Kathi Lynn Wilcox (born November 19, 1969) is an American musician. She is the bass player in
the Julie Ruin
The Julie Ruin is an American band formed in 2010 in New York City. The band rehearses in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and records at Oscilloscope and Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn. Band members include Carmine Covelli, Sara Landeau, Kathleen Hanna, Ka ...
and has been in bands such as
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 the ...
, the Casual Dots, and
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 legendar ...
.
Music
Wilcox attended
The Evergreen State College
The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...
where she studied film and worked with
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 ...
at a sandwich shop. During this time she and friends
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 ...
and Vail collaborated on a
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
zine
A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...
titled ''Bikini Kill''. The three women enlisted guitarist
Billy Karren
William Francis Karren is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist of the punk/ riot grrrl band Bikini Kill, formed by Kathleen Hanna, with Karren, Tobi Vail and Kathi Wilcox. He was also active in many other music projects, inclu ...
and began a feminist punk band also called
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 the ...
. Wilcox provided bass, guitar, drums, and vocals for the band, which lasted throughout the '90s and is considered one of the definitive bands of the
riot grrrl
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultur ...
movement. Wilcox's other musical projects include the Frumpies with Vail, Karren, Michelle Mae (The Make-Up), and Molly Neumann (Bratmobile); The Casual Dots with Christina Billotte (Slant 6, Quixotic) and Steve Dore; and The Julie Ruin with Hanna, Kenny Mellman (Kiki & Herb), Carmine Covelli, and Sara Landeau.
Wilcox collaborated with
Fugazi
Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their style-tr ...
's
Brendan Canty
Brendan John Canty (born March 9, 1966, in Teaneck, New Jersey) is an American musician, composer, producer and film maker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi.
In 2007, ''Stylus Magazine'' ranked Canty at #29 on the list of "50 Gre ...
on the theme song to the
punk rock-oriented children's show ''
Pancake Mountain
''Pancake Mountain'' is a children's television show created by filmmaker Scott Stuckey (of the famous Stuckey's family). Described as an “alt-rock guerrilla kids' dance party, forged in the crucible of Washington, D.C. cable-access television ...
''.
Personal life
Wilcox married musician
Guy Picciotto
Guy Charles Picciotto ( ) (born September 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC.
He is best known as the guitarist and vocalist in Fugazi and Rites of Spring.
Career
Rites of Spring ...
from Fugazi, and as of September 2020 the two were living in Brooklyn with their child.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcox, Kathi
1969 births
American women drummers
American women guitarists
American women singers
American feminists
American multi-instrumentalists
American punk rock bass guitarists
American punk rock singers
American rock drummers
Evergreen State College alumni
Women bass guitarists
Women punk rock singers
Feminist musicians
Living people
Riot grrrl musicians
Third-wave feminism
Bikini Kill members
The Julie Ruin members
The Frumpies members
20th-century American drummers
20th-century American bass guitarists
20th-century American women musicians
21st-century American women