Two Women Who Rock Talk About Women In Rock

Kim and Kelley Deal, the twins behind The Breeders, spoke to the Guardian this weekend about sex (as in gender), drugs, and, of course, rock and roll.

Kim is perhaps most famous for her role as the bassist of The Pixies, but in their interview, the Deals requested that they not discuss The Pixies, Francis Black, or the messy breakup of the band in the early 90s. Instead, they focused on Kim and Kelley’s sobriety and how it has affected their music. (Both twins are veterans of rehab.) “Best thing I ever did,” said Kim jokingly, “What people don’t tell you is the energy it gives you. It reminds me of when me and Kelley first started playing the bars, or when me and the boys first started the Pixies. Feeling the energy in your bones when you started writing a song, getting to practise without already being drunk and high.” Kelley agreed: “What everyone forgets is that the musicians we always associate with being drunk or high – Jim Morrison for instance, or Jimi Hendrix – it’s often their sober album that people loved the best.”

They also touch briefly on the issues facing women in rock. Kim calls the early 90s a very “boy-oriented time. Hardcore was big again in America and girls weren’t allowed into it.” The twins also recall growing up in the late 70s in Dayton, Ohio, where punk was ignored in favor of metal. “Girls were supposed to be sexy whores in white pants – they weren’t allowed to rock,” Kim said. Interestingly, Kim shifts her focus from discussing the sexification of women in rock to a brief foray into the problem of male exploitation. She says that despite the macho culture of the 90s (or maybe because of it), men were often treated with as little respect as their female counterparts:

“People talk about girls being asked to put their fingers in their mouths in the name of pop, but no one looks at the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ picture with socks on their dicks and says anything.” She shrugs energetically. “This girl-and-boy thing is way more complicated than that.”

‘It Used to Be About Music. Now, Without The Drink, It’s Good To Go Back To That‘ [Guardian]