Don't You Stop

By Cori Taratoot, PopMatters. Posted October 11, 2004.

First, background stuff.

Bikini Kill. Olympia, Washington. Riotgrrl. Early '90s. Kathleen Hanna. DIY. Feminist zines. Johanna Fateman. Solo project. Julie Ruin. NYC. Videomaker Sadie Benning. Self-titled debut. Samples. Pop. Politics. Mr. Lady Records. "Hot Topic." "Who took the Bomp from the Bompalompalomp?" Multimedia dance parties. J.D. Samson. "From the Desk of Mr. Lady" EP. Album #2: "Feminist Sweepstakes." Rollerskate Jams. Yeah. For the ladies, and the fags, yeah. "Dyke March 2001." "Keep on Livin'." 9/11. JD's 2003 Lesbian Calendar. Remixes.

Which brings us to the present. Fall 2004. Le Tigre is Kathleen Hanna (you know her from Bikini Kill), Johanna Fateman (she handed Kathleen a zine at a Bikini Kill show), and J.D. Samson (boy? girl? Who cares? She doesn't!). Le Tigre lives in NYC. Le Tigre is releasing a new record, "This Island," on Oct. 19. And Le Tigre is pissed off.

2004 has been a strange year for the feminist superheroes. First, the punk-cum-electronica-cum-pop rockers find themselves without a label (San Francisco-based Mr. Lady closed down shop in June) and without a summer tour (Perry Farrell's failed 2004 Lollapalooza left Le Tigre, along with Sonic Youth, Morrissey, Flaming Lips and many more, with an empty touring schedule). Then, after signing to Universal/Strummer for the new record, partnering with Chicago indie label Touch & Go to release their back catalog, and working hard to get their Fall tour together, Le Tigre gets shit thrown in their face. In September, the streets and subways of New York are filled with Republicans.

The song "New Kicks" is a sonic web woven from voices recorded at a 2004 NYC peace march. The song begins with a crowd chanting "Peace! Now!" over a metallic guitar riff, synthesizers, and beats. It's four minutes and 17 minutes of dance music used as background for a political message. And it's the first single off of Le Tigre's new record. The message? The anti-war progressives are growing in numbers. Don't believe everything you see on television.

Signing to Strummer/Universal – the current home of the Mars Volta and the Rapture – may seem anti-DIY to people breastfed on the riotgrrl/Evergreen code of ethics. But maybe desperate times call for desperate measures. Now Le Tigre's got a megaconglomerate on its side to help blast their queer-positive/Bush-negative message to more listeners than ever before.

Can three women change the world with crazy-good dance tunes and well-endowed intellects? Listen to Kathleen Hanna, and it sounds like she's got no choice in the matter.

Cori Taratoot: You've been an activist for most of your life – how do you compare your level of dissatisfaction now with the Reagan years?

Kathleen Hanna: Well. it's really crazy. I remember when Reagan got elected, and I thought, I can't even believe this. Now you see Schwarzenegger and it's like a replay, and you hear him say "girlyman" on TV every five seconds, it's totally insane. I feel like I'm on crazy pills... I remember when Bush came right after Sept. 11 and gave that stupid ridiculous speech in that megaphone. That's supposed to be such a historical moment and it was complete crap. Everybody I know, everyone I saw on the streets, was scared that something bad was going to happen. It's so disgraceful to be standing up there using Sept. 11 for his own political gain and money gain and greed gain. To be using all of the people' s fear in New York as something he benefits from ... he doesn't care about any of us. Nobody wants him here. It's obvious by the protests, and it's obvious by the heightened level of fear. Every time he comes here people are scared. I don't know if that really answers your question, but on the subway I just like had all of those feelings at once, and I just felt like I was gonna start crying, and I just thought, I can't believe how bad it is.

I read somewhere that you said being a feminist is being anti-war and anti-Bush... and I'm wondering about how you're expanding the scope of what Le Tigre addresses, to what's happening in the country ...

... and in the world ...

And in the world. What's the relationship between feminism and what's going on in the world right now, and how does Le Tigre play a part in that?

Wow. That's a big question. Well I've always been involved in anti-war stuff and I did anti-nuke stuff in high school ... Obviously the war and everything has gotten us more active again. Um, but I guess the way that I see it is, y'know, the feminist issue is ... everything is connected. Racism, homophobia, colonialism – it's all a part of the same kind of binary system where there's an oppressor and the oppressed. And obviously there's really confusing places that aren't so cut and dry, or black and white. Like who's the oppressor and who's the oppressed? You see that with Israel. It's all a part of the system of domination, y'know? That as a white woman I can have privilege in certain situations and in certain situations not. As a country, we have a certain amount of privilege and power that we need to be careful in the way that we wield it. I see it as a feminist issue to figure out how can we deal with the issues of power and privilege in ways that are beneficial to everyone as opposed to oppressive.

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