These aren't the songs that Alice Bag is famous for. As such, they vary from "pretty good" to "just OK." None of it is bad, but it's not really moving the dial much. At least, not anymore. They sound like what they are: the product of a late-stage solo career from a living legend who was in a really important punk band in the 70s, The Bags. But Bag's solo stuff didn't come out in the 70s or even the 80s. Weirdly, her first solo album comes out in 2016, after the publication of her second biography, some 30+ years after her start in the scene. As it was the 70s, The Bags were really at the forefront of something new and different in LA, especially having a female front-person, and a Chicano-punker at that (both her parents are from Mexico). Not exactly typical white-suburban punk. Maybe some day we will track down and listen to all of The Bags, but that day is not today. They are in The Decline of Western Civilization (the first one!), but broke up pretty quickly; Bag formed other bands thereafter.
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| Bag in the 1980s (Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alicebag/5322796154/sizes/l/in/photostream/) |
Clearly, Bag had it going on in the 70s and 80s. So why not let punk rock grandma record a few solo albums? I'm not opposed. These albums don't seem to be her main creative output. Other than the previous musical projects, she seems more focused on writing, art, political activism, and raising a family. Sounds like a winning combination! If you really want to know why it took her almost 40 years to record an album, she speaks to it in this Billboard article. TL;DR: "I've been in bands you never heard of!"
We're really only talking about three albums between the first in 2016 and most recent in 2020. The first is her self titled debut. Martin Sorrondeguy is responsible for the unremarkable cover, and we are supposed to know him as a prominent figure in both the straight edge and queercore scenes. Here's a typical offering from the album
Most of the songs are similarly political: tackling body issues and rape culture in songs she calls "sangry." That's fine, and of course I agree with her, but the later songs are actually more fun. The problem is wondering who still needs to hear this: even if you buy a girl dinner "no means no." It's like, who disagrees? We have seen this after-school special a million times already. And "Reign of Fear" sums of 2017 pretty well, but not using fresh language or ideas. Her album Blueprint comes out in 2018 and it is all political too. All Music said, "Alice Bag is one of the most exciting and compelling new artists currently making music." Yes, but is this the music that is exciting and compelling? She's a great screamer, but the most compelling thing here is the guest vocals by Kathleen Hanna. The (bitter) track in Spanish rocks awesomely. For whatever reason, the songs in Spanish work the best, including this recent number (with excellent video):
"No Gifts for Nazis" is great and really captures the zeitgeist for a holiday number.
During the pandemic she started uploading her workout videos: get fit for the apocalypse! In an earlier life she taught English in inner-city LA schools! I like the relevance and the punk energy of these songs even if the music isn't doing anything special. Bag has said, "We don't live in a post-racism, post-feminism, post anything: punk allows us to speak our minds." Yes. Way to carve out relevancy for punk rock music. Still. I'm here for it.
And yet...I can agree 100% with what someone is saying and still find the delivery tedious. In fact, maybe it is the total agreement that contributes to the eye-rolling: she's not telling me anything I don't already know well. Maybe it has just aged poorly in a today's even more politically polarized world. Or maybe the music is just a little boring at that makes the message seem more basic than it actually is.
I'm looking forward to hearing The Bags!
Check her out: https://alicebag.com/
