In today’s political landscape, we need all the voices we can get to direct attention to issues facing our country. LA garage rockers Bleached have continually done so and have just announced a new EP and accompanying zine that will benefit Planned Parenthood.
The EP — called Can You Deal? — will be released March 3 via Fat Beats. It features four songs, including the hook-filled title track that you can hear at the bottom of this post. The zine that comes with the EP features essays, art, poetry from the likes of Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Tegan Quin of Tegan & Sara, Liz Phair, Julien Baker and Alice Glass among others. All proceeds will benefit Planned Parenthood. Bleached put out a special 7″ at the end of last year that featured covers of the Ramones and Barry McGuire that also raised money for the important non-profit.
Bleached also announced a show for April 6 at the Echoplex, called Bleached Presents: Can You Deal? Riot. Tickets are priced at $16.50 and are on sale now.
Bleached vocalist and guitarist Jennifer Clavin shared a statement on the project that you can read here:
I create music and art because I need to. To express, to bond, to reconcile, and to connect. And to use my voice. To have it received with such a generic labeling as “girl band” and consistently referenced as “female fronted” is insulting and reductive. The title track to this EP, “Can You Deal?” is about this experience. Last year we released a deeply personal full length album titled Welcome The Worms. It was a record about being in an emotionally abusive relationship. It was a record about getting spun out on drugs and alcohol. It was a record about totally losing myself in order to find myself. It was also our most ambitious body of work yet, with guitar work and guitar sounds and production we had only dreamed of until then. And yet to this day I am still fielding interview questions that have more to do with my gender than with the art I am creating. Somehow the conversation usually derails into some variation of the following question: “What is it like to be a girl in a rock band?” And the ensuing story will define us based on our sex. Why is gender pointed out in nearly all coverage of our band? Labeling me as a woman in a band just puts me in a box, and doesn’t allow everything else I am to be seen and heard. It’s 2017, Can You Deal with women playing rock and roll yet?
Bleached’s Jennifer and Jessica Clavin will also be participating in the February 14 show at Teragram Ballroom that benefits Planned Parenthood that also features Ty Segall, Kevin Morby, King Tuff, Mikal Cronin and more. Tickets are priced at $35.00. You can also catch Bleached opening for The Damned at the Belasco Theater on Thursday, April 6, as well as July’s Panorama Festival in New York.
Bleached are one of our favorite live LA bands. They are all certified bad asses and it’s been excellent watching them grow over the past few years. Their album Welcome the Worms was one of my 25 favorite albums of 2016 and definitely worth your time.
Here is the full list of contributors to the zine: Mecca Vazie Andrews (Sex Stains), Julien Baker, Alicia Bognanno (Bully), Jennifer Clavin (Bleached), Jessica Clavin (Bleached), Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), EMA, Alice Glass, Micayla Grace (Bleached), Allie Hanlon (Peach Kelli Pop), Hinds, Maryn Jones (All Dogs), Ali Koehler (Upset, Vivian Girls), Sara Landeau (the Julie Ruin), Lizzo, Dani Miller (Surfbort), Kate Nash, Liz Phair, Jane Weidlin (The Go Go’s), Allison Wolfe (Sex Stains, Bratmobile), Tegan Quin (Tegan and Sara), Patty Schemel (Upset, Hole), Kim Schifino (Matt and Kim), Mish Way (White Lung), Hayley Williams (Paramore), and more TBA!
