“WHAT A WASTE my life would be without all the beautiful mistakes I’ve made,” writes Alice Bag in her book Violence Girl: East LA Rage to Hollywood Stage, a Chicana Punk Story. From pioneering Los Angeles punk to authoring two books, teaching literacy, and leading an archiving project for female musicians, Bag has lived many lives in her 58 years. Now she’s celebrating the release of her self-titled solo debut, the culmination of nearly 40 years in music.
Taking the stage in paper grocery sacks and sharing bills with bands like X, the Germs, and the Weirdos during LA punk’s formative years in the mid-’70s, Bag led loose and raunchy sets as the frontwoman of the Bags. She recalls the emerging scene’s inclusivity and the sense of unity that bonded those who considered themselves outsiders to mainstream society. But Bag renounces the notion that punk was built by and for cis white men.
“It’s inaccurate and damaging to the legacy of punk, because one of the things that sets punk apart is the fact that there were so many women, queers, and POC [people of color] involved in every aspect of the early scenes,” she says. “People whose voices had barely been heard in American popular music were suddenly making noise, expressing [themselves], and finding a receptive, enthusiastic audience.”