A few weeks ago, I rented this terrible Drew Barrymore movie called Mad Love. The movie's only real purpose was to keep Barrymore's name in the papers, but there was an interesting plot device early in the movie. Chris O'Donnell wanted to ask Drew out, but was too shy to do it in person. Knowing that she was a fan of 7 Year Bitch, he sent her tickets to a Seattle club show. Of course they fell in love at the show, with 7 Year Bitch's furious sound blasting in hi-fi stereo.
Bassist Elizabeth Davis says she was initially dubious when Barrymore contacted them about appearing in the movie. "I was really paranoid about it, but I honestly think the band scene was one of the best treatments of a band I've ever seen. The whole time the song was playing, the camera was on the band. It was like watching a video on MTV or something. It was a club that we always play, and we were wearing our own clothes. So it wasn't an extraordinarily weird thing for us to do."
Appearing in a major motion picture is a big step from working in a health food store, but that is the story of 7 Year Bitch. "We all knew each other because we worked in Seattle at Pike Place Market and we all went to shows a lot. We knew each other from seeing each other at different gigs."
Discovering that they all had similar interests in music, they decided to form a band. "Nobody played anything, but everyone was like 'let's be in a band. You do this, you do this, and I'll do that.' We'll vow to get this practice space, and rent some equipment, and we'll learn how to do it."
They obviously learned pretty fast, because within a few months they had graduated from playing for free beer at parties to opening a couple of arena shows for the Red Hot Chili Peppers when Pearl Jam dropped out. Davis says those shows actually set the band back a couple of steps. "It was so out of our league. It was just crazy, but we were like 'ok, what the hell.' We were completely unprepared, but we tend to do things anyway."
Shortly after those shows, 7 Year Bitch signed with local indie C/Z Records, but tragedy struck during the recording of their debut, Sick 'Em. Guitarist Stefanie Sargent overdosed, and the band came close to breaking up. "That was sort of the understanding. I don't know what happened but I think instead of just sitting around getting drunk and crying, we decided to play music again. This friend of ours started playing guitar with us just to get us playing again, and I'm very happy that we kept it going."
Roisin Dunne eventually was hired to replace Sargent, and Sick 'Em finally came out in October 1992. Four years later, Davis says that maybe that album shouldn't have been released. "We weren't really ready to release (it). We had some studio outtakes that we added to it to make a full-length record."
A year later 7 Year Bitch recorded Viva Zapata, a more assured disc that was marred by distribution problems. "Even in Seattle, you couldn't find our records in the stores," complains Davis.
It was because of this problem that the band started listening to offers from major labels. Davis says they eventually decided on Atlantic because of another Seattle band. "We admire the Melvins."
Davis says that although Atlantic agreed to let Seven Year Bitch have complete creative control, this isn't always what bands want. "I'm sure there are a lot of people that come to Atlantic and say 'develop me. Make me a star.' Then there are other bands like the Melvins that say 'this is how we are. This is what we were when you signed us. This is what we still want to maintain.' We want the financial backing and the knowledge that they will support you if we want them to. But we didn't want to compromise anything to get that."
Davis admits being on a major label is a "weird thing", but so far it's been a great relationship. "We had more money to do a record, and we were able to get hired hands to do our artwork. Certain things are able to happen; you feel like you have an organization behind you that will help you do something if you want to do it."
For Gato Negro, their major label debut, the band was determined to get things right in the studio. Davis says the most important change was their attitude. "We had a way better attitude about doing this one. There's a lot of potential for stress in the studio. (In the past) we didn't have much experience, and had a different attitude towards making a recording. We were less conscientious about what was going on."
According to Davis, the band did a lot more work on each individual song. "To make a record sound good and do the songs justice and give them the character that it needs, you have to take time with it. You have to do things to it; you have to fuck with it to get it the way you want it. This time we felt we had the time, experience, and atmosphere to accomplish that. We worked with every song individually instead of just 'this is my setting' and play the songs."
While it sounds like the band labored on the project in the studio, Davis says the album was finished rather quickly. "We ended up booking more time in the studio then we actually needed. But just the psychological knowledge that we had extra time is padding. It really makes a difference in how you feel in the studio. You don't think about how if it takes an extra day to do something it will cost a thousand dollars."
Now that Gato Negro has been unleashed on the public, 7 Year Bitch is busy doing promotional work for the album. On the day we spoke, the band was holed up doing a series of interviews for many publications. Davis admits it gets frustrating at times, but other bands like L7 and Babes in Toyland have given them helpful advice. "They're a few steps ahead of us so they know a lot about what's coming up for us. Whenever we get together with these bands we sit around for a while and chat about different situations they've been in that we can relate to."
What surprises Davis is the rapidly changing world of punk rock."(It's) actually a money making venture now. It's not really the venture for Seven Year Bitch, but maybe it will be someday."
But there is a downside to this fact. "It's amazing how something that's supposed to be different really isn't. When I listen to the hip radio stations, the hip songs sound to me like Boston. The production is super clean, there's some plucky guitar intro, then the lush vocals come in, and the big bombastic chorus. It's very formulaic."
Davis admits that most of this side of the industry "blows, but who would you rather have the majority of the country listening to, Nirvana or Bon Jovi? There you go. It's better. Sure it has it's downsides, but mostly the big drag is the expectations that these punk bands are supposed to be professional. That really cramps my style. We're really an unprofessional band."
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