A few months ago, at the behest of our lovely editor-in-chief, I was introduced to the music of Bitch.

No, that's not a derogatory comment about female musicians.

Photo credit: Murray Hill

Bitch, formerly of Bitch and Animal, has made a name for herself (ha!) by blending instruments such as the violin, bass guitar and ukulele with powerful grrl lyrics. During the concert I attended in October, she played some of her as then yet-to-be-released solo material, as well as some of the more popular music from her days with Animal, such as "Cock on the Block," and "Scrap Metal." The audience at The Wallflower Gallery in Miami was small, but seemed very familiar with her music, (I was the odd woman out, so to speak, but I proudly admit to now being a fan). Most of the audience were gay women, with the occasional guy or heterosexual couple, even a young boy and his mother. The music ranged from political anthems to heartbreak songs, and all of it was infused with Bitch's manic musical energy.

After the show, I had the opportunity to sit down with this dreadlocked ball of energy and passion, listening to her dispense her wisdom on everything from feminism to music to the then-upcoming election.

Champagne: Your music is so far from the mainstream. Who has been a big influence on you?

Bitch: In my younger days, early childhood and stuff, all I listened to was the classical music I was studying, and my dad listened to jazz all the time. My mother was a tap dance instructor, so there was a lot of musical theatre in the house as well. So it was a combo of those three worlds in my early life. When I was in middle and high school, I was listening to what my friends were listening to, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills and Nash. Joni Mitchell has been a huge influence on me. Stevie Wonder, Ani DiFranco….two of our Bitch and Animal records were on her label. Nikki Giovanni was a huge influence on my writing.

Champagne: So as I said, this magazine deals with younger people and the need for feminism, and the idea that a lot of people, especially young women, don't like the term feminism, that it has too many negative connotations. What do you think of when you see the word feminism?

Bitch: You know, the women's movement in the 70s, when I was little. I was born in '73, and I grew up with this movement, and with this feeling that they were manhaters, they were ugly and not fuckable. That was the impression I was given. But that is what the patriarchy wants. Going to women's festivals, I always had the impression that they would all be wearing purple and playing really horrible drums. That's been a major undoing for me. Along with those preconceived notions, also, my dad was really into politics and he was one of the first people to talk to me about feminism, so I had other voices that were positive influences about it. So when I started to see the actual struggle that was going on, and I hear, "why do you need feminism? We're done now" I think "Hello? The ERA never even passed!"

Champagne: Yeah, and I think it was in the second presidential debate, Kerry pointed out women still earn seventy cents to every man's dollar.

Bitch: I know! And really, the major message that I feel I got as a girl was the most important thing was that you were sexy. So feminism is given this totally unsexy vibe. But I don't think that most men believe that, or whatever, that men and women think that. It's totally hot for a woman to take up space.

Champagne: So I was reading your site, and I know you went to Croatia. How was that? How did that come about?

Bitch: I was going on this tour with Ani (DiFranco) through Europe, and I just knew, I knew I needed some time, I knew before I started the tour. The last show was in Rimini, Italy, so I let the bus drop me off, and I just stayed there and they all left. And Danielle (Bitch's personal assistant) came and met me. She had been in Spain. We hung out there for a few weeks, but I had always wanted to go East, to eastern Europe, and we were there. It was just a thirteen hour boat ride. It blew my mind, any time I travel I get my mind blown, especially somewhere so unlike the US or the Western Hemisphere. The main thing I was struck by was how it felt to not be around constant advertising. It totally changed my brain.

Champagne: I was going to say, you talk in a lot of your songs about capitalism, and I was wondering how you felt about the constant capitalist..?

Bitch: Barrage?

Champagne: Or the way that democracy comes bundled with capitalism?

Bitch: I'm not even sure. The whole idea of capitalism, it could be cool. If everyone actually was starting from an equal place, like if it was "Ok, everyone's got ten dollars, now see what you can do!" But that just doesn't exist. And like, the people over there, it was hard for me to make friends, because people were so bitter towards me for being American. And it was hard to break that, but when we finally did, it was amazing to me how much on one hand he was, like, completely resenting me because I'm rich, which is sorta true because I have dollars and can travel, and take off and come to Croatia and spend my money. But on the other hand he has a lot of land that has been passed down through the family, fresh olive oil grown on his property, has access to real whole foods, he can eat a tomato that tastes like a tomato, whereas we don't have that here. A lot of people don't realize the poor here don't get real food. So on one hand he is completely repelling me for being American, a capitalist, but on the other hand he is glorifying me for being rich. It was an interesting, really deep experience.

Champagne: So you talk about this album being about the highways and the oceans, can you tell me a little bit about that?

Bitch: First of all, I just feel that in my life I am constantly caught between living in an urban place, in my adult life I have always lived in either Chicago or New York, so I've always been like a city person, and yet I'm totally a country person at heart, and I long for that, I really miss the nature in my life when I don't have it, and that is another thing I feel so pissed about.

Champagne: Do you think it is a tension that a lot of people have?

Bitch: I'm not sure. I think a lot of people have it but don't know they have it. I know people in the city, poor people don't have access to nature, I mean they have parks, but I don't know. I think they would feel so much better if they could walk outside and hear birds instead of sirens. But it's always this whole struggle with me. Even today I was floating in the ocean and I was like "that's it, I am moving here, I am moving to Florida." But there is this whole other cultural thing happening in NY that I would miss. On the album, there is a lot of water imagery. I think water is going to be the next oil, what people are battling over, and that is so scary to me. And there are a lot of travelling images, and so those are the worlds I am caught between. Lately I have been feeling, all the traveling I do, I feel a need to spread this message or just perform, but I don't feel like I have a community, or a day to day life, or a weekend. I am constantly on the road.

Champagne: How has the tour been?

Bitch: It's been amazing, it's been wild for me.

Champagne: This is your first solo tour?

Bitch: Yeah, there've been a lot of lessons. It has really tested my strength in a way. Like tonight is the tenth show in a row or something, and me and Animal never would have done that, never more than five or six shows in a row. And it just feels really good, I feel really strong, and seeing the people just fills my heart with glee.

Champagne: Well, you definitely had some really wonderful fans out there, they really adore you.

Bitch: Yeah, they were really great, weren't they?

Champagne: Do you have any advice for girls who are struggling with their sexuality, or, trying to figure out what they want and trying to deal with attitudes towards lesbianism?

Bitch: First of all, if it's sexuality or creativity or…expression-ivity, my major advice for young girls is to try and always speak your truth, try to understand that we all possess individual and amazing wisdom and that nobody else has that specific wisdom. I think it is really important for girls to be in their bodies, especially with sexuality stuff, to be smart enough to pick apart what society is trying to tell you to feel about your body and then to know how you actually feel. The body thing is a big one for me, to really be there. And even in performing, the whole secret to putting on a show is just being in your body, as long as you are there and really honest about it, you're golden.

Champagne: And that has to be even harder now that you are up there alone.

Bitch: Yeah, exactly, not to have that other to play off of, but now I am finding the flow and its really fun.

With someone as passionate and individualistic as Bitch out there playing for small venues, it makes me feel good that there are alternatives to Gwen Stefani and Avril Levigne for those of us who like our grrls to be bad.

To find out more about the particular truth and wisdom that Bitch speaks, visit her website at bitchmusic.com, where you can order her poetry and her new album.