I have a long history of being a fan of the Lunachicks. I’ve been following them since their very first release, a double 7″, which was played religiously at my radio station KSDT when I worked there in the ’80s, and I’ve never stopped following them. I’ve seen them at least a dozen times, the first being with the Chicks ‘N Dicks tour in ’91 with the Dictators at Bogarts in Long Beach and at Club Lingerie in Hollywood. I was even there when some new band called the Offspring opened up for them at Bogarts in Long Beach. Seen them at Raji’s. The Palace. The Roxy. Soma. I even saw them when Pearl Jam opened for them (and a ton of other bands) at the Hollywood Palladium. I had the honor of interviewing them a couple times, the last time ending up being a cover story for Flipside.
One thing that always bothered me was when people call them a “girl band”. Like it’s some sort of novelty. Ok, they dress up and they have an “image” and it’s even in their name. But they’re not a novelty. To me, I have always seen them as a band. A GREAT band. Not a “girl” band or “good for a bunch of girls”. A KICK ASS BAND! A punk rock, rock band that is better than most of their peers. This is just my personal taste, of course, but I’ll take them over the Dead Kennedys, GangGreen, and most of Black Flag’s catalog any day. And I love their sense of humor. They’re not a joke band by any means, but they had a great sense of humor that was right up my alley. Come on, they got a song called “Whole Lotta BS” which on the surface, you want to think is them complaining about a whole lotta bullshit. But NO! It’s about Black Sabbath! In it, there are at least 20 references to Black Sabbath songs and lyrics. Total genius. Then they twist the song in the middle to a warped version of “Sweat Leaf”. The ultimate Black Sabbath tribute. The Lunachicks are creative. And geniuses. And funny too!
But they are women, and by default it is part of their identity, which is basically what this documentary is about. It can’t be ignored. I remember one of the times I interviewed them for Flipside, I asked them if they had it easier or harder being all girls in a band. I was thinking easier because people can see it as a gimmick and they can get more attention, and they got the riffs and the songs to back it up. But they all responded at the same time “Harder! Way harder!” and then went into some stories. Many of which are addressed in this documentary in which all members, past and present, all take part in. But the Lunachicks are way more than that. They have the same issues as any other band. Drugs. Interpersonal band relationships. Creative differences. Even financials between some members of the band. All of which are all brought up really honestly. They’re not afraid to say where they went wrong with the band, themselves, or each other. But the constant theme is, they’re a gang (their word). A better word would be a “team”. You see an honesty here that you don’t see in a lot of other documentaries. Especially with one another, but the constant theme is, they’re a team. One for all, all for one. You don’t see Henry Rollins still hanging out with Greg Ginn, or Jello Biafra with any of the other guys from Dead Kennedys, but the Lunachicks are still tight with one another, which is really nice to see.
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