The Butchies

Durham, North Carolina, served as home base for the queercore trio the Butchies, who brought singer/guitarist Kaia Wilson back together with drummer Melissa York after their earlier work in the pioneering group Team Dresch. Ex-Poor Valentino bassist Alison Martlew completed the lineup, and the band inked a deal with Mr. Lady—the independent imprint Wilson had launched alongside her girlfriend Tammy Rae Carlson—to put out the 1998 debut Are We Not Femme?. Population 1975 arrived the following year under the guidance of producer Chris Stamey. Wilson stayed occupied running Mr. Lady, overseeing releases by Le Tigre and Sarah Dougher during the early millennium while the Butchies readied their next record. They reunited with producer Greg Griffith for the aptly titled Three, which surfaced in 2001, then spent that summer supporting Amy Ray of The Indigo Girls on a series of Stateside shows. Their fourth album, Make Yr Life, took just ten days to record and reached stores in spring 2004 as the Butchies’ first release on Yep Roc.