Release Date: Jun 24, 2016
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Latin Rock
Record label: Don Giovanni
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Like most of the great bands of the first wave of L.A. punk, the Bags didn't leave behind much of a recorded legacy. With major labels unwilling to sign the early L.A. bands, they had to wait until local indies got their act together in order to record, and as a consequence the Bags released just one single and a few compilation tracks during their 1977-1980 existence.
It’s hard to believe that, with the 2016 release of her self-titled album, pioneering LA chicana punk Alice Bag has finally given the world a proper solo album after years of groundbreaking work with a number of female-fronted groups. Founding member of the criminally under-documented first wave of LA punk band the Bags, Bag herself has seen bits and pieces of her work collected and anthologized over the nearly 40 years since she first burst onto the scene. And while this may be the first album released under her name alone, it’s not as though she hasn’t been busy.
Alice Bag fell into punk rock via the same storied route of celebrated outsiders before her: the rejection of societal norms and the embrace of differences. Born Alicia Armendariz in Los Angeles in 1958, Bag’s youth as the child of Mexican immigrants divided her between worlds. At home, she was only allowed to speak Spanish. At school, where she was teased because of her overweight, frizzy-haired appearance, she could only speak English.
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