Team Dresch

Team Dresch is an American queer punk band from the United States, formed in 1993 and still active. The group is associated with indie rock, queercore and riot grrrl. It is originally from Olympia, Washington, and is also linked to Portland, Oregon.

Formation and early line-up

The first album line-up includes Kaia Wilson on vocals and guitar, Jody Bleyle on guitar, bass and vocals, Donna Dresch on bass and guitar, and Marci Martinez on drums. The band draws on members with experience in other acts: Donna Dresch has played and recorded with Dinosaur Jr., Dangermouse, Screaming Trees, Rastro!, Fifth Column, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Lois, Mary Lou Lord and The Go Team; Jody Bleyle is also part of Hazel and Lovebutt; Kaia Wilson was previously in Adickdid; and Marci Martinez played in Calamity Jane. Scott Plouf, then of The Spinanes and later Built to Spill, drums on the first 7-inch single.

Queercore and riot grrrl

Donna Dresch, who founds the band, is active in the queercore scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She creates the fanzine Chainsaw and contributes to other zines including Outpunk and J.D.s. She also contributes to and appears on the cover of issue five of Homocore, and appears in G.B. Jones’s girl-gang film The Yo-Yo Gang. Team Dresch makes a strong impact on both the queercore movement and the riot grrrl scene.

Recordings and releases

The band’s first single, Hand Grenade, appears on Kill Rock Stars in 1994. Personal Best follows in 1995 as a co-release on Chainsaw Records and Candy Ass Records, the independent labels run by Dresch and Bleyle. Candy Ass Records then releases Free to Fight, a double LP by all-women bands dealing with harassment, rape and self-defence.

The second recording, Captain My Captain, features Melissa York on drums, replacing Marci Martinez. York has previously played in the hardcore punk bands Vitapup and Born Against. The album also includes a guest appearance by Phranc, and the song “Uncle Phranc” is written as a tribute to her.

DIY approach and later activity

The band works with a DIY ethic, running its own labels and booking its own tours. The members tour with self-defence instructor Alice Stagg, who speaks and gives demonstrations before performances. In 1996 the German band Tocotronic pays homage to Team Dresch with “Die Sache mit der Team Dresch-Platte” (“The thing about the Team Dresch record”), which helps raise the band’s profile in Germany.

After Captain My Captain, Kaia Wilson and Melissa York leave to form The Butchies. Donna Dresch and Jody Bleyle continue with new member Amanda Kelly and Marci Martinez returning on drums. The band stops playing in 1998, while Dresch becomes more involved in her label work, which includes releases by The Need, Longstocking and Sleater Kinney.

Other projects and reunions

Jody Bleyle starts Family Outing in 2002 with her brother Allen. Donna Dresch returns to the stage in 2004 with Davies vs. Dresch. Team Dresch appears in the queer touring package “Queercore Blitz”, and later headlines the homocore festival Homo-a-Go-Go in Olympia, Washington, with Jody, Donna, Kaia, Marci and Melissa. The same five members also reform to play shows in the Northwest and New York City. The band appears and is interviewed in Lucy Thane’s documentary She’s Real, Worse Than Queer.