Live photos: Bikini Kill perform at Roundhouse, London
If you were transported back to Italy in the 1400s and you saw a lone painter beginning to add texture to otherwise unremarkable lips, would you know you were watching a master at work? What ended up being the Mona Lisa, a painting that sparked various artistic movements and conversations, once began as a blank canvas, as did the rage-filled majesty of Bikini Kill. Much more emotive than Lisa but equally as conversation-worthy, did those who first saw the band take to the stage in 1991 know what they were privy to?
It’s hard to know for sure; however, it is a given that those who watch the band perform today make no mistakes about how important they are. As drumsticks click together and the heavy opening riff of the 90-second bout of chaos ‘New Radio’ rings through the London Roundhouse, roars go up, and a show that defies time begins.
As one of the earlier female-fronted bands with political lyrics and heavy and chaotic music, Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement. This underground feminist punk movement started in small venues and ended up taking the world by storm, as music was used to give a voice to those who felt as though the world they lived in didn’t speak for them.
Now, three decades later, the songs resonate as the band is welcomed to a sold-out Roundhouse by a crowd who have held their music close from the day it was released. While we see punk continue to take different forms and undergo a slight resurgence in the form of out-of-touch South Londoners, it’s nice to be reminded of what the raw sound was that inspired such passion.
Tracks like ‘This Is Not a Test’, ‘I Hate Danger’ and ‘Reject All American’ ring out with a raw energy that feels just as relevant today as the day it was released. The set is fast-moving as the band closes with ‘Suck My Left One’ before coming back on for an encore with ‘Rebel Girl’.
“It was obvious so quickly that the material still felt incredibly relevant,” Hanna said in a recent interview, talking about the band reuniting and continuing to play the music that started such an exciting artistic movement. “I’m not only singing them from the point of like, ‘Fuck you!’ I’m singing them from the point of, ‘I’m a part of this’. I’m not just a survivor or victim who’s angry, I’m also singing to the monster in myself.”
Check out our exclusive shots of one of the most electric gigs to hit the capital in a long time. Bikini Kill still have a few cities to visit on their European tour as they take to Leeds tonight, with Glasgow and Birmingham happening after. This run of shows has undoubtedly highlighted that there is still a market for ‘90s punk, and rage is very much in abundance.
