ALICE BAG - "SISTER DYNAMITE" LP

IN THE RED:
Her third solo effort, the album marks a thrilling return to the full-throttle punk that Bag pioneered with her legendary first-wave punk band, The Bags. An unbridled celebration of community and the undeniable power in embracing your own truth, the collection confronts some of the most pervasive problems troubling our world today: unchecked privilege and willful ignorance, systemic inequality and fragile masculinity.

Laced with dreamy glockenspiel tones and brilliantly bratty backup vocals from riot grrrl frontliner Allison Wolfe, the video for lead single “Breadcrumbs” depicts a Hansel and Gretel flavored cautionary tale about not treating your partner like a witch. It features Bob Baker Marionette Theater as well as a colorful cast of familiar faces including Allison Wolfe, Nina Diaz, Seth Bogart as well as members of The Linda Lindas, Death Valley Girls and Fresno grrrl gang Fatty Cakes & the Puff Pastries. “‘Breadcrumbs’ is actually inspired by working with Allison,” notes Bag, who previously played alongside Wolfe and Seth Bogart in a band called Cliquey Bitches. “She’s got tons of attitude, and the intonation on that song is totally me imagining Allison singing it.”

With its breakneck velocity and galvanizing melodies, Bag teamed up with her core group of musicians to achieve the album’s kinetic sound. Co-produced by Bag and her longtime collaborator Lysa Flores (who plays rhythm guitar and sings backing vocals on several songs) at L.A.’s Station House Studios, Sister Dynamite finds features guitarist Sharif Dumani and bassist David O. Jones with Candace P.K. Hansen and Rikki “Styxx” Watson trading off on drums, each lending her distinct musicality to the album’s potent rhythms.

Throughout Sister Dynamite, Bag reveals her incredible ability to turn nuanced political statement into impossibly catchy punk songs. While maintaining a “communicate not indoctrinate” line of thought when it comes to her songwriting, she hopes that the songs on Sister Dynamite might help to build the profound sense of solidarity she experienced back in the original L.A. punk community. “What I love about music is that you’re first drawn to it because of the sound and the way it hits you on an emotional level,” says Bag. “Usually it’s only after you listen a while that you start asking, ‘What’s that line about? How does that connect to me?’ So if someone comes away from this album feeling they got some fun and excitement from singing and dancing along, but also felt like they found something that philosophically connects with their own lives, that would mean a lot to me.”