Christina Billotte is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, known for her involvement in the punk music scene in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, as a performer and organizer. She is included in

Venus Zine ''Venus Zine'' was a quarterly internationally circulated magazine covering women in music, film, art, entertainment, literature, fashion, indie culture and DIY culture. It was published from 1995 through 2010. Venuszine.com was the daily update ...

's list ''The Greatest Female Guitarists of All Time''.

Musical career

Billotte and Melissa Berkoff initially began playing together in a Washington, DC band called Hazmat in 1989, but then joined up with Nikki Chapman and

Mary Timony Mary Bozana Timony (born October 17, 1970) is an American independent singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and violist. She has been a member of the bands Helium, Autoclave and Wild Flag, and currently fronts Ex Hex. Timony's music is o ...

to form

Autoclave An autoclave is a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure in relation to ambient pressure and/or temperature. Autoclaves are used before surgical procedures to perform sterilizat ...

in 1991. Autoclave became known for their

math rock Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (includi ...

styling and released a single on the Diskord label - a joint effort between

Dischord Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release ''Minor Disturbance'' by their band The Teen Idles ...

and

K Records K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent mu ...

- before splitting up in 1991. In early 1991, Billotte and Washington, DC artist

Jen Smith Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States. Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term riot grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement. Biography In early 1991, Jen Smith and W ...

joined

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

band

Bratmobile Bratmobile was an American punk band from Olympia, Washington, active from 1991 to 2003, and known for being one of the first-generation "riot grrrl" bands. The band was influenced by several eclectic musical styles, including elements of pop, ...

(

Allison Wolfe Allison Wolfe (born November 9, 1969) is a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, writer, and podcaster. As a founding member and lead singer of the punk rock band Bratmobile, she became one of the leading voices of the riot grrl movement. Wolfe ...

and

Molly Neuman Molly Neuman (born June 18, 1972) is an American drummer, writer and publisher, originally from the Washington, D.C. area who has performed in such influential bands as Bratmobile, the Frumpies, and the PeeChees. She was a pioneer of the early-t ...

) when they temporarily relocated to Washington, DC. Wolfe and Neuman created the fanzine ''

Girl Germs ''Girl Germs'' was a zine created by University of Oregon students Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman, both members of the band Bratmobile. Feminism was influential in the Pacific Northwest in the early nineties: ''Girl Germs'' identified feminist ro ...

''. Though never formally a member of Bratmobile, Billotte played an occasional live show, and guitar on the

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

entitled ''Bratmobile DC''. The Bratmobile girls were zine writers. It was during this time in Washington, DC that Jen Smith came up with the idea of a "girl riot" and

conceived the ''riot grrrl'' mini-zine that gave the movement its name. Erin Smith then joined Bratmobile on guitar, replacing Billotte. By end of summer 1991, Wolfe and Neuman returned to

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

, with Erin Smith remaining in DC. In June 1992, Billotte formed the all-female

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 ...

trio

Slant 6 Slant 6 was an American punk rock trio based in Washington, D.C. affiliated with early riot grrrl. Slant 6 consisted of Christina Billotte (electric guitar and vocals), Myra Power (electric bass guitar and vocals), and Marge Marshall (drum se ...

which released two albums on

Dischord Records Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release ''Minor Disturbance'' by their band The Teen Idle ...

. The band toured widely, before breaking up in 1995 whilst on tour in England. In 1997 Dischord released an Autoclave compilation titled ''Combined''. The same year Billotte formed Quix*o*tic, along with her sister Mira on drums and Brendan Majewski on bass. The band released an album ''Night for Day'' on their own Ixor Stix label. Majewski was replaced by

Mick Barr Krallice is an American black metal band formed by New York City musicians Colin Marston, Mick Barr, Nick McMaster and Lev Weinstein. They play an experimental, highly technical style of black metal. The band has released twelve studio albums a ...

and the band released a second album, ''Mortal Mirror'', on

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally known ...

in 2001. The band broke up in 2002 with Mira moving to

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to form

White Magic White magic has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for selfless purposes. Practitioners of white magic have been given titles such as wise men or women, healers, white witches or wizards. Many of these people claim ...

. In 2002 Billotte joined the Casual Dots with Kathi Wilcox (Bikini Kill, the Julie Ruin and the Frumpies), who released a self-titled LP through Kill Rock Stars in 2004 and a second LP in 2022 entitled ''Sanguine Truth''.

Artistic career

Billotte moved to Los Angeles, CA in 2003, and received a BFA in Ceramics from

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

. She received an MFA from the Mount Royal Interdisciplinary program at

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a private art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the oldest art colleges in the U ...

in Baltimore, Maryland in 2013.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Billotte, Christina Living people American women rock singers Songwriters from Washington, D.C. Women punk rock singers Riot grrrl musicians American rock drummers American women drummers Guitarists from Washington, D.C. 1969 births 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American guitarists Bratmobile members 20th-century American women guitarists American punk rock singers 21st-century American women