Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks (2026) Movie Script

1
[soft music]

[soft indistinct chatter]
[music playing in distance]
- Everything was a challenge
that needed to be conquered.
[rock music building]

It was always,
we have something to prove,
a wall to break down.
We're gonna, like, melt
people's fucking faces off
because they expected us
to suck.

- We were literally out there
with people throwing
pint glasses at our heads
and pulling their dicks
out at us.

But we have a superpower
when we're together.

- And it was like us
against everybody.
It was like us
against the world.
[rock music]

[music stops]
- Grateful Dead girlfriends
over here or something?
- Wait!
We're totally not ready.
- What do you mean
you're not ready?
You're ready
when we introduce you!
- Rock 'n' roll!
- Yeah, we're trying.
[indistinct shouts]
- I'd like to introduce
the Grateful Dead
girlfriends now.
Forget it.
Scratch that joke
from the record.
You ready?
- Donny Osmond.
- You ready?
[crowd cheering]
Well, don't fuckin' be
sophisticated.
Make some noise or somethin'.
This is punk rock,
you knuckleheads!
[drums playing]
Welcome the Lunachicks!
[Lunachicks' "C.I.L.L."]

- RIP out
the ugly eyes of you
I tear your
yawning jaw apart
- When I first heard
of the Lunachicks,
I was like,
what the fuck is this?
This is amazing,
it was hilarious,
and it was rocking.
It kind of reminded me
of Beastie Boys,
where it was just, like,
punk rock but funny.
[rock music]
- Really aggressive rock,
with all this drama to it,
and yet also, like,
with a wink and a nod.
To me, they were like,
wow, that's the whole package.

- They were tough,
they were dirty, gritty.
They had a bad-ass
New York attitude,
but they were really funny.
- It was kind of rad
and inspiring
and kind of intimidating
all at the same time.
- Do it, bad, bad, bad, bad
Do it, do it
- Bottom line is,
they're a great fucking band.
And they are incredible live.

They have this
wonderful chemistry
that is the Lunachicks.
- They were punks,
they were rock chicks,
and they were great.
They had attitude.
I mean, I was really surprised
that they didn't go further.
- It was too much
for some people.
- Really.
But, I mean, fuck 'em
if they can't take a joke.
- Signed hairy and blue,
ooh, ooh, ooh
Stop shaving
and get it waxed
No one likes a hairy trap
Oh, hairy trap
- There's one right there.
And one--and there's
another one over there.
In the early nineties,
we had a song called "Plugg."
So we had this idea
to spontaneously
menstruate on stage.
So we packed Ziploc
baggies full of fake blood.
I taped my baggie
to the underside of my guitar.
Theo had hers taped
around her thighs,
and we were all gonna pop
the bags at the same time
and have blood everywhere.
So I had my guitar,
and then the break happened,
and I went boom!
And blood everywhere.
There's blood all down my legs,
and there's blood
all over my dress.
So they photoshopped
the blood off,
and my legs have
no blood on them.
[laughs]
- The Lunachicks really
tapped into
every girl's desire
to take down the patriarchy,
whether or not
it's a conscious thing.
[rock music]
In high school, I came across
"Jerk of All Trades,"
and I turned it over,
and I was like, "Oh, my God,
they're all girls."
- Walk in front of a car
at the mall
- I was like, holy shit.
I need to know everything
about this band.
- You want to die,
I can see it in your eyes
- And I brought that CD home
and I played it
until every fart and burp
and curse, I absorbed it,
and I was just like,
this is what
I've been waiting for.
I've been waiting for this band
my whole life.
We are working on a book
that's probably gonna be
some kind of memoir.
So you're on stage.
You're--you have an audience
for the first time...
- Oh, I was petrified.
- There was a lot
of looking down.
We just started talking
about making the book.
It gave us a reason
to see each other more
and start telling the story
of our lives together.
- Pretty ugly, pretty ugly
- We started playing together
when we were 17.
all: Lunachicks!
- Gina. I play guitar
- Sindi, guitar.
- Theo. I sing.
- Squid. I play bass.
- Whoa
Whaa, whaa
I'm from Brooklyn.
My parents tried to control me
in a way
I couldn't be controlled.
When I was very little,
my parents always said
"calmly" to me,
like "Calmly, Theo.
Calmly, Theo,"
to the point where
I asked them
if my name was "Calmly."
My parents found
the Sikh religion,
and so we spent the next year
being Sikhs,
and then exactly a year later,
they're like, "We're not
doing this anymore."
We went to Unitarian Church
for, like, 5 minutes.
They were like, "Nah."
We went to Quaker meeting.
They were very strict.
And I wasn't allowed
to be mad.
I was so angry
and nowhere to put it.
- I met Theo the last year
of junior high school.
I was a bad kid.
I got in trouble a lot.
I was, like,
the mean brunette.
I'm not actually
a natural blonde.
- Syd was just
full of attitude,
like badass, cool.
Wore, like, lipstick.
And she did not like me.
- Hated her the minute
I laid eyes on her.
She was beautiful,
and, like, the boys had
crushes on her.
I was totally snubbing
the shit out of her
and then did
one of those, like,
keep your enemies closer
maneuvers.
- We were in a dance class,
and I was a dancer.
- We had a dance show,
and you could, like,
choreograph
dances in the show,
so I was like,
"Heard you can dance."
She's like, "Yeah."
"Want to be in my dance?"
"Okay."
And then fell, like,
in love with her.
Like, instantly.
I was like,
"Oh, my God, I'm in."
I'm like,
"I'm with the cool kids.
It's happening."
- It's so, like, emotional
when you have girlfriends
that age.
Before you're having sex,
that's, like, your first
real relationship.
It's, like, as important
as any lover,
you know what I mean?
Like, the amount of drama
and tears.
We hung out constantly,
and I dragged her
to my house, like,
"Let me show you this,
let me show you that."
Like, wouldn't let her leave.
We were, like, best friends.
- Gina, I met through
my friend from camp.
- I think we were both 12,
and I was such a nerd.
I was such a nerd
and a misfit.
[laughs]
All I did was draw all day.
My friend was like, "You're
going to meet my friend Theo,
"and she's really cool,
"and she looks just like
Julie from 'Fame,'
so just try to be cool."
[upbeat music]
Remember the movie "Fame"?
After seeing that movie,
yeah, I was like,
"I wanna go
to the Fame school."
- This is no
Mickey Mouse school.
You're not getting off easy
because you're talented.
You'll work twice as hard.
- Everybody wanted
to go to that school.
It was, like, all these kids
from drastically different
economic neighborhoods
in New York.
You know, there's, like,
the rich girl
from the Upper East side,
and the poor kid
from the Bronx.
You know, they all, like,
get into this
really exclusive program
at this high school,
which is really
exactly how it was.
And I got into
the drama department,
so I thought
it was really cool
that I got into "Fame" school.
- I always wanted to be
an artist.
So I got into
the art department,
and freshman year, I found out
that Theo was gonna be
in my class.
And that's how we reconnected
and became friends.
[upbeat music]
New York in the '70s and '80s
was just a very
different place.
A lot of abandoned buildings
and wrecked cars.
- You know, at 14,
you could get a fake ID.
And I remember,
they were like,
"You have to choose one
of four occupations."
There was, like, four choices,
and I was like, "Secretary."
You know, "Secre--secretary."
The first time I ever hung out
with Gina and Theo,
we went to the Roxy,
and we went to see, like,
Herbie Hancock or something.
Not punk rock at all.
- It was so fun--
music and going out
and lying to my parents
about where I was sleeping
and being out all night
and taking the train
and, you know, all these
crazy, like, risks.
[rock music]
- And it was shitty--
really dangerous and shitty
and gritty and fun.
We used to drop acid and go
to Times Square in the '80s.
Watch the movie
"Times Square."
It was like
a playground for us.
A dirty, dangerous playground.

- One of my first concerts
was The Misfits
at the Ukrainian Hall, 1981,
and it was fantastic.

And then I started going
to the Peppermint Lounge
on 45th Street.
15, 16 years old, and it was
like Times Square in 1981.
It was really cool and scary.
And nobody raped me
or stabbed me
or anything like that,
so that was really great.
These are my girls!
I don't know
where they came from,
but there they were,
and I just loved them.
- Sindi was the coolest girl
in the world.
She's not that much
older than me,
but I feel like she raised me.
When you're 15 and your friend
has their own apartment,
live with their boyfriend,
it's really different.
It's a big five years.
- Sindi was a huge influence
in every way--
style, clothes, music.
She became the most badass
big sister to all of us.
[rock music]
- All I wanted to do was,
after school,
get down to the East Village.
The East Village was
just a cool place.
Every chance I got, I'd be
hanging around St Mark's,
going to Seconds Records.
You'd see all the punks
hanging out on stoops,
and you'd be really
kind of scared of them,
but you wanted
to hang out with them,
'cause that's who
you wanted to be.
- [indistinct singing]
- There was Lismar Lounge,
the Pyramid on Avenue A,
King Tut's Wah Wah Hut.
CB's, of course.
[rock music]
- There was, like,
a sort of '60s
garage-y scene going on.
All these underground bands
that were very influential--
the Swamp Goblyns that
then became the Kretins,
and then Da Willys,
the Man Eaters.
I was just like, "Oh, my God,
I need to do this.
I can do this
if they could do it."

- We had a band called Freaks,
and we started to see
those little Lunachicks,
and they were not
old enough to get in,
and they would stand outside
when we played.
And we loved that,
and we loved them.
And I kept always
telling them,
"You know,
you should be a band."
- Yes, why shouldn't it work?
It's us.
And everything we do is
fun and great,
so this can also be
fun and great.
And sure enough, it was.
- Yeah, baby.
- Are we gonna do
the whole thing?
- Yeah.
[guitar playing]
Oh, wait.

- Wheoo, wheeoo
- [laughs]
- I like that,
"Wheoo, wheeoo."
- We have it all figured out.
Theo's gonna sing.
I'm gonna play bass.
Sindi's gonna play guitar,
'cause she has a guitar.
And they're like,
"You can play lead guitar!"
And I was like, "I don't know
how to play lead guitar."
And they're like, "That's okay.
"We don't know how to play
anything either,
so let's just do it."
Ready!
- OK.
[rock music]
No remorse
- We were awful.
We were so awful.
- This life of yours
is mine to take
- We were practicing in my
bedroom, in my parents' house.
Theo's heavy metal
boyfriend, Mike,
ended up being
our first drummer
and played our first show,
I think, when we were 18.
- I touch your corpse
One more time

- I think it was
our second show,
and Kim and Thurston
from Sonic Youth were there.
- We wanted to be
this mishmash of MC5
and Black Sabbath
and The Clash and Iggy--
you know,
all our favorite bands.
But we did not sound
like that.
So Thurston Moore was there,
and he thought we were
a noise band.
[laughs]
He called up Blast First,
and that became
our first label,
with the idea that
Thurston and Kim Gordon
would be producing our album.
I write most of the lyrics,
and people come in
with different songs,
and we sort of meld together
to make this sort
of mind-warping combobulation
of sound and noise
and stuff like that.
- Our songs are about
people we love
and people we hate
and TV shows we love and--
and killing people.
- We just write songs about it.
We don't really do
any of that stuff.
[rock music]
- The things that we did
after school--
the TV watching
and the pot smoking
and then the binge-eating--
these all became fodder
for Lunachicks songs.
- Hey, hey, hey!
- So we wrote a song
about Mabel King
from "What's Happening!!"
- Mabel King,
you are the queen
- We wrote a song about
Jan Brady of the Brady Bunch.
- Well, I know I cracked
The family picture
with my bike
- Jan, look out!
- I wasn't wearing
my glasses
- On top of watching TV,
we were obsessed
with B movies,
and we were obsessed
with John Waters.
Totally obsessed.
- Welcome to Mortville, ladies.
- And there's a scene
in "Desperate Living"
where the babysitter is
tripping...
- What have you done
with my baby?
- I don't know, I'm trippin'!
- Trippin'?
- And she puts the kid
in the refrigerator.
- [crying]
- Are we gonna reveal what
the name of our album is?
- We might as well.
- "Babysitters On Acid"!
- "Babysitters On Acid."
[rock music]

- Hello, dear,
there's some popcorn in here
There's soda and ice cream,
but don't touch the beer
Getting on that mic
and feeling
the loudness and the power,
I remember feeling
finally free.
Yes, ma'am,
and I'll see you later
Don't worry, I'll be
on my best behavior

- You're such a visual band.
People talk about
the Lunachicks like,
"Oh, yeah, they dressed up."
- Yeah.
Combing thrift stores
was, like, a big...
- It was, like, a big--
- Pastime of ours.
That's what we would do.
- I really would love them
to get back together.
- Shitting in
the Salvation Army always.
- Shitting in
fuckin' thrift stores
all over the country--so gross.
[laughter]
- I think there would be
a tremendous interest
from all over the world.
I'm saying this with all
the respect in the world.
You're in it. You don't...
You have
a different perspective.
In my mind,
if you went on tour,
you would fucking kill it.
- [laughs]
- I'm telling you.
[laughter]
- [clears throat]
- [clears throat]
Anyhoo.
- My identity was really
wrapped up in the band
for a long time.
I wouldn't say I turned
my back on that identity,
but I always had a fear
of holding onto the past.
You hungry for pizza?
OK, whoever wants pizza,
come down!
I also had two kids
and opened two restaurants
in 12 1/2 years.
People are like,
"Oh, that poor older woman
"with tattoos that has to bus
tables for a living,
we feel really bad for her."
- [laughs]
I feel like the older I get,
the clearer the sense
of my own mortality
and feeling time
slipping away,
and wanting to make
as much art and music
as possible before I die.
[rock music]
I am releasing
a new single every month,
and I'm making videos.

OK.

Whoa! [laughs]
- I would love to see this
on top of what you have on.
They are normally 21,
and today they're 15.
I have my own
lip gloss company.
The glosses are named
after rock 'n' roll icons.
This is "Highway Star,"
which is a Deep Purple song.
Ha-ha-ha. Get it? [laughs]
- What band were you in?
- We were in Lunachicks.
I was in Lunachicks.
- Oh, my God!
- The singer.
- I love Lunachicks!
- [laughs]
- No.
- People always ask us
if we'll play again,
so every once in a while,
it comes up,
but we haven't played together
in a very long time.
[cheering]
- I had all the girls
up to my country house,
and then as we were all
sitting there,
I did bring it up, like,
"We really need to do
one more show."
And they were all like,
"What?"
- We could do, like,
seven or eight shows.
- Seven or eight?
- Uh-oh! Wheels are turning.
Wheels are turning.
- Um...
- Oh!
- Maybe we could get Depends
to sponsor us.
[laughter]
- I still record music,
I write songs,
but I haven't been in front
of an audience in years.
- I feel like
I'm gonna pass out.
[laughter]
- Do I want to, you know,
hang out with my girls again?
Yeah, that would be great.
Um, being on stage?
I--it would be fun.
But there's a lot
of history there.
- We normally play
in New York at...
- CBGB's, Pyramid.
- The Ritz when we can.
- The Ritz when we can.
We used to--
- Sonic Youth was producing us
for Blast First Records,
which was
their English record label.
But it wasn't going well.
- Is it on?
It didn't really work out
because of the artistic
differences,
which is unfortunate.
Distract you, where to
- We sort of had a souring
in the studio
because the Lunachicks were
way too obnoxious
to work with at that point.

- I think that Kim
and Thurston were attracted
by the fact that we were very
young and we were amateurs.
But we didn't want to be
amateurs.
We really wanted to be
rock stars.
So they wanted to bring out
the badly played chords
or the broken
distortion pedal sound,
and we were really kind of
embarrassed by that stuff.
I mean, my hero was
AC/DC Angus Young
and Tony Iommi.
We really wanted to be,
like, heavy rock gods.
- I mean, we wanted
to sound like KISS.
And that was not
her vision for us.
So we were snotty,
and Kim stormed out,
but the label already
had invested
a couple bucks
into the recording.
They thought it was
worth something.
So we stayed with the label,
and we scrambled to get
a girl drummer.
We found out
about Becky Wreck,
this crazy drummer girl
from Philly.
She rolled into town
on this motorcycle,
and she was super queer
and super cute
and, like, a great drummer.
She was a strong character.
So we thought,
she'll be perfect.
- Popping wheelies
on her motorbike
Straight girls wish
they were dykes
- I wrote the lyrics
for the L7 song
"Fast and Frightening."
"Popping wheelies
on her motorbike,
straight girls wish
they were dykes,"
is specifically about
Becky Wreck.
- She's frightening
- This is how we found out
about L7,
because Becky had also
been contacted by L7,
who was looking for a drummer.
So we were both
making her offers
and fighting over her,
trying to get her.
- When we met Becky,
we were blown away by her.
And we were like,
"We're getting Becky.
"How do we get her?
How do we steal her
and get her to move to LA?"
And then she said,
"No, I'm dedicated
to the Lunachicks.
I'm gonna stay out here."
And we were brokenhearted.
- The Lunachicks were funny,
super smart hot chicks--
young, crazy to be around.
So much fun to be around.
I felt like I have a chance
to be a part of something
that nobody knows about yet.
I think I knew
I could put them on the map.
I think I really knew that.
At an early age,
I knew women do not
get treated the same as men.
Like, something's wrong.
In third grade,
when they ask us
if you want to play
an instrument at school,
I said, I want to play drums,
and everybody,
"Why do you--
girls don't do that!
Why do you want to do that?"
So I had to go home.
I had to have my mom
sign a form, which was--
she made me put flute first.
My teenage years--
already feeling like,
I'm a woman,
I'm gonna get treated
less than--
I realize,
oh, my God, I'm gay.
And that's--that's really bad.
By then, I was really angry.
I totally got into punk
and rebelled against
everything else.
I just wanted to play as fast
as the Dead Kennedys
or Bad Brains.
Nobody was even gonna
take me serious
if I was just halfway decent.
[rock music]
Whatever it is
that Sonic Youth saw,
my playing was so hard
and in your face,
it was the glue
that was gonna hold it
and make it like, holy shit,
there's something going on.
Like, it's not just, like, in
the beginning stages anymore.
Like, this is something.
- [grunts]
Got a pus pocket
waiting for you
Got a flesh bubble
from huffing too much glue
I got a precious pimple
loaded with some goo
- Early on, when Becky was
trying to figure out
whether she even wanted
to be in our band,
her and Syd started
a relationship.
That might have been why
Becky ended up staying with us
and not joining L7.
That's my guess.
It's always the girl.
[laughs]
- So me and Becky were
a couple for a while,
which pissed everybody off.
I mean, who the hell wants
to be in a band with a couple?
Nobody.
We did this four-song EP.
We're 18.
We get booked on this tour
of the UK
with Dinosaur Jr.
We pack our bags
and get on a plane,
and it was on.
- Lunachicks on the run
Lunachicks are having fun
Lunachicks make
lots of noise
To prove rock 'n' roll's
not just for boys
On the road and on the rag
We fucking rule
so we gotta brag
Gonna take over
the world someday
Stay off our path
or get out of the way
- Our first tour was
when we learned
to be together--
in hotel rooms,
in people's houses,
in the van.
So many hours in the van.
I remember thinking,
this is what it is?
I mean, this is
how it's gonna be?
This is it?
- This is serious
- Peeing in the parking lot.
Peeing everywhere.
Theo was unarguably the master
of peeing in a cup.
- Periods.
We would all get on
the same schedule.
Hormones. Not cute.
Step off
- Of course, tons of snacks.
- We were teenagers,
and we would get somewhere
and immediately want to go
to wherever there was candy
and try whatever we could.
It was like Willy Wonka
going in and finding
these candies
you had never seen before
that were so beautiful
and, like, pink and gummies.
And it was incredible.

- We had to stop sometimes
at two or three borders
in a single day,
and there was no
being waved through borders
for the Lunachicks.
No border said,
"You guys are all right.
Keep driving."
We're driving around
with a rubber chicken
and giant flies
and big plastic bones.
And we were searched
regularly.
Sometimes dogs,
sometimes no dogs,
although we did also
have border guards
that then we put
on the guest list.
Early on, it was all fun.
We were the best of friends.
- Right, uh, after
that little historical note,
to the Lunachicks
and first from them
in session tonight,
"Binge and Purge."
- We were on Blast First
for only one album.
We recorded "Binge and Purge"
on an American label.
- Binge and purge
- We went on our first
American tour
opening up for the Dictators.
It was called
the Chicks 'n' Dicks tour.
- Dictators have passed
the punk rock baton
to The Lunachicks.
- Have you known each other
for a while or what?
- Some of us did.
- From hangin' around downtown.
And, uh, that's how we met.
In the street.
[overlapping chatter, shouts]
- We want to know
about the Lunachicks.
- We had a name for ourselves
in England,
but in America, we were
a very underground band.
We were playing small venues.
This was punk rock.
This was total punk rock.
[rock music]

- Cuttin' in the bathroom,
waiting for that bell
They say its high school,
but I think its hell
Puffin' a joint
- I'm Jewish,
but I grew up in New York,
and I thought, like,
everybody was Jewish.
And then we started touring
in the United States,
and they're like,
"Wow, it's a real live Jew!"
So the obvious thing to do
would just be
to write Jew on your face
as big as you could,
especially if you were playing
with Social Distortion
and there was gonna be, like,
a thousand racist
skinheads there.
- Back then,
guys would just take over
and slam into everybody,
and the girls would get
stomped or pushed around,
grabbed, groped,
molested by the audience.
That's not OK--
you can't fuckin do that,
especially not
at one of our shows.

- Girls and young women
could be at the front,
be in the center,
express themselves, dance,
and know that we were
looking out for them.
Theo would stop the show
if she saw something
out of line.
Those were our girls.
- Stop, stop, stop, stop!
Stop! Stop!
What the fuck are you doing,
asshole?
[crowd shouting]
Just cut it out.
[crowd shouting]
You are obviously bothering
these women a lot, okay?
[cheers and applause]
[rock music]

- Everything was always
centered around Becky.
Just picture, like,
the Tasmanian devil
with a whirlwind around her.
[upbeat music]
- She did her whole
Howard Stern thing.
- Come on out, Becky.
- Becky Wreck!
- Becky Wreck here. She is--
- Howard Stern had
a cable show.
He was, like, probably
the number one
shock jock in New York.
And I went on a lot
because--whatever.
[chuckles]
I was willing to kiss girls
on TV.
- All the women go wild
for you.
Isn't that true?
- Yeah.
- All this notoriety happened
after that.
So we'd be at the airport--
it'd be like,
"Oh, Howard Stern!"
- A lot of the fighting
and the drama
had to do with the fact
that we were a couple.
- Syd was my best friend.
We did everything together.
I was the voice of reason.
You know, the older and wiser.
And then along came Becky,
and she snatches my bestie
and turns her into,
like, somebody else.
So we were
a little bit at odds.
Not a little bit at odds.
We were--we had some issues.
- I think, by far,
Sindi was, like,
the toughest Lunachick.
Maybe she felt like
I was competition.
But I just felt like,
fuck, she's badass.
Like, yeah,
we're on the same team.
[rock music]
- The feelings
across the board
were always intense.
We were playing this show
in England.
There was, like,
a huge mosh pit.
Sindi dumps her guitar
and dives into the audience.
- I dove into the crowd.
It took about two seconds,
and I was, like,
fucking naked.
The clothes were gone.
- I saw her shirt come
ripped up like this
and hands on her,
and I freaked out,
and I stopped playing,
and I ran over,
and we're trying
to get security
to get her back to the stage
and get her safe,
'cause I saw the look
on her face.
She was horrified.
But I think she felt like
she had to play it off.
And her being tough about it
confused me.
- Becky got furious.
She got furious at me.
I understand that she maybe
felt violated herself somehow.
But it was really not cool.
- The last thing she needed
was someone to yell at her.
But I was only coming
from, like,
"You did something
where we can't protect you.
Don't ever do that," you know.
Like, that's kind of
how I felt.
You know, that was really
fucked up that that happened.
I can--I--I--
you know, I can still see it.
And it was, like--
it was really fucked up.
[sniffles]
You still wanna bother people,
meet us outside.
Me and every single fucking
girl in this place,
and we'll fuckin stomp
your ass off.
[cheers and applause]
[rock music]

[screaming]

Your crotch is burning
Well, ain't that a shame
Too bad that
I'm not the one to blame
Take this
Take that, take that
But no one is ever gonna take
my fucking rights back

Don't touch me
in the streets, no
- We were going to play
Reading Festival.
It was fucking exciting.
- Chicks are super strong
- We were like,
"Becky you can't take
any drugs over."

- They would say,
"This is when we're leaving.
"You better clean up.
Plenty of time to get
your shit together, Becky."
And I, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
And no, no, no, 'cause I had
a ten-bag-a-day heroin habit.

- Reading Festival was
a huge deal,
and Nirvana was playing.
Nirvana was on Sub Pop,
and then they broke.
And the industry realized
you can have punk-based music
be commercially successful
as well.
- There were very high
expectations on everybody
from the underground because
Nirvana did so gangbusters.
But it was really
kind of a cool era
because there were
a lot of female bands
playing aggressive rock.
Us, The Breeders, Lunachicks,
7 Year Bitch,
Babes in Toyland,
and later Riot Grrrl.
We were all kind of
banded together,
I think,
in supporting each other.

- We have been thinking
about playing a show.
- Stop thinking,
because thinking has
never helped.
You just go do
what you're built to go do.
Even if you don't
physically do something,
your spirit or soul
or subconscious
is still doing it,
because you're made to do it,
and you will walk on
like you had never left
and do what you're built to do.
- Yeah.
- I think that the time is now
for a Lunachicks reunion.
- We did sell out
Irving Plaza, remember?
That was such a fun show.
We could play a show
in the next six months
or whenever we wanted to,
if we were gonna do, like,
you know, like, just,
like, New York or LA
or, you know, whatever.
Like, we can--I don't think
we'd need a whole year.
- I want to wait
as long as possible.
I gotta mentally prepare.
I gotta physically prepare.
- Um, I don't know.
I don't know.
I mean, I don't see my life
slowing down at all.
So I just feel like there's
never gonna be a good time.
- It seems like
every '90s band is on tour,
so...everybody's doing it.
- The ice is on fire,
Antarctica burns
- All I remember
about the Lunachicks
is that every time I saw them,
I was high on LSD,
blackout drunk,
and they were
good-looking girls
until they got on stage,
and then they turned
into a bunch of old ladies.
- You guys played
with GWAR a lot.
The Lunachicks were
more than a band.
It was a gang.
Like, it was--[laughs]
I can't remember what it was,
but you were like,
"You can't tie
a Lunachick down!"
You're not talking
about regular girls,
these are Lunachicks here!
- You can't tie me down!
- You can't tie down
a Lunachick.
You gotta be free.
- I remember the time GWAR was
on "The Joan Rivers Show."
- You know,
the Lunachicks are in it.
- We're in the front row.
- Yeah, "Yay!" Cheering.
- As Oderus Urungus,
lead singer of GWAR...
- Dave Brockie, rest his soul,
he was a huge Lunachicks fan.
- We were banished here
to serve eternal penance.
- We would tour with GWAR,
and by then,
Syd was dating Oderus,
the singer.
I was very jealous,
so I was starting shit
with him.
- The only thing more fun than
being in a band with a couple
is being in a band
with a couple
who's breaking up.
- It got so dark.
There was this cloud of, like,
anger and bad energy,
and the drugs got worse,
and they were a mess,
and it was--it was toxic.
- I thought
all their good ways,
I was hoping that
it would rub off on me.
I really, really was.
But that's not what happened.
I was doing heroin.
Nothing was more important
to me than doing heroin.
- The final show with her was
with Murphy's Law,
and it was Halloween.
We all wore, like, bald wigs
and mustaches and plaid suits,
and she was so high
that it was, like,
in slow motion, you know?
So that was kind of it.
- Either they kicked me out
or I quit
and then thought
they'd ask me back,
but they probably
kicked me out.
And I--and I probably thought,
"Ha, what are they gonna do
without me?"
Well, they did a lot
without me, so...
- Then we took our friend
Kate Schellenbach,
who is in Luscious Jackson,
we took her out for a tour.
[drumming]
- I got a call
from one of the Lunachicks
saying that they were doing
a tour of North America.
"Can you play drums for us?"
And I was like,
"Oh, my God, yes."
I was so psyched.
It was like being asked
to play drums
for, like, your favorite band.
It was like, so fucking cool.
- Hey, Marsha,
that was really groovy.
- I first heard the Lunachicks
when there was some
college radio station
playing "Jan Brady,"
and I was like,
what the fuck is this?
- Well, I am Jan Brady
- I was obsessed,
played it, like, nonstop.
Then they were playing
a show at Pyramid.
They came out--
they said Theo was killed
and that she wasn't gonna be
performing tonight
'cause she was killed
by Nadia Comaneci, the gymnast.
- I would like
a really warm welcome
for Mrs. Nadia Comaneci.
- And so out came
Nadia Comaneci,
which was Theo
in, like, pigtails
and, like, a tracksuit.
[rock music]
- They fuckin' rocked.
I was so thrilled
and so pumped.
Once I saw them,
everything changed.
I swear,
if I hadn't heard them,
there probably would not
have been Luscious Jackson
in the form that it was,
so it really was
a huge, huge thing for me.

- Pick, pick, pick,
it's makin' me sick
I wish the sleep fairy
would come do the trick
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah
- Back then,
there's no Internet.
There's no social media.
The only way to let people
know you had a show,
you had to make a flyer
and paste it
all over the city.
And then when
you were on tour,
you would start organizing
street teams.
And these are just dedicated
fans who'd hand out fliers
and tell people
about your shows.
- Toss and turn,
toss and turn
- Being an all-female act
from New York
was a novelty
and made people take notice.
You have to then keep them
looking and listening.
And that we were able to do
on our own merit.

- It was so much fun
touring with Kate.
But she needed to play
with Luscious Jackson,
so we knew it was temporary.
- We found ourselves
two albums in,
and a few years now
down the road,
we were looking for a label.
We didn't have a manager.
We were looking for a drummer.
[rock music]
We met Chip the first time
we were looking for drummers
before Becky,
and we thought
she was so cool,
and we wanted her
to be in the band,
and she said no.
- I'm from a small town
in Pennsylvania.
In kindergarten, they offered
musical instruments
to everybody.
So I went,
"I'm playing the drums!
That's what I want to do."
And the teacher would always
hand the drums to the boys.
So I was like, "Why--why can't
I be handed the drums?"
Being gay and not out
in Pennsylvania
at the age of 13, 14, 15, 16,
I didn't like anybody.
There was nobody
to strive to be part of.
You know? I--I wanted better.
And better was New York.
[rock music]
I came upon Lunachicks
early on.
They were very young,
and I auditioned for them,
and they said, like,
"Yeah, cool.
We want you as our drummer."
So I called Squid
to set up a rehearsal,
and her dad answered
the phone,
and I said,
"Yeah, is Squid there?"
And you could tell he was
yelling up the stairs,
"Sydney,
you have a phone call!"
And I was like,
"What the hell?"
And I think I told them,
it's like,
"Oh, you know, look,
I can't do this.
I've got some other things
going on."
- Years later, we just
called her up and said,
"Hey, we have a tour coming up.
"Will you come
on the tour with us,
and we'll just see
how it goes?'"
- So I went on tour
with the Lunachicks to Europe,
and it was the greatest
fuckin' thing ever.
- Lookin' at you
with your seven toes
Always there
when I'm tastin' the woes
Your shit stinks
worse than the rest
But my honey, I think
you're the best
- In England,
there was one show
maybe two weeks into the tour
where we're in
a dressing room,
and there was, like,
a big glass mirror
in the dressing room.
- After the gig,
the girls are, like,
stripped down naked--
you know, like, fhoosh--
and I'm looking at
this mirror,
and it didn't sit right
with me.
So I looked in the mirror,
and it's like,
"That kind of seems like
something's back behind that."
And I went outside the door
and I opened the door,
and three guys came running
out of the door
behind the wall.
And I went in to the girls.
I'm like,
"There's a two-way mirror.
This is a two-way mirror,
you guys."
- So we realized
that they were, like,
watching us change,
and we were so pissed.
- I just remember
seeing the girls
having, like, a look
on their face of just being,
you know, like, violated,
and that struck a thing in me.
- So all hell broke loose,
and Chip was right there,
ready to beat the shit
out of these guys.
- I took a chair, and I
smashed it through the window.
I did one of those things
with the rungs of the chair.
I just, like, went...[trilling]
And I started picking up
lights, going, smash!
- I believe we were all
wearing tutus.
So we surrounded the owner
in our tutus.
- "There's a two-way fucking
mirror, you fucking assholes!"
"What, what? No, no, no."
And Squid's like, "Yeah,
there's a two-way mirror!"
They're like, "Well,
what do you want us to do?"
- And Syd was like,
"You take off
your fucking pants!"
And, like, made the guy
pull his pants down.
[laughing]
Imagine these
demented Barbie dolls
standing over you in tutus
and, like, blacked out teeth,
like, "Now you take off
your pants!"
We're all like, "Yeah!"
And he did.
He took his pants down.
What is he gonna do?
We reported it to some tabloid
just to get the word out.
Like, this is so wrong.
- But the next day after that,
the band came to me
saying,
"We want you in the band.
Do you think you could be
our drummer?"
And I was like, "Yeah, yeah."
It's like, if that was
my initiation, like...
- "We want you in the band.
Just join the band.
Come on, you're one of us."
So she did.
- Walk in front of a car
at the mall
Trip and fall in the hall
Smash your head
against the wall
You want to die,
I can see it in your eyes
Rob a bank, tip the boat,
sell yourself
Break the law

I like you better
- When Chip joined the band,
we became tighter, faster.
We had kind of reached
a new level.
- It really became the machine
that it was meant to be.
- We were looking for a label,
and we met with Go Kart,
and they were just
starting out.
Greg basically said to us,
"Because I'm new at this
and eager,
I'm gonna make everything
about you guys."
And he did.
He put all of his time,
energy, and money into
getting "Jerk Of All Trades"
up and running.
- She can dance
- She can sing
both:
She can do most anything
She is the jerk,
the jerk of all trades
- She can build
- She can fight
both:
She can bust out your light
She is the jerk,
the jerk of all trades
Never, ever
- There are songs
on "Jerk Of All Trades"
that so summed up that time
and feeling and power.
And we were like
a gang or an army,
or we were on this mission.
- No one ever fucked with us.
And if they did, we always won.
- That's it! I got a gun.
Everybody hit the deck,
or the nun gets it!
- None of them took any shit
from anybody in the audience,
which I loved.
I mean, Theo used to, like,
just tell people to fuck off.
And she threw her tampon
at somebody once
in the audience that was
giving her a hard time.
Like, you know, I just thought,
oh, my God, that's so amazing.
It's so John Waters.
- [grunts]
- That was such
an exciting year.
Things were really happening.

- Theo was doing
a lot of modeling.
Designers started
coming to her, like,
"You're tattooed
and you're gorgeous,
and, you know, we want you
to represent us."
- She had done
the Calvin Klein campaign...
- Just be.
- That got blasted 'cause
they said everybody
looked like junkies.
- "Be what?" some critics ask.
Be dirty? Ragged?
Made to look like they're
strung out, wasted on drugs?
- She was on
"The Jon Stewart Show."
- The lead singer
for the Lunachicks.
Everybody welcome Theo.
[cheers and applause]
- When I was--
oy, when I was in school--
- I'm sorry, "oy"?
- Oy vey!
The last thing
I expected to hear from you
was, in fact, "oy,"
I have to say.
- I found this gal, the cover
of the "Pretty Ugly" album,
Barbie head, that we did burn.
Why must I stand on my toes
Perfect smile
and skintight clothes
Cinched waist,
no cunt to piss with
A stamp on my ass
I was six or seven.
I got this giant Barbie.
It was super tall.
It was a drag queen.
At that moment, it clicked,
and I was like,
I want to be that.
I want to be a giant woman.
And that's what happened.
I was trained by Miss Guy
and all these drag queens,
learning how to make myself
into that.
[laughs]
Bitterness Barbie,
boobs are sagging
I really enjoy being
in front of the camera.
I enjoy dressing up.
I enjoyed getting
my makeup and hair done.
I don't think
the band really liked it.
What they have to do is
get me to the airport
from--you know, to New York.
There was some tension.
I felt it.
And then back for the gig.
- Guaranteed, right?
- They're gonna--
- We want a written contract
that says that
you'll be back
in time for the gig
or we want a thousand dollars
for each of us.
- Totally.
- Yeah.
If, like, for some reason,
you're plane is delayed
and you miss the gig,
we can't, like,
afford to not...
- Oh, no.
- Just make sure you--
- The only thing
I would miss is soundcheck.
And then I'd get to the show.
- Um, well, that's
all your problem.
- OK, we'll take
a smaller fee for that.
- I felt like they didn't want
anyone to look too pretty.
And it's like, why can't we
be good-looking too?
You know, we're funny,
and we're gross,
but it's okay
to--to show all sides.
To me.

Because on the other side
of me was this person
when I got on stage
that was like,
"Fuck you.
Nobody can fuck with me.
And if anyone does,
I will kill you."
[vocalizing]

- The Lunachicks had
a lot of gay fans--
gay boys, gay girls,
and everything in between.
Boys dressed up,
girls dressed up,
butch girls, femme boys.
It was a super fun mix of
people at a Lunachicks show.

By the time
of "Jerk of All Trades,"
they were packing out
every club they played.
Plus, then they would
also be opening
for bigger artists and playing
amphitheaters and arenas.
- [vocalizing]

Are you ready to rock, Tokyo?
- The album "Jerk of All
Trades" was doing really well,
and we were going on
bigger tours by then.
- Light as a feather,
stiff as a board
Stiff as a week in May
I dare you, I dare you
Do it now or you can't play
Jump the bridge,
just for kicks
Jump the bridge and pray
I dare you, I dare you,
do it and die today
Light as a feather
Stiff as a board,
stiff as a board

- You know, there's people
that just can't
take it on tour.
And the fact that the five
of us, like, survived so well,
at least I thought we did.
I thought we, like--
we really thrived together.
Five people and a tour manager
and a merch girl.
I saw it all as going
very, very, very well.
There was a lot of laughs.
There was a lot
of laughing going on.
- Welcome to the annual
Plumber Butt
Race Up the Hill contest,
and wait, hold on.
Let me get a close-up on those.
Oh, yes,
it's contestant number one
right there on the right.
That's Chip.
Contestant number two, Theo,
and contestant number three,
Squid.
Well, they all look
pretty good, I must say.
This is going to be
a tough decision.
Plumbers, set your mark. Go!
[laughs]
- Oh, my gosh.
- Oh, that was
a close race, folks,
a real close race.
I don't know.
I think we might have to
have a rematch.
[laughter]
- You're a mental case
'Bout time
I smash your face
Got a habit of steppin'
out of line
Oh, yeah, well,
here comes your time
- We would get
a lot of young girls
coming up to us and saying,
"Oh, my God, you have really
changed my way of thinking,
"of seeing myself in the world
or helping me understand
it's okay to be who I am."

- When I hear things
like that from fans,
it's like, that makes
all that suffering
that we did on the side
of the road
and sleeping on floors
and, you know,
running out of gas,
like, worth everything.
Great green globs of greasy,
grimy gopher guts
Mutilated monkey meat
Chopped up little
birdies' feet
French fried eyeballs
rolling down the dirty street
And I forgot my spoon
In the beginning, it was like,
"Oh, my God, we're in a band.
This is so fun."
Is this not made for me?
But we're also feminists,
and we're pro-choice,
and these things are
being threatened still.
My mother also
has been fighting
for her right to choice
since the '60s,
and she continues to fight,
and I will continue to fight
as long as is necessary.
I found all these shirts,
and there's this guy.
Us and Fugazi, Pearl Jam,
and L7, who put the whole
thing together.
And we're still fighting
for our choice today.
[chuckles]
[rock music]

- I can't go on like this
I didn't understand
a word you said
- We did do a reunion
once before.
- You didn't mean
to not to
But you didn't
'cause you couldn't
But would have
if you could have
And you might,
but you wouldn't
Say what you mean
- In 2004, we played
a big pro-choice show
in D.C. with Joan Jett.
- Well, today will
soon be yesterday
Tomorrow will be today
And I'm waiting every day
Ah!
For you to say what
you mean
Mean what you say
Say what you mean,
don't say it mean
Say what you, say what you
Say what you,
say what you mean
[cheers and applause]
all: Lunachicks!
Lunachicks!
Lunachicks! Lunachicks!
Lunachicks!
- Oh, my God.
Holy--Stormy, you are
so adorable.
Holy shit.
- I have missed you guys
so much.
I was so excited
when Theo called me.
So tell me how this
whole thing came about.
Is there a book
that's coming out?
- Yeah, we're working
on a book.
- Yeah.
- Are you guys wanting
to go out and do
an actual tour?
Or are you just wanting
to kind of do more,
like, fly in, fly out--
- Can we do, like,
some anonymous show
just very far away,
so if we suck,
that nobody really knows?
- Um, you know,
you can't stop people
from taking cell phones
into shows,
so everything gets
recorded now.
- Good thing
you look so good, Kogan.
- [laughs]
- Ditto, Silver.
- You got nothing
to hide, girl.
Don't be shy.
[laughter]
[rock music]
When we first started,
we were literally
banging on pots and pans in my
bedroom of my parents' house,
and it became more serious.
- When I look
into your big brown eyes
- We knew that,
because we were women,
people were looking at us
to fail.
And although we never
took our image seriously,
we took very seriously
being taken seriously.
You know, it's like, fuck you.
We can play.
Fuck you.
We can play better than you.
- We wanted to be kids.
We still wanted to be kids.
We wanted to play
better than all the guys
because people really
would say,
"Oh, you guys are pretty good
for girls."

- No, we can't book
another female band
this month because we had
one playing last month.
No, we can't feature another
female band in our magazine
because we did one
two weeks ago.
- They had filled their quota.
That was given as a reason by
these people and with no shame.
[light music]
- There was a rock station
in New York.
They flat-out said,
"It's too many female bands
for one playlist."
We happened to be playing
a show that was
sponsored by
that radio station,
and they had a banner
in front of the stage,
and Theo was like,
"Q104, pure cock rock!"
And she ripped the banner.
And they were like, "We're
never gonna play you ever now."
[laughs]
- We had the same
booking agent, Stormy.
And the Lunachicks
were kind of more of
an established band, right?
So Stormy suggested
that we could open up for 'em
on their tour,
and we were thrilled.
We're watching 'em play,
going,
Jesus, these guys are like--
they're a big band.
We got our work
cut out for us,
trying to keep up with them.
[cheers and applause]
And then "Smash" came out.
- La, la, la, la, la
- And now we needed someone
to open up for us.

- The Offspring had
opened for us.
Then, boom,
they're millionaires,
and we're opening
for them at arenas.
- The whole music
industry changed,
and all of a sudden,
punk rock became mainstream.
And people were making money--
and, like, a lot of money.
And you would hear about
some person that got signed,
and then they were
in a bus the next day.
And we were like, we've been
sitting in a van for 12 years.
- Isn't it lovely?
- Lovely mobile home
to call our own.
- We finally got an RV.
- And then, like, when we get
these little breaks...
- After, what is it--
nine, ten years of touring?
Like an RV for the first time,
and then someone would be like,
"Yeah, you fucking sell-out!"
Like, are you kidding me?
- What's going on?
- We're going to the home
of the Lunachicks on tour.
Hello, Lunachicks.
We're here from "Lifestyles
of the Poor and--"
- No!
- The roots of what you want
are always
punk rock
and start from nothing.
I mean, that's all really fun.
But as you become older,
and you see other people
with a whole team
of management and publicity
and money being put
into your art
that makes it more
accessible for people,
there was always
that feeling like,
if we could get
that little break,
that we could reach more
people and sell more records.
- You know, they were
all phenomenal musicians.
I remember Gina teaching me
how to play guitar
in the back of the bus
one time.
Seriously, like teaching me
guitar riffs that,
you know, I didn't know
how to play.
- It was a very
male-dominated world.
And that's part of why
I really enjoyed
bringing them on tour,
'cause, like, you don't
see this every day.
This is really cool
and different and unique.
You know, they didn't get
their due, for sure.
- The other bands,
they all shared with us,
and they treated us well,
so I didn't begrudge
any of them their success.
But there was no
fathomable reason
why we weren't also
participating in that.
We had paid all the dues.
All the dues had been paid
with interest.
And it just didn't
make any sense.
- You'll never be
good enough
Whoa, whoa
You got less teeth
and more tits
- We were living the life
of being in a band,
and, I mean,
that was everybody's focus.
There was no, like,
going back to law school
when this is done.
Like, this is all
we were doing.
I never went to college.
I mean, it's not like
we had eggs in other baskets.
That was gonna be our lives.
- Never get poop
on your creepers.
- We were always
scrambling for money.
I bartended.
I bussed tables.
- I started go-go dancing
in gay and mixed clubs
and babysitting too.
- I started tattooing.
I tattooed for 14 years.
[rock music]
- I tell you, man,
those Lunachicks,
those are just, like,
the most beautiful creatures
God has ever graced
this planet with, man,
especially Squid,
the bass player.
If I had to fall
in love again,
that's who I would be in love
with, I'll tell you what, man.
- Back then, the legends
in your life are
your New York characters
from the '70s.
And they had, all of them,
become heroin addicts.
So by the time
we're teenagers,
it was like,
anything but heroin.
- I'm falling
- Except for those of us
who just couldn't resist.
- I'm falling and there's
no one to catch me
- I was using,
more and more, in secret.
It was a secret
until I couldn't keep it
a secret anymore.
- I remember busting Syd
being high at rehearsals
and being like, you know,
"I know you're high.
You better not do it again."
She'd be like,
"No, no, I won't do it again.
I promise."
I had no idea what that was--
what it was about
and how deep it was
and how much
of a monster it is,
that addiction and that drug.
All you got,
you're throwing it away
It was so painful,
being so helpless--
wanting to make her stop,
not being able to,
being afraid she's gonna die.
Even if I loved you more,
turn it into disdain
Even if the sun is shining,
it's pouring acid rain
Can't hold on
for one more day
- Me and Sindi had
a hard falling out.
We stopped being friends
for a long time.
It was hard, 'cause, like,
Sindi was my sister.
- I had personal experience
that nobody else had
of losing people close to me
to drugs.
And, you know, I adored her.
And I saw that
I was losing her,
that we were losing her.
So most of my anger
came from sadness.
[rock music]

- When we recorded
"Pretty Ugly,"
Sindi recorded her parts
and then split.
She wasn't there much.

- I was very close to Sindi,
but I think she had
a different agenda.

- Being on tour was very
different in the early days
than in the later days.
Bad mood.
People started to get
a little bit more
snippy with each other.
I found that I was
distancing myself
from the rest
of the band more.
And there was this divide of
what they thought
was important
and what I thought
was important.
[cheers and applause]
I didn't care as much
about succeeding,
about making it.
I was still in it to have fun.
- We wanted to be better
than we were the year before.
That was really important
to all of us--most of us.
But I don't think it was
as important to Sindi.
We started writing
more complex riffs
and faster rhythms,
and she couldn't keep up.
And it was a problem.
- Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, yeah
- They wanted me
to tighten up my musical act,
and I didn't want to.
To me, it felt like
they were looking for a reason
that the success
wasn't coming.
And at some point,
the finger was pointed at me.
I, fair enough,
could be sloppy on stage.
I did not spend my free time
noodling on the guitar,
because I thought
I was in a punk rock band.
- So we said,
either you put the effort in,
or you leave the band,
and it's your choice.
I think she felt betrayed that
we would give her an ultimatum,
because it was her band too.
It was heartbreaking.
- I cared about them all
so much.
If I had believed
I was holding us back,
I would have done
whatever it took.
I just didn't believe
there was a need for it.
- Sindi from the Lunachicks.
- I knew I was
a great stage presence.
I knew it wasn't me.
But if they were gonna
insinuate that it was me,
any joy that was left then
was stabbed in the heart.
So we all agreed to part ways.
It wasn't super amicable,
but they are
really important to me.
They always were
important to me.
Those girls are
my lifelong sisters.
[rock music]
- So you guys are on
the Iggy Pop tribute album.
all: Yes.
- There was a recording
that we did
of "The Passenger,"
the Iggy Pop song.

I just couldn't get there.
Like, I just--I was, like,
shooting coke
or something crazy.
Every 15 minutes,
I had to, like, fix.
I kept getting dressed
and trying to leave the house.
And then I'd just be
back on the couch
with a needle in my arm.
I never got to the studio.
I couldn't do it.

- I think, in her mind,
going on tour,
"I'm gonna kick it.
I'm gonna leave New York
and stop."
She was drug sick
for the whole time
we were in Japan.
And it's like, Squid--
like, we were in Japan.
We were in Japan,
and you didn't even know it.

- She had her awesome
vintage car,
her '64 Chevy Nova.

This one night,
she was in a bad way,
and she's doing some kind
of heroin-speed combo or--
I don't know
what she was doing.
She was picky,
skinny, nervous.
It was bad.
I'm sitting
in the front with her,
and we're going to get
on the Brooklyn Bridge.

There was, like, one of those
concrete dividers.
She nodded out,
hit the divider,
and the whole car bounced
into the lane of--
would have been
oncoming traffic.
If there had been traffic,
if there had been
any other cars,
we would be probably dead.
But somehow,
it wasn't our time.

- I called Syd's dad.
"Things are bad.
We have to save her."
- We called an intervention.
- It was a small group of us--
the band, Howie,
her sister,
and her mom and her dad.
And you have to tell
the person,
"We're out if you can't
get your shit together."

I didn't know at that time
if she was gonna walk
out of the room,
and I would never
see her again.
- I was so ready to go.
I was just like,
get me the fuck out of here.
Like, I can't help myself.
I didn't want
to lose everything.
I mean, I never cared
about anything
as much as I cared
about the band.
It was everything.
So they pulled me out.
They dropped me into rehab.
And I stayed clean after that,
and I've been clean ever since.
Um, ay-yi-yi-yi-yi.
Oh, this is where--
something about this one.
- Which one?
- This one.
- The deli?
- This one.
- This building?
- Something like methadone
clinic, something not cool?
- Well, that's your department.
- Something dark.
- Something dark.
- Something dark.
- Something dark and ouchy.
- Oh, my God!
- Oh, my God!
[indistinct chatter, laughter]
- Is that for me?
And it's got sprinkles!
Oh, my God,
I just want to hug you again.
- I am so hungry.
Oh, thank God.
[popping]
both: Oh!
- Hey!
[indistinct chatter]
- There's something in the air
right now, in this place.
You know what I mean?
Like, you know,
seeing everybody, and...
there's been a lot of talk.
You know, I'm feeling
a real buzz.
- Squid.
- Really loud, like 11, right?
- And if I don't
pick up the phone
Ha!
"Luxury Problem,"
I felt like that was
a really powerful album
as musicians and songwriting.
- We had grown a lot.
We were finely tuned.
We played our instruments
a thousand times better
than we had when we began.
- I can't see
addicts anymore
- That album, "Luxury
Problem," is fantastic.
I told my band, you know,
we ought to get those guys
and bring them on tour with us
so we could spread the joy.
[laughs] Spread the filth.
[laughs]
To go out with two bands
like the Go-Go's
and the Lunachicks together,
I mean, that's a marriage
made in heaven.
We had so much fun
with them on tour.
It was like just a gang
of girls hanging out,
getting into trouble.
We all understood each other.
We--we got the humor.
- Lunachicks!
[cheers and applause]
- And they really cared
about keeping humor
in everything that they did.
But let's face it,
I don't know if America
was completely ready for them.
[rock music]
- You know, back then, if
you're a girl band going out,
it was certainly gonna be
a tougher audience.
- At some shows, there were
knuckle-dragging idiots
chanting, "Show us your tits."
It's fucked, you know?
And so we saw 'em
have to deal with that.
- Every show, there's
some dick in the audience,
"Show us your tits."
Like, it's just a given.
That happens every show.
But these were arenas,
and hundreds,
if not thousands of guys,
started chanting,
"Show us your tits!"
- It's hard enough to be
out there doing it,
and then to have that
on top of it,
it was very hard
on your psyche.
- The traditionally
male-dominated Warped Tour
has added five bands
with female members
to this year's lineup.
- You think that
you are hot stuff
Think that
you're pretty cool
- On the Warped Tour,
Blink 182 was
one of the headliners.
They just thought,
"Oh, this is a funny joke.
Like, which girl are we
gonna get pregnant tonight?"
And it was constant.
- "Suck our [bleep].
Show us your tits.
We want more, you know,
[bleep]."
- And so, eventually,
Theo started giving them shit
on stage.
- We're like, you know what?
That's not funny.
[bleep] you.
- This song is
for all the girls.
[cheers and applause]
And it's called
"Knuckle Sandwich,"
'cause don't take fuckin' shit
from anybody.
Don't want to hear it,
don't want to hear it
Don't want to hear it,
no, no, no, no
- We had a real heavy
guy-band thing going on.
And being gay,
I wasn't enamored
by all the guys
and all the crew.
You know,
it's nothing but guys,
guys, guys, guys, guys.
And the girls addressed me
and said,
"We want to make sure
that you're cool.
You seem to be, like,
annoyed with the boy bands."
And I was like,
"No, man, I'm cool."
You know, I was
in the band for life.
You know, I was--I was a lifer.
But then there was
a question brought up
at the end of our last album.
It's like,
"Oh, we want to adjust
the songwriting credits."
Oh, really?
- Put your mask on.
Chip.
- We were very
"all for one and one for all."
So when we first started
recording, you know,
all of the rights
to everything
were shared equally.
It was a joke.
I mean, 3/4 of what?
[laughs] Nothing.
A song about my dead hamster?
As we grew up,
we began to write separately
rather than building music
together as a group.
- I had said I would like
some kind of acknowledgment
or some extra credit for some
of the things that I've done.
Basically, I was asking for
a higher percentage
of writers' share.
- All right.
Well, that puts me
at the worst level.
So now you're gonna make me
the least paid person
in the band?
You know, being the drummer,
I--I don't write songs.
But if I play
behind a guitarist,
I can influence
what they're doing.
Like, you're coming
in with A-A-A, B-B-B,
and I'm going,
hey, let's stop here,
and I'm gonna do a fill,
and now let's double time it.
And I would always write
the intros,
the bridges, the outros.
- I guess I stoked a fire
that I didn't even
realize existed,
but I hit a nerve,
and the whole thing
kind of just blew up.
Chip stood up,
maybe overturned a table,
called me every name
in the book,
stormed out of the room.
- Yeah, we are crackers.
- Chip was, to me,
my partner in crime.
I could always count on Chip
to go out after the show
and get into trouble--
like, go see the town,
stay up all night.
Chip was like...
[sighs]
She was like
your older brother.
But at that moment,
we didn't see
how we could go on tour
with each other.
- It was maybe just
a ridiculous moment.
I loved my time in the band.
I would not hesitate
to play with the girls.
Oh, no, no, no.
I have dreams.
This is the unfinished
love affair.
- Isn't it hard
when you're spoiled rotten
Got another luxury problem
Problem
Whoo!
[rock music]
Got a roof over my head
Got a tub and a bed
Yet my life is on the brink
Yeah, my life,
it fucking stinks
- We were all so proud of
the last album we just made.
We were touring
with the Buzzcocks.
We spent a month in Australia.
Like, we were having
a great time.
But I also started
to feel like
I'd rather quit
while we were ahead.

Summer of 2000, Helen was
drumming on that tour.

Theo, Syd, and I were talking
about our future.
The question came up,
you know, well,
how much longer are
we gonna do this?
And I said,
"I think I'm ready to go."
And Theo, surprisingly, said,
"Yeah, me too.
I feel exactly the same."
And Syd was like, "Wait,
what are you guys
talking about?"
- I never thought
it would really end.
It totally fucked me up.
It was the first time
in my whole life--
'cause we started so young--
that I was, like,
without that.
I was like, what the fuck
am I supposed to do now?
We made this thing.
And there were other bands
that make more money.
There are bands
that sell more records.
But nobody could be us.
We were the best
version of us.
That sounds so stupid
saying it.
But it was, like, this feeling
like we couldn't be outdone
because we were just
being who we were,
and that felt perfect.
And I think I have always
wanted to feel that again.
[rock music]
- Hi, everybody.
[cheers and applause]
Feel free to sing along.

- It wasn't that long
after we broke up,
I found out I was really sick.
I had cancer,
and I needed
emergency surgery.
I went into the hospital,
and Gina and Theo were
there with me.
And I, like, had this moment
where I just--
you know, who fucking cares
how many records you sold?
I've had, like,
this fantastic life
that money can't buy,
you know,
the kind of things that we did
and the times
that we had together.
The fact that
they were there with me was--
like, I got--I got,
that, like, we--we won.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh.
[horn honking]
[laughing]
- Attack of the 50-foot woman!
[cheers, laughter]
- Oh, my God, Gina!
[laughter]
- Oh, that's some
perspective, isn't it?
- It's a little too much
perspective.
- A little too much
perspective.
- [laughs]
[engine rumbling]
- I came to LA in 1997.
I have no history
of drug use here,
so it was like a clean slate.
I'm coming up on 20 years
of recovery off of heroin,
off of alcohol, off of pills.
Yes, my dear.
It was really important to me
to just not hide
from who I am.
Hey, everybody, you're here
with Becky Wreck today.
Guess what we're making.
Carne motherfucking asada!
Yeah!
I'm a private chef now.
You know, I've always felt
the anti-queer vibe
from people,
but now I feel the ageism.
I mean, I never used
face cream.
I never used earplugs.
I mean, all the things
I never did,
they take--it shows, you know,
but I mean, whatever.
What do I care?
My history of my life
is on my face.
I'm still here,
and I'm still rocking.
- I've got a house
in the country,
in Pennsylvania,
and I maintain
a 3-acre property.
I have a job, a loving wife,
and I got my drums
in the barn.
Well, you see the beard.
I grew up in a time
when you really didn't
come out like that.
Now kids are coming out
as trans.
You know, it's like, for me,
it's like I had to wait
my whole life.
You know, people have always
told me, "Chip, you're a dude.
You're a dude."
So now I'm enjoying this,
you know?
I gotta tell you,
the testosterone thing
is pretty fucking cool.
[laughs]
- I work as
a makeup artist now
in the fashion industry.
Being a woman who's aging,
it's not easy.
And then coming
from that industry,
I think it makes it
even worse.
I feel more and more
comfortable about it
every day, but still,
I'm working on so much
to feel good.
- Do you have any
red lipsticks?
- Of course.
And I also want to tell
other women that it's OK
and tell my daughter
that it's OK.
You don't have to be
a Barbie doll.
It's so hard with everything
that we're fed,
still, to really believe that.
- My single came out,
and I am preparing
for the music video.
I have two dancers, um,
and I am making these masks
for them to wear.
The hardest part about being
an artist or a musician
is having to sell
your personal self.
I don't have the personality.
It's not who I am.
This is who I am,
you know, what I make.
Would you be scared
if you saw this?
- Break the rules
- Only 1% out of
all the billions
of incredibly talented artists
out there
probably make a living
doing art.
So I do resent the struggle
of always being broke
and always trying to figure
out, what am I doing?
This is crazy--I'm too old
to be piecemealing
my life together,
and I should have a real job.
But that's just not me.
I've never stopped creating.

For me, if I stopped,
I would probably die.

[upbeat music]

- It's the last day
of business of my restaurant
that I opened in 2005.
This was my career
after my music career.
Our lease expired,
and our neighborhood is
turning a little
corporate corner.
So this will be, like,
a BMW showroom or something.
I feel a lot of things.
This whole identity
just is dissolving
around me, you know?
I kind of feel like
it's me again.
all: Sydney! Sydney!
- I really feel
artistic again.
I feel creative again.
It's, like, rushing at me,
like these football players,
like, charging,
you know, on some play.
I don't know anything
about football.
Oof.
Oh, my God,
you can see the dust flying.
- Hello, WFMU listeners.
This is the "Rock
and Roller Derby" show.
I am Suzy Hotrod, your host.
- [musical buzzing]
Za-za-za-za
[guitar playing]
- I think I'm gonna stick
with my promise
that every week until
the Lunachicks reunion shows
in November, I'm gonna play
a Lunachicks song,
because I love that band
so much.
[rock music]
- It took us a few years
to get it together.
- Bad, bad man
Bad, bad man, bad, bad man
- And then, of course, we got
shut down by the pandemic.

But we're finally
ready to play.

- Hello, Cleveland.
- Check, check, check,
check, check.
Ooh, yeah

- Michael!
- Hi, how are you?
- Hi.
Hi, hi, hi.
- Wow.
- Wow, you're, uh--
you guys are old.
[laughter]
- Good, good.
Good, good.
Yes, we have arrived,
32 years later.
[cheering, laughter]
[rock music]

How are those knees holding up?
- Not.
- No?

OK, let's get up. Sorry.
- [groans]
[laughter]
- [singing indistinctly]
- We continued working
on the book.
Book is done.

The title of the book
is "Fallopian Rhapsody."
It's named after their song.
Finally, it's actually here.
- You guys, we have a book.
It's so crazy!

- Shake, shake, shake
[blows raspberry]
[laughter]
- [singing indistinctly]

- We're ending there.

- I'm so psyched to get
on stage with my best friends,
who are so kickass
and remarkable.
And I couldn't be more proud
to be on stage,
kicking it and playing
rock 'n' roll,
because, come on,
it's the funnest thing
in the world.
- OK?
- [vocalizing]
- Years in the making.
- Yeah!
We made it.
- It's the Grog Shop.
- Grog show!
- The Grog Shop.
- [laughs]
- Love you.
[cheers and applause]
- Ready?
- We're gonna go in there
and fucking kill it.
[rock music]
[cheers and applause]

[suspenseful drumming]
[cheers and applause]

[rock music]

[cheers and applause]
- You're a
Mental case,
'bout time I smash your face
Got a habit
of stepping out of line
Oh, yeah, well,
here comes your time
You're a damn disgrace,
an insult to the human race
Try and make me feel
bad all the time
Good thing
you're not my sign
Oh, can't have me
Can't have me
You always want
what you can't have
And, baby,
you can't have me

You're
- Getting to play together
for the first time,
talk a little bit
about what that was like
to be together again
on the stage.
- A bleeding heart
Not even worth a fart
Got the worst halitosis
that I've smelled
You can just go to hell
- It's like another world.
Like, instead of
we had something to prove,
it's like people
wanted to like us.
- It was
a completely different
fucking universe out there.
A world where everybody
wants you to win.

- You can't have me
Can't have me,
can't have me
Always want
what you can't have
Can't have me,
can't have me
Can't have me, me, me, me
Me

- We have a special surprise
for you tonight.
[cheers and applause]
It's our old friend, Sindi B!
[cheers and applause]

- Well, I am Jan Brady
And you must believe that
Or forever perish
in your doubt
- Being back on stage with
the Chicks felt like home.
It's natural, like magnets
that pull us together.

I've been living in Germany
for 15 years,
not playing in a band,
but doing other stuff,
like having a family
and stuff that is very
un-rock 'n' roll.
But I'm still rock 'n' roll.
- What a trip
There I am

[cheers and applause]
- These lifelong friends
who are my chosen family,
being together on stage,
there is nothing like it.
[rock music]
It's a once-in-a-lifetime
thing
that has lasted a lifetime.
- Miss Demeanor
on the stage
Miss Hap, oh, I implore you
It's no mystery,
I don't want to know you
Miss America,
I can't ignore you
Can't wipe out
all our progress
With a little cotton ball
Slice and dice your face
to perfection
Slip up a word
and down you fall
Teeth are capped,
lipo-sucked
Hair is set
and nose is contoured
Tummy tucked
and boobs are lifted
Uncross your legs,
your pantyhose shifted
Am I smiling enough
Am I smiling too much
Am I tucked in and buckled
Do my tits touch
Hi, how are you
How high are you
Let's get started,
it's never enough

You put the extra
in ordinary
You add the minus
to the plus size
You put the blues
into my brown eyes
You put the turd
into Saturday
Can't wipe out
all our progress
With a little cotton ball
Slice and dice
your ass to perfection
Slip up a word
and down you fall
Am I smiling enough
Am I smiling too much
Am I tucked in and buckled
Do my tits touch
Hi, how are you
How high are you
Less teeth and more tits,
it's never enough

Never be good enough
You got less teeth
and more tits
What a bunch of hypocrites
trying to change the world
Oh, oh, oh
Bonded tooth smiles,
traveled so many miles
What you gonna do now
Oh, oh, oh
Hey, yo
Something different
and meaningful
Makes that smile
not seem no evil
When that crown
falls off your head
Will you still feel
better off dead
Yeah
I wanna see something else
Why don't you show me
something else
I want so much
to see something else
Why don't you show me
something else
Hey, hey
Hey, yeah
[cheers and applause]
Oh, my goodness.
- Something, something there.
Something, something. Help.
- [laughs]
[guitar playing]

- Ugliness is
only skin deep
And I know
the beauty is a beast
Ugliness is only skin deep
And I know
the beauty is a beast
both: Beauty is a beast,
beauty is a beast
Beauty is a beast,
beauty is a beast
- Guitar solo,
bridge, something.
I don't know.
- Maybe do that thing
from the beginning.
- That's this.
- Oh.
- I can do that,
something off of the--
and then just...
Pretty ugly
both: Pretty ugly
- It's a thin line
- Pretty ugly
- Want you all the time
- Pretty ugly
- Face I love to hate
- Pretty ugly
- Try to stare
- Pretty ugly
- And I don't care
- Pretty ugly
- It's a thin line
- Pretty ugly
- In your own mind
- Pretty ugly
- You one ugly
son of a bitch
- Pretty ugly
- Butt ugly
- Pretty ugly
- But I want to kiss you
- Pretty ugly
- On your ugly lips
- Pretty ugly
- You ugly son of a bitch

You one ugly mo--
ugly motherfucker
- [blows raspberry]
[laughter]