Lunachicks

Lunachicks emerged from New York City in the late 1980s as a boisterous, boundary-pushing outfit whose music fused punk, hard rock, heavy metal, and twisted pop. Throughout the 1990s the group cultivated a fiercely loyal audience through notoriously unfiltered concerts and a string of defiant studio releases that included Babysitters on Acid, Jerk of All Trades, and Luxury Problem. Although they entered hiatus in 2004, the musicians stayed busy with outside projects such as Theo and the Skyscrapers and Bantam; in 2021 they resumed live performances and recounted their transformation from punk newcomers to feminist icons in the memoir Fallopian Rhapsody: The Story of the Lunachicks.

Vocalist Theo Kogan, guitarist Gina Volpe, and bassist Sydney "Squid" Silver first assembled the band while attending Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York. They soon recruited fellow student and guitarist Sindi Benezra; their earliest material drew from the most outlandish corners of pop culture and the preoccupations of half-deranged teenagers, including one number about the deliberate demise of two instructors. Drummer Becky Wreck completed the initial stable configuration. The group enlivened its appearances with provocative costumes and deliberately provocative stage antics, becoming fixtures on the so-called "Scumrock" circuit alongside other abrasive, pre-grunge acts known for distorted guitars and caustic humor. One such performance caught the attention of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, who urged Blast First Records’ Paul Smith to investigate the band.

Blast First signed Lunachicks and issued a double 7" EP of early material in 1989; their debut full-length, Babysitters on Acid, followed in 1990—the same year the multi-artist collection New York Scum Rock: Live at CBGB captured the group performing "Makin' It [With Other Species]" at the storied punk club. In 1992 the band moved to the American indie imprint Safe House for its second album, Binge & Purge. Becky Wreck departed in 1994; Luscious Jackson’s Kate Schellenbach provided interim drumming until Chip English joined permanently. English’s first recorded appearance came on the 1995 album Jerk of All Trades, Lunachicks’ initial release for the New York punk label Go-Kart Records. The 1997 album Pretty Ugly marked the exit of guitarist Sindi Benezra, after which the group continued as a quartet. The live set Drop Dead Live surfaced in 1998, while Luxury Problem arrived the following year.

By then Lunachicks maintained an extensive touring calendar, headlining clubs across the United States, Europe, the U.K., and Japan while supporting acts including the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, No Doubt, the Go-Go’s, Rancid, and NOFX, and also appearing on the Vans Warped Tour. Chip English exited in late 1999, with Helen Destroy assuming drum duties; by mid-2000 the members chose to pause activities. No further recordings emerged, and aside from two 2002 and 2004 reunion shows featuring Chip English—one a benefit—the band stayed dormant. During the hiatus Theo Kogan recorded and toured with Theo and the Skyscrapers while also working in acting and modeling; Sydney "Squid" Silver established herself as a tattoo artist and restaurateur; Gina Volpe launched and fronted Bantam; Chip English drummed for Suicide King; Becky Wreck played percussion in the Blare Bitch Project; and Helen Destroy performed with the Led Zeppelin tribute band Lez Zeppelin.

Lunachicks regrouped in 2021 for their first concert in 17 years at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas, and that year also brought the publication of Fallopian Rhapsody: The Story of the Lunachicks. In 2022 the band appeared at Webster Hall in N.Y.C. and at Chicago’s Riot Fest.