https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2013-11-08/the-julie-ruin/
In 1997, Kathleen Hanna reacted to the breakup of Bikini Kill by retreating to her Olympia, Wash., apartment and futzing around with electronic sounds and layers.
"I was trying to discover who I was as a person separate from the bitch from Bikini Kill," she explains.
The project morphed into feminist-queer electroclash trio Le Tigre, where Hanna nevertheless found herself adopting a familiar stance from her riot-grrrl days.
"It was very audience-based, trying to get girls and women and guys to learn about feminist art and theory and history. It wasn't about writing a pretty song."
In the end, Hanna, who's married to Beastie Boy Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and now lives in New York, realized that she wanted something different for herself. Something just for her.
"People were handing my husband bags of weed after shows and I was getting poems about incest. Part of that was exactly what I wanted, but part of that was like, 'When do I get to just be in a band and have a good time?'"
A diagnosis of late-stage Lyme disease further clarified matters for Hanna. Time to reboot. The result is Run Fast by the Julie Ruin, a fully realized album and band featuring Bikini Kill bassist Kathi Wilcox. Like their predecessors, these new vehicles trace Hanna's process of self-discovery after a difficult period.
"This time I went out and met my friends and they supported me and we worked together. I didn't have to go into hiding."
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