Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 29-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
To mark the 20-year anniversary of my first novel, I Can Hear Me Fine, David Lester of Get To The Point Publishing has asked me to read from the book. Even though it’s a warm day, I decided it would be fitting to wear the same sweater I wore in the photograph on the book’s back cover, where, along a brief description, there are several Mecca Normal-related quotes that intend to give the book some context.
“Female punk rock fans become united by the feminist messages shouted by bands such as Mecca Normal.” –USA Today, 1993
“I can’t think of anyone else who writes more powerful songs about what it’s like to be a woman in a world of violence against women.” –LA Weekly, 1993
“Mecca Normal has inspired a larger movement of feminists in their teens and early 20s who call themselves Riot Grrrls.” –NY Times, 1993
“I don’t really know of any other rock band so closely attuned to the reality of women’s rage.” –Village Voice, 1993
While it feels somewhat awkward to trot out clippings about my band that appeared in magazines, these are also vignettes that illuminate some of the issues of the day. They were never essentially a means to advertise Mecca Normal’s most recent releases. Their purpose wasn’t promotion in the same way that the purpose of our band’s music isn’t popularity (or fame or money). I don’t foresee anyone other than myself dealing with this archival material and I believe it has some value.
“I’m in a band because I have something to say. I don’t think of this as a privileged position. I’m 33 myself, I’m not living at home with mommy and daddy. This is fuckin’ hard work, it’s tough to pay the rent.” – Jean Smith quoted in The Rocket, Seattle, 1993
“For a long time, there were not many women in bands, and even fewer who were speaking aggressively about being a woman in this society,” says Jean Smith, the fiery singer-poet in the group Mecca Normal and an inspiration to many Grrrls. “Now young women are getting together to play with other women, rather than being thrown into the whole boy’s world sort of thing.” – Seventeen magazine, 1993
“We aren’t, and don’t want to be on a major label. As a result we have created a community—a network of friends and people we want to work with—and have tried to build that into something that will sustain various musicians who don’t really want to be part of the corporate sphere of the rock world.” – Jean Smith interview, Hour (Montreal) 1993
“David Lester is usually spazzing in patterns Peter Buck only dreams about.” –Sweet Portable You, a zine out of McLean, Va., 1993
“When asked how long the pair can imagine their productivity lasting, Smith says she sees no limit: ‘I’m sure we’ll be working together when we’re in our eighties. It’s that kind of relationship. We understand each other and have a similar desire to inspire other people to do something or feel something.’” –Jean Smith interview in Ray Gun magazine, 1993
“Step Into My Sphere,” from Who Shot Elvis? (Matador, 1997; Smarten UP!, 2009) (download):
