History of On The Rag Records and ' Zine

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HISTORY OF ON THE RAG 'ZINE:

On The Rag first came into existence in the summer of 1993. I had just graduated from UC Riverside. My best friend Alicia Lopez just graduated from UC Berkeley. A month before she came home from S.F., the VoodooGlowSkulls had a meeting at Cheap Guy Music to discuss the possibilities of starting a local fanzine. Everyone said they were up for the challenge. Four months later, Alicia and I put out the first issue of On The Rag 'Zine. We photocopied it at my bass player's house and stapled it together on the floor of Cheap Guy Music. It was a huge pain in the ass, but totally rewarding.

We said it would be a bi-monthly but we succeeded in putting out only three more issues that year. So it became a quarterly. The first three issues featured such great local and out of town bands as the VoodooGlowSkulls, He's Dead Jim, Assorted Jelly Beans, Red 5, Human Waste Project, Manhole, The Bellrays and more. We then put out two more issues by the end of 1995. These issues just got better, we were very proud of them. They featured bands like Snap-Her, Red Aunts, Lunachicks, Tilt, AFI, Los Infernos, White Trash Debutantes and Pansy Division. Most of these bands we interviewed before they were relatively well known.

That is the great joy of doing the 'zine, introducing people to amazing new bands, strengthening our local scene and uniting people in all scenes. Issue #6 was no different than the past issues, only better. It featured X-It, Naked Aggression, Stormy Shepard, Justice Howard, Funeral Oration and more. It was stuffed with classic photos, not the generic kind you see in every other magazine, but the kind that you know was taken from a pit or during a face to face interview. Unfortunately for you, back issues are not available and I am lucky to one one copy of each. We started the 'zine to help the scene, especially other women in the punk scene. Through this 'zine, I have met fabulous women and men. I hope you enjoy On The Rag 'Zine as much as we enjoy putting it together. Perhaps you will be inspired to do your own 'zine. That, my friends, is the ultimate reward... inspiring other people to create something! On The Rag only exists as a webzine now.

HISTORY OF ON THE RAG RECORDS:

The idea for this label was born out of the pure frustration I felt every time I picked up a punk rock compilation. Usually, I'd get a compilation to review and I'd be lucky to find one band with a female musician in it. So, I decided it was definitely time for a compilation to come out that would mainly feature women. The 'zine was great fun and worked to help promote women in the punk scene. If anyone should do this type of label, I decided it should be me. I realized I was following a great tradition of labels country wide that spotlight women. Some of those labels I have to give credit for inspiration: Kill Rock Stars, Candy Ass, Sympathy, MRR, and Flipside.

My first introduction to music was though disco [as horrific as that may sound to some of you...at least I'm honest]. My mom was a Fredrick's of Hollywood disco queen. We had every K-Tel disco album. My mom was a single mother and I was an only child so many a hour was filled with lip-sincing to ABBA and playing with my Bionic and Wonder Woman Barbies. Music was my sanctuary even if it was repetitive, apathetic, hedonistic, apolitical dance music. Music always lifted my spirits. My first musical love affair was with Donna Summer, who "loved to love you baby." Then it was Debbie Harry. Then I discovered Janis Joplin, Sarah Vaughn, and the gothic Souxie.

Somehow, I always found more to relate to in the female punks. I would always go out of my way to find 7 inch records that featured women, especially after being in my own band. One of the first shows He's Dead Jim (the first punk band I sang for) played was with Bikini Kill at Scrips in Claremont. This band, Ms. Magazine, the feminist collective Women Enraged and my Women's History studies at UCR each had a part in inspiring me to do on the rag zine and label.

I started the label for the same reason I started the 'zine. I wanted to put the spotlight on women, build some solidarity between female musicians in a world that teaches most women to hate each other, compete against each other, and think of each other as the enemy.

Putting out music is no easy task. It is a labor of love. Since I finance this label with my teaching salary it's been a little slow on the output. Now that the credential and master degree programs are both completed I now put every spare moment I have into the label and the hardcore punk band I front, ALL OR NOTHING HC. I am so excited to put out this next compilation. There are so many more females involved in the punk scene and visible in bands and at the shows. It is "not just boys fun."

I will end this diatribe with final paragraph from the cd insert for the first compilation: Remember, I am no different than you. If you see a need for something, make it happen! ACTION, ACTION, ACTION!!! Start a band, a 'zine, a label, do a benefit show, volunteer, read a fucking book, just do something! If you sit on your ass nothing will happen and when you are forty with a big ass or a beer gut, you'll wish you really would have lived your life. If you start acting, you will see the fruits of your labor come. They may not come right away. It could be like the Chinese Bamboo that is planted as a seed and fertilized. Nothing happens for four years. Each year the farmer waters and fertilizes the seed. Finally, in the fifth year the bamboo shows itself. In that fifth year it grows 90 feet. In other words, you have to "do" in order to see the results. They may not come right away, but they will come.

With that I thank you for visiting our little website and supporting women in punk rock.

In Solidarity,

Renae Bryant,

ontherag/allornothinghc

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