I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, a region where the aura of the 90s music scene still hangs like the constant gray clouds. These artists are icons in many places, but only walking down the dreary streets of downtown Olympia is “I bet Kurt Cobain touched this” heard as a partly ironic, partly hopeful saying. For a lot of people, this distanced deference or actual nostalgia felt listening to old records is the last they will get of the era. But last Thursday the 21st, a packed room of fans at The Sinclair got to live (or re-live) some of this energy as The Julie Ruin performed.
Frontwoman Kathleen Hanna, joined by guitarist Sara Landeau, bassist Kathi Wilcox, keyboardist Kenny Mellman, and drummer Carmine Covelli, make up the “punk-pop-dance feminist” band The Julie Ruin. In 1999, Hanna created the original Julie Ruin record alone in her bedroom after Bikini Kill broke up. The Julie Ruin proper was put together in 2010, and Hit Reset is their second record and tour circuit.
The night opened with a performance from Seth Bogart (of Hunx and his Punx). His set was fun, colorful, and elaborately costumed and outfitted with props. 80s-style ads for products like “mantyhose” and fake PSAs asking “where did all the daddies go?” interluded his performances. His stage presence was fun and overtly sexual, but it was the visuals accompanying his entire set that rounded out the performance into a smart, snarky commentary on materiality. Bogart, who collaborated with Hanna on “Eating Makeup” on his solo album, was an exuberant and sweet start to the night.
The wave of feminism Hanna is associated with was about speaking out, about standing up, about being angry at a world that makes life in a female body inherently dangerous and difficult. While The Julie Ruin carries some of the 90s feminist-punk sound, they stand strong and fresh amongst their contemporaries. From their well-received Courtney Barnett cover to screaming lines like “start a Kickstarter for your heart” during “Planet You”, it was clear that The Julie Ruin embraces and riffs on the unique culture of 2016.
Lyrically, The Julie Ruin falls right alongside the brutally honest, arrestingly raw style of Bikini Kill, but the electronic elements are a lot more like her intermediate project Le Tigre. Still, watching Hanna perform the raw, angry monologue verse of “Be Nice” felt like a flashback to her raw punk performances.
Hanna and keyboardist Mellman (of Kiki and Herb) maintained a natural banter throughout the night. The small size of the venue and candor of the performers created a safe intimacy to the night, as Hanna discussed the stories of abuse and healing her music deals with, drawing the crowd into “Hit Reset”. Their music felt like a vital release in world that still feels like a battlefield for so many people.
Though Hanna took a performance hiatus from 2005-2013 to take care of herself while undergoing treatment from Lyme disease, she shows with The Julie Ruin’s album and tour that it’s never too late to make a comeback—and that her fans will always be there.