WOMEN CREATED COMMUNITY DESPITE OBSTACLES IN VANCOUVER'S EARLY PUNK SCENE
It may be hard to imagine a world of punk rock between downtown’s glass condos, but in the 1970’s Vancouver was at the forefront of the new punk scene. While creating a tight-knit community dedicated to subverting norms and supporting each other, punk was not fully immune to some of the established attitudes of the day. Though supported by the majority of their peers, women sometimes had a difficult time "making it" in the scene and often faced additional challenges not experienced by their male counterparts.
PHOTO VIA SFU'S DIGITIZED VANCOUVER PUNK ROCK COLLECTION
Vancouver’s punk scene started to blossom in the late ’70s. “It's often said that the first punk show in Vancouver was by The Furies at the Japanese Hall. I believe that that was 1977,” said Melanie Hardbattle, Acquisitions and Outreach Archivist at Simon Fraser University. Similar bands were popping up in the city, such as The Skulls, as well as The Subhumans and DOA in 1978.
Drawn together by anti-authority "do-it-yourself" attitudes, the city’s punk scene was a close-knit group, with people often playing in multiple, interconnected bands. The scene called in young people from many walks of life across the lower mainland, all converging in dark, sweaty concert halls to enjoy some good music.
“From what I gather, even to this day, there's a real sense of community,” said Hardbattle, “I'm sure there were some rivalries and people that didn't quite get along. But I think overall, people really supported each other, and they were just doing amazing new things.”
“There was quite a bit of camaraderie. We had to band together in order to protect each other,” said Heather Haley, poet and singer for the band The Zeallots. “We shared what meager resources we had.”
PHOTO VIA SFU'S DIGITIZED VANCOUVER PUNK ROCK COLLECTION
Along with building a community, those in the punk scene found the space for personal and creative growth. “For me, it was a catalyst,” explained Haley, “I felt like a frustrated sort of wannabe until I came to Vancouver and hooked up with all my friends who were playing music. It was a springboard to finding myself, and establishing my identity”
Women had been part of Vancouver's scene since the very beginning. “There’s definitely a lot of women that went to shows but significantly, there were some very important female punk bands,” said Hardbattle. The aforementioned first punk show, with The Furies at the Japanese Hall, had featured The Dishrags, an all-female group. Other women-led and women-inclusive groups emerged, like The Zeallots and The Modernettes.
PHOTO VIA SFU'S DIGITIZED VANCOUVER PUNK ROCK COLLECTION
The Dishrags, a significant part of the city’s scene, faced quite a lot of challenges, “I know from speaking with people who were there that it was tough on them breaking into sort of a male-dominated scene,” said Hardbattle, “They had to deal with a lot of kind of chauvinistic behavior, I guess. Not always proper respect from the audience.”
Haley echoed Hardbattle’s sentiment, “You know about The Dishrags getting hooted and hollered at. I mean they got harassed a lot by audience members.”
Off the stage, women faced issues as well. Describing the men in the punk scene, Haley said, “Most of the guys were pretty enlightened, but you know, they didn't go out of their way to include us.”
Haley pointed to a competitiveness that created some of the issues. “They encouraged us as women to get involved,” she said, “But at the same time, it was a tough time. It was basically every dog for himself. I mean, we're all in this together, but at the same time, we're all striving to meet our goals. We all had ambitions, and along with ambition comes a kind of ruthlessness.
The punk scene often still had the same prejudices, like sexism, as the rest of society.
“That microcosm isn’t any different than any other human arena,” Haley noted.
PHOTO VIA SFU'S DIGITIZED VANCOUVER PUNK ROCK COLLECTION
Despite the obstacles, women in Vancouver’s punk scene strived to make space for themselves.
“We didn't just stand by and be passive. We got involved, we participated — whether people wanted to or not. And it wasn't easy to do that,” Haley said. “Women overcame those barriers and insisted on being part of it”.
“I feel like a lot of women from that time were very strong women with strong personalities,” said Hardbattle, “I think they can serve as good role models.”
On what lessons we can take from Vancouver's bygone punk days, Haley said “I feel fortunate to have benefited from the excitement and energy and how it propelled me forward. But I mean, that's something that's going to happen to anyone, any young person who has a desire to express themselves. It's universal, it's beyond history — it's just the human spirit.”
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Thomas O’Donnell is a freelance writer living in Vancouver. He likes to write about history, archives, and art. He runs the daily queer history Twitter account @BCQueerHistory. You can follow him on Twitter at @belovedofthesky.
