passive again. “Speak your mind" is what we promote. if you're gay or black or anyone else who feels that you're not being represented. we're saying “represent yourselves; get out there and do it."
‘People say we're man-haters. There are tons of men I hate. tons of men I would target to kill but at the same time there are boys doing good stuff and we're not that ignorant that we couldn't look at that. We've got two very intelligent boys in our band who are completely girl positive. They're part of the whole dialogue. There has to be a separatist thing. you have to create your own autonomous zone that is completely boy-free but it's really easy to ghetto—ise girls by shoving them in girl groups ~- keep all the girls together. keep all the black people together. Look at Greenham Common — that cut itself off. How effective is that now'.’ So there has to be a point where you come into enemy territory and have a positive war with them. That's why i think Huggy Bear works because there is that to-ing and fro-ing of ideas.'
Huggy Bear are a success on a doctrinal level. but they've chosen to operate in the music field (and make no mistake. they are deadly serious about their music. whatever the ramshackle execution might
Female trouble
Fiona Shepherd speaks exclusively to Niki from the press-shy Huggy Bear, and finds out what their offputting noise says to a ‘post- feminist’ world.
You. the harassed shop assistant; you. the clubbing clothes-horse trying to escape weekday office drudgery; you. the housewife locked in the battle of the supermarket trolleys two or three times a week: you. the waitress Mr Pink refused to tip in Reservoir Dogs — on paper. you sound like a cliche from a radfem catalogue of social oppression. but you know
you're a reality and your lack 0f COIlimunfit any truck with the mainstream media. Instead. the suggest). so whatever the wider ramifications of their representttttt’tt t5 Sttttttttytn’c" Bttt it Lt’ttdtm'h‘tSCd group disseminate their credo and absorb other ethos. they will still be judged on their recorded QUttttCt km)“ ht)“ .Vt’tt t'CCt and “59 ttht" CWT." opinions through an underground fan/inc network. output. an output which so far consists of three lil’s ulteranct‘. WhCthf mUSlCill 0" tn the t'im'l-lncs thc)’ through fiction. through poetry. Through dialogue - of nigh—impenetrable meltxly-shafting sound and 90"“)th t“ CSP0“Sc Wt” ttt’cratttm- Huggy Bet” possibly the most important word in their creed fury. Not what most people would call pop. 01' even want you. beyond ‘girl' or ‘woman'. listenable. Result: a lot of their potential audience 1 grew “P t“ it" are“ that “'35 "Cry gtrt't’rtcnttttc‘t‘ ‘That's the only way we're going to get strong. don't dig the music. so they don't listen to the Y'kn‘M- ‘c’trt gangs and Stun" 5” t dt’n't take it”! Stttt politically. economically. in our personal lives. At the message. so they don't populate the lluggy Nation. from anytmc bUt t knt’“ "tch it” mtttttm‘ 0t. gttts moment we're not too worried about what the men They wait for the next PJ Harvey album instead. Wt“) d“: ratt‘ “’Catt‘t Ntkt- 'WC get letter“ tT‘mt are thinking — I'm just working on what the girls are However. many genuinely disenfranchised girls will thptc 5" t km)“ tt" “0t ttttitgtnttr)’- That'S th)" tht‘ doing. I'd much rather have an argument with a flock to Huggy Bear. Their compacted screams of 'I’U-‘l'tcmtntst' Stttt't' t5 SUCh it loud “t “M 5htt~ woman than talk to a man who agrees with me. frustration will resonate with down-trodden and self— t’CCttU-‘C the“? 11“: lU-‘t 5‘) mutt)" issues Stttt t” dcat 'l.ots of our ideas are Situationist. things we've aware women alike. thh- I Write t” it Ct’uptc 0t. gtrt‘ tn Prt-‘tm at the read. There's a lot of discourse. things change. That's ‘We're just celebrating being girls. that's the main mt’mcnt and When 3")“ watt” PCOPtC it“: Shttt Witt." why we could never be a manifesto band. We get message with Huggy Bear celebrate your and are ttt’t expertCttCtttg thtattt)'~ .Vt’tt can't let it dtc- criticised because apparently the writing doesn't differences. be proud to be other.' Amen to that. Thutts Why mU-‘tc hi“ it rC-‘Pt’ttSthttttY t” be m0” match up to what we are. but contradiction is the best than .lU-‘t P0P song—‘3' thing. You don't have feminism if you don't have Huggy Beurplov The Venue. lz'dinluo'glz on Wed l() 5“ Hugg)’ Bet" Want )'0tt- What they dt’tt't “tint t5 contradiction. The minute we all agree. things get and The ('orlzous'e. Glasgow, on Thurs ll.
Ornette Coleman, a fact which he is g different kinds of rhythms. I think jazz
always ready to affirm. llarmolodics is j has moved away from that concept,
' the root and stem of his variegated ' and it seems kind of strange to me . musical life, and he has been honing that people should go and hear a band , his awareness of Coleman’s ideas in a like the Count Basie Orchestra in a variety of post-Ornette bands like Old concert hall, where they can’t dance and New Dreams, Codona, Muitikulti, to this great dance music.’ : flu, and the latest version of that Somehow, I can’t quite get a handle band, flu Now (see Listings for dates). on the idea of boogie-ing on down
‘I’ve been studying Ornette’s musical with non Cherry, although there is no
um— Making it Nu
Don Cherry remains something of an enigma on the ian scene. Or maybe that should be the world music scene, since he straddles both, not only in stylistic terms, but also in his use of I
concept for a long time in a lot of denying "‘8 "Mm": mam! 0' his :00k9t,t'“ml:°t 0" “"9 hands 3'3“ the different groups, and I am still music. The inherent dance-ability of 3 0:138" 900" (0r Malta" MM" 5 learning about it,’ Cherry In New seems a more debatable point 9" tall and tabla 0'1""! Othef- Add to acknowledges once again over a (Multikulti was something else), but
that a credits list which includes collaborations with the likes of his step-daughter Ileneh (all of his own children are also musical) and Lou Reed, and you are left with a man that they might have invented the word ‘eclectlc’ for.
‘I’he fundamental Influence on his music, however, remains that of
crackling transatlantic telephone line. then again, maybe the dances which
Then he pulls something of a surprise move in lion’s head are as strange and
twist which i haven’t heard from him exotic and organic and entrancing as
before. the music which he makes. Dancing in ‘What I really want in my music is to your head? flow, who was that again?
stay close to the dance. Black music Oh, yeah, Ornette. Of course. (Kenny
has its roots in the dance, and that is Mathiesonl
one of the reasons I like to play so Don Cherry plays Queen’s Hall,
"on Cherry many different kinds of music and Edinburllh 0" Flt 25-
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