Biography
Kathleen Hanna, the former frontwoman of Bikini Kill, initially conceived Julie Ruin strictly as a solitary experiment. After Bikini Kill dissolved in February 1998, the project issued its debut album on Kill Rock Stars that September. Portrayed as Hanna’s creative counterpart, Julie Ruin continued the thematic territory Bikini Kill had explored, addressing feminism, violence, objectification, juxtaposition, and the Valley Girl Intelligentsia. The music, essentially lo-fi electronica, was captured and balanced by Hanna and Paul Schuster inside the closet of her Olympia, Washington apartment. No live dates supported the release. In 1999 Hanna launched the parallel endeavor Le Tigre, yet revived Julie Ruin in 2010, now operating as a full band alongside Carmine Covelli, Sara Landeau, Kathi Wilcox, and Kenny Mellman. Their inaugural full-length, Run Fast, surfaced on Dischord Records in September 2013. The group began touring the album until Hanna’s struggle with Lyme disease interrupted those plans. Even so, the musicians resurfaced in 2016 with Hit Reset, an assertive collection of jagged dance beats and spiky pop that Hanna characterized as some of her most personal work to date.
Albums
Singles
