ALL HANDS ON THE BIG ONE

Ok, so this will seem rather random, but it all fits together.  Let's start with Excuse 17.  Excuse 17 was a trio consisting of Becca Albee with guitar and vocals, Carrie Brownstein with guitar and vocals and Curtis James (CJ Phillips) with drums.  Formed in Olympia, Washington, Excuse 17 released two albums between 1993 to 1995 before breaking up.  Becca Albee's career wasn't nearly as successful as Carrie Brownstein's career.  After the permenent breakup of Excuse 17, Becca Albee started a brand new punk rock band called Motel No-Tell.

Corin Tucker and Tracy Sawyer formed a punk rock band called Heaven's to Bessy around the same time that Carrie Brownstein was working for Excuse 17 from 1991 to 1994.  Heaven's to Bessy released only one album before breaking up.

 

Sleater Kinney.  Formed in 1994 and breaking up in 2006,  Sleater Kinney was mostly a trio consisting of Carrie Rachel Brownstein, Corrin Tucker and drummer Janet Weiss.  I'm saying mostly a trio, because Lora Macfarlane, Toni Gogin and Misty Farrell were also members of Sleater Kinney on earlier albums when Carrie Rachel Brownstein was known as Carrie Kinney.  Originating from Olympia, Washington,  Sleater Kinney was a crucial part of the Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington grung rock movement of the early to mid-1990's.  Sleater Kinney recorded seven albums during their twelve years together.

Janet Weiss is both drummer for Sleater Kinney and she's drummer for another rock band called Quasi.  She only drums on both Sleater Kinney and Quasi, but she never actually sings or writes any music.  Sam  Coomes (A male rock star who does all the singing), Janet Weiss, and Brad Pedinov formed a rock band which released two out of circulation albums before breaking up.  Quasi was formed as a duet from the ashes of Motorgoat.   Joanna Bolme played bass guitar on a few of the Quasi albums.  Being a very busy woman, Janet Weiss did drumming for both Sleater Kinney and Quasi simultaniously and made the balancing act work perfectly.  The collaboration of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss released their latest album in 2010.

 

 

The Minders is another rock band with a male lead singer anchored by Martyn Leaper with Rebecca Cole as the drummer.  Other members of the Minders were Tammy Ealom (Who never recorded an album with the group), Jeff Almond and  Marc Willhite with some contributions from Joanna Bolme.  Rebecca Cole quit the Minders in 2008.

 

Autoclave was an all girl band that was composed of Christina Billotte with bass guitar and lead vocals, Mary Timony with lead guitar, Nikki Chapman with guitar and Melissa Berkoff with drums.  Formed in Washington D.C. in 1990, Autoclave broke up in 1991 after only one year together and only one album maximum.

 

Following the breakup of Autoclave, Christina Billotte formed a brand new rock group called Slant 6. The all girl lineup of Slant 6 was composed of Christina Billotte (electric guitar and vocals), Myra Power (electric bass guitar and vocals), and Marge Marshall (drum set and trumpet). Slant 6 was formed in July 1992 and broke up November 1995.

Following the breakup of Slant 6, Christina Billotte got together with her sister Mira Billotte to form a brand new rock group Quix*O*Tic with Mick Barr. Mick Barr played bass guitar, Mira Billotte played drums and Christina Billotte played guitar and sang lead vocals. Quix*o*Tic was formed in 1997 and broke up in 2004.

Christina Billotte got together with Kathi Wilcox (Bikini Kill and the Frumpies) and Steve Dore to create a rock group called the Casual Dots in 2002. Only one album has been recorded by the trio.

Mira Billotte (Switching from drums to piano and lead vocals) formed a brand new rock group called White Magic with Miggy Littleton (Bass Guitar and drums)and Andy Mcleod (guitar and drums). The group released their first ep album in 2004, their first and only album, Dat Rosa Mel Apibus, in 2006 and their latest single in 2011.

 Helium was originally built around lead singer and guitar player Mary Lou Lord, Jason Hatfield (Juliana Hatfield's brother), Shawn King Devlin; and Brian Dunton.  However, Mary Lou Lord and Jason Hatfield quit the band without recording anything with the group.  Mary Timony became the lead singer and lead guitar player for the group.  Helium's lineup was completed with bass guitar player Ash Bowie.  Helium recorded two albums and three ep albums between 1992 to 1998 before breaking up.

 

Shudder to Think's lead singer and guitarist Nathan Larson did a side project album and group called Mind Science of the Mind that Mary Timony participated in, but her contribution was rather small by comparison to Nathan Larson's presence on the album.

 

Mary Timony recorded four solo albums beyond her work on the rock band Helium.

 

 

Mary Timony and Carrie Rachel Brownstein did a rock group duet together called the Spells.

 

Carrie Rachel Brownstein, Mary Timony, Rebecca Cole and Janet Weiss got together to form a brand new punk rock group called Wild Flag.

Corin Tucker formed the rock band Cadallaca with two members of the punk rock band the Lookers named Sarah Dougher and STS.  Corin Tucker, Sarah Dougher and STS recorded and performed under the phoney names Kissy, Dusty, and Junior.  Cadallaca released only two albums before breaking up.

 

Corin Tucker formed the Corin Tucker Band with Sara Lund and Seth Lorinczi.

 

Punk Rock duet the Crabs members John Lunsford (vocals, guitar) and Lisa Jackson (vocals, drums), recruited Sarah Dougher as their third member in their fourth album (Sarah Dougher had nothing to do with the first three albums of the Crabs).

 

Sarah Dougher released four solo albums between 1999 to 2005.