March 16, 2001

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Kaia Wilson, of the Burch

Amy Ray goes stag

Amy Ray

Ray speaks about the friends who joined her on 'Stag'

Josephine Wiggs-The Breeders were a very important band to me, so I've always wanted to play with Josephine. She's very unconventional, but she grooves, She finds that one little lick and repeats it a lot; she finds the musical theme." Kate Schnellenbach-"Kate's a great drummer. She gets the song, it only takes her two takes-and more takes than that and she won't do it. Well, she will, but it won't be as good as the first two, and she knows that about herself. She's very inventive. She's managed to merge that hip hop groove with the old Motown feel. Joan Jett "Joan is very influential. I grew up listening to her. I remember running track and everyone at track freaking out about 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' or anytime she came out with something, we all freaked out about it. I don't think people always realize what a great musician she is. I think sometimes when you rock and punky stuff, people just think you are a three-chord wonder. She is that, but she's also incredibly musical. I sung her the melody once and she remembered it-it's pretty special, that kind of musicality."

1945 "They were called Three Finger Cowboys until last year. They're a pop band and they're a punk band-they find that balance between accessibility and rawness that's really hard to find. They're amazing songwriters. I am a huge fan of their albums they've made two and both were very well received by college radio."

The Butchies-"They have a record coming out in April, called 3. It's a great record; I've heard it. We're going to be touring together in April. I'm a huge Team Dresch fan, so naturally I'm a Butchies fan. I think that if they stick at it, which I'm sure they will, they will get what they deserve, which is to play an arena show. They're melodicKaia [Wilson] has a real knack for picking out a guitar line that will work, she always finds the right guitar line, a signature. I can always tell you what part of a song is Kaia's. Mel [York] is one of the best drummers I've ever played Continued on next page

by Harriet L. Schwartz

Just as she takes on Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner as the personification of white male dominance in the rock industry, Amy Ray also confronts her own related inner demons on Stag, her new album.

'Hey Castrator' is a song that tries to tackle things about myself that I recognize but don't necessarily love," Ray said in a phone interview. "It has to do with the way I experience women or people. I think objectification—a little bit of that is healthy. But it's identifying with that macho white male rock thing and seeing it in myself a little bit and being disgusted with that."

Ray is best known for performing with Emily Saliers as the Indigo Girls. She explores both the personal and political on this solo album, sometimes mixing the two. 'Blackheart Day' is a song to myself

about not being able to rise above my bad mood," she says. "But when I talk about social issues-human rights issues, or gender issues-like in 'Laramie'-things that I'm calling other people down on, I'm including myself when [suggesting that] someone needs to work on things."

While "Laramie" may look inward and outward, "Lucystoners" is a definitive antirock-establishment statement. Though Ray hammers on Wenner throughout the choruses, she covers other territory as well, including graffiti and harassment in rock and punk clubs, and radio play as other places where straight white men oppress women and sexual minorities.

'Lucystoners' covers a lot of territory with sexism and homophobia that me and Emily have experienced in the industry, over time," Ray says. “Jann is unfortunately an excellent symbol for all this stuff. He is notoriously [seen as] sexist in the feminist community and so I picked him. I don't even know him, so I have nothing personal. When I say he gave the boys what they deserve, I meant it. It doesn't mean that the guys don't deserve the coverage, they do. But it means he's sorely lacking in his parity with women. He probably has women on the cover (of Rolling Stone) as much as men, but they are always presented in a very specific way."

Ray believes that there has been a postLilith backlash in the mainstream music industry. She says stations that played women artists-from alternative stations spinning Courtney Love to mainstream stations playing Sarah McLachlan either no longer exist or have changed their format. The combination of less radio play, less touring, and fewer major label releases adds up to a music industry again dominated by

men.

"I've talked to a lot of [radio] music directors about it and they say their research shows that people's taste had changed, but you have to wonder, why did that happen?” Ray says. "Did the stations start playing something different? What is research and who's doing it-white men? Probably. Then they talk about advertisers and demographics-I think there's a lot of passing the buck. There's always some kind of spin, whenever women gain some notoriety, people shoot it down."

Ray says that the independent labels have picked up the slack and that women artists find far greater support in that segment of the industry. Ray's own indie label Daemon Records is now in its eleventh year.

Ray called on the talent of many of her Daemon colleagues as well as a few old friends and artists she has admired to put together Stag (see sidebar). The Butchies, who have recorded on Mr. Lady Records, gave Ray a sense of direction as she began Continued on next page