San Francisco area surf queens, The Trashwomen.
The great Dave Crider of Estrus Records knew what he was doing when he signed San Francisco area girl group The Trashwomen to the label back in the early 90s. The group was originally conceived as a kind of one-off thing when they were asked to perform a live set of covers by 60s Minneapolis teen rockers The Trashmen. The glue for the concept was the talent of long-time smoking hot guitarist Elka “Kitten Kaboodle” Zolot who joined forces with Tina “Boom Boom” Lucchesi on drums and Dannielle “Lead Pedal” Pimm on bass—neither of which could play their assigned instruments at the time. Four weeks later the day of the gig arrived and according to those who were there to see it, their fledgling show was a success.
The Trashwomen quickly released a couple of singles before getting picked up by Estrus that was already home to bands such as The Mummies; New York fuzz-freaks The Mooney Suzuki; Southern Culture on the Skids; and one best bands to ever come out of Bellingham, Washington (led by Crider himself), Mono Men. Sometime during their existence, the girls crowned themselves the “Queens of Tease Rock” and Zolot’s powerful riffs added an extra layer of cool to The Trashwomen’s smutty lyrics, like their nod to the usefulness of sex toys, “Batteries.” Playing up their tough vibe, the band was all about cultivating an image of a pin-up girl gang gone bad. Who instead of running away with the band, stole their fucking instruments and started their own groovy group.
Though they would disband while on tour in Japan in 1996—and members of the trio would go on to other things—they have continued to and play live gigs and in 2016 The Trashwomen performed a set at the Burger Boogaloo music festival in Oakland which was hosted by John Waters. You can see Waters’ introducing The Trashwomen as well as their entire set, here. I’ve included a few cheeky images of the trio as well as three songs from their small but stellar discography “I’m Trash” and “Cum on Baby” from their 1993 album Spend the Night With the Trashwomen and 1994’s “Batteries.”
Welcome to surf rock, baby.
The cover of the 1993 album ‘Spend the Night With the Trashwomen’ by The Trashwomen.
“I’m Trash,” 1993.
“Cum on Baby,” 1993.
“Batteries,” 1994.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Classic Japanese punk band ‘The Star Club’ covering Sham 69,The Clash, & the Ramones
FEEL THE FUZZ: Insane music from obscure vintage Japanese psych & garage rock bands
Fuzzed-out Japanese psych band The Mops cover The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and The Animals
Stray Cat Beat Girl: Meet the electrifying ‘Aretha Franklin’ of Japan, Akiko Wada