Lydia Lunch - Pivotal figure of New York’s No-Wave scene
UK tour from Sonic Youth and Michael Gira collaborator
1. She’s one of the most influential figures to come out of New York’s No-Wave scene
Founder of the inspirational Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Lunch has collaborated with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, Michael Gira, Nick Cave, The Birthday Party and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, to name a few.
2. She is a jack (or, rather, Jill) of all trades
A photographer, musician, composer, writer, poet, narrator and actress, Lunch sticks two fingers up to commercialism and takes her DIY approach very seriously. ‘I didn’t start out performing with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks in 1977 thinking this is what it would become but this is what I do. I’m like a one-woman protest machine.’
3. No two of her live shows are the same
‘I’m doing a bunch of different things this year – solo, collaborations and gigs with Big Sexy Noise, my raunchy noise rebellion band. Glasgow is a solo show with words, music and video montages about loss, war, relationships, sex and surviving all those things.’
4. Rebellion is her middle name
‘Politics are always involved, even in my love songs. I’m fucking stubborn. The imperial, genocidal war machine never rests, so I don’t either.’
5. She’s got a sense of humour, too
‘I have to laugh because despite the destruction, we cannot let ‘them’ steal our pleasure. That is always the theme of my performances: I’m here to thrive, not just to survive.’
Lydia Lunch, ‘Sick With Desire’, supported by Muscles of Joy, Stereo, Glasgow, Thu 7 Jul.