Storm Again?". LA Weekly. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 Graves, Seth (October 29, 2015). "The alt-rock reunion boom brings Babes in Toyland to Nashville". Nashville Scene. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  41. ↑ Mundy, Chris (May 18, 1995). "Q&A: Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  42. ↑ Thompson, Ben (September 26, 1992). "Grace's grisly grunt and grind show". The Independent. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  43. 1 2 Cromelin, Richard (November 25, 1992). "Year of the Kat : Kat Bjelland's penchant for purging her emotions brings Babes in Toyland to the brink of alternative rock stardom". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  44. ↑ Reader staff (September 13, 2015). "Day two of Riot Fest: Bootsy Collins, alien jizz, and senior citizens kicking everyone's asses". Chicago Reader. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  45. ↑ Yarm 2011, p. 459.
  46. 1 2 3 Yarm 2011, p. 424.
  47. ↑ Yarm 2011, pp. 424–25.
  48. ↑ Yarm, Mark (November 18, 2014). "Babes in Toyland Reunite, With a Little Help From a Tech LLC". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  49. 1 2 Miles, Lucy (2001). "WHY KAT'S WILD ABOUT BRUM; Courtney Love's soul sister is cooling down". Birmingham Post & Mail. Retrieved May 9, 2018 – via The Free Library.
  50. 1 2 Yarm 2011, p. 353.
  51. ↑ "Courtney Love". Behind the Music. Viacom Media Networks. June 21, 2010. VH1.

Works cited

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