William Francis Karren is an American musician, best known as the
lead guitarist
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...
of the
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
/
riot grrrl band
Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill is an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990. The group consisted of singer and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band pioneered th ...
, formed by
Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American singer, musician, artist, feminist activist, pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. In the early-to-mid-1990s she was the lead singer of feminist punk band B ...
, with Karren,
Tobi Vail
Tobi Celeste Vail (born July 20, 1969) is an American independent musician, music critic and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington. She was a central figure in the riot grrl scene—she coined the spelling of "grrl"—and she started the zi ...
and
Kathi Wilcox
Kathi Lynn Wilcox (born November 19, 1969) is an American musician. She is the bass player in the Julie Ruin and has been in bands such as Bikini Kill, the Casual Dots, and the Frumpies.
Music
Wilcox attended The Evergreen State College where s ...
. He was also active in many other music projects, including
the Go Team,
the Frumpies
The Frumpies were an American lo-fi punk rock band formed in 1992 in Olympia, Washington, United States. The original line-up consisted of singers/guitarists Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren (all of whom were also a part of the legend ...
, Corrections, and Spray Painted Love (with Tobi Vail). He did not participate in Bikini Kill's 2019 reunion; his replacement was Erica Dawn Lyle.
In a Bikini Kill interview, Karren gave his influences as
The Slits
The Slits were a punk and post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma R ...
,
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. ...
,
Chrissie Hynde, and
Wire
Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm
A wire is a flexible strand of metal.
Wire is c ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karren, Billy
Riot grrrl musicians
American punk rock guitarists
American indie rock musicians
American feminists
Feminist musicians
Male feminists
Kill Rock Stars
K Records artists
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
American male guitarists
Bikini Kill members
The Frumpies members