The Spitboy Rule Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band

Though not a riot grrl band, Spitboy blazed trails for women musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, but it wasn’t easy. Misogyny, sexism, abusive fans, class and color blindness, and all-out racism were foes, especially for Gonzales, a Chicana and the only person of color in the band. Unlike touring rock bands before them, the unapologetically feminist Spitboy preferred Scrabble games between shows rather than sex and drugs, and they were not the angry manhaters that many expected them to be. Fully illustrated with rare photos and flyers from the punk rock underground, this fast-paced, first-person recollection is populated by scenesters and musical allies from the time including Econochrist, Paxston Quiggly, Neurosis, Los Crudos, Aaron Cometbus, Pete the Roadie, Green Day, Fugazi, and Kamala and the Karnivores.

Michelle Cruz Gonzales played drums and wrote lyrics for several bands during the 1980s and 1990s. Her writing has been published in anthologies, literary journals, and Hip Mama magazine. Michelle teaches English and creative writing at Las Positas College. She lives in Oakland, CA. Mimi Thi Nguyen is associate professor of gender and women's studies and Asian American studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of The Gift of Freedom: War, Debt, and Other Refugee Passages. For the last fifteen years, Martín Sorrondeguy  has been the singer of the openly queer punk band Limp Wrist. Sorrondeguy recently completed his third photography book, En Busca De Algo Mas.