Almost a year ago, I got the opportunity to interview the late Ari Up of pioneering punk/reggae band the Slits for an article I wrote for the SF Weekly. I can’t overstate how kind and animated she was on the phone. She was just as she was onstage—chaotic and full of life. Just talking to her put a huge smile on my face.

In these excerpts, Ari spoke on the controversial cover of the album Cut, the Slits as “women’s music”, and the Slits imagining a free place for women. The visuals include live footage that I shot of the Slits performing live in San Francisco in 2006.

It’s hard to believe this dangerous mind is gone so suddenly and long before her time. May she rest in power.