Welcome to author Carrie Pack, Interlude Press, and the blog tour for Carrie’s new book, Grrrls on the Side. She’s here to talk Riot Grrrls, zines, music, and there’s also a giveaway so be sure to check out the Rafflecopter widget below for details.
Welcome, Carrie!
Zine Culture and Music in Grrrls
My favorite part of Grrrls on the Side is the zine excerpts within the story. Zines were a very important part of Riot Grrrl culture, so I felt it was important to include them. I got to write from the characters’ point of view and create an immersive moment within the story.
And thanks to my cover artist, CB Messer, they actually look like zines too. There are about four different zines in Grrrls on the Side (with multiple issues of each) and they’re all incredibly unique. They feel like zines that could actually have existed. Even the names were fun to come up with: Decked out, Chubby Bunny, Material Grrrl, and Scream Queen (which I didn’t get to use).
I wrote poems, songs, political essays, rants, screeds. I listed fictional tour dates in fake venues like The Molotov Ballroom and with made-up bands like The Menstrual Cyclists and The Claires. My favorite song is called “Bite Me” and in the novel it’s penned by two of the Riot Grrrls, Marty and Cherie. I wish I played the guitar because I’d love to do a cover of it. Instead, how ‘bout I just share the lyrics?
Bite Me
by Marty DeVane and Cherie Wong
It takes a big man to tell a girl no
It takes a hot girl to put on a show
I wanna take you home
I wanna get you alone
But if you want to be with me there’s one thing to know
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
If it’s all right I’ll say so
But if it ain’t on the menu you’re leaving hungry
And I got news for you, you’ll have to go
Bite me
(Bite me yeah!)
Bite me
(Bite me yeah!)
I’m the one who makes the rules
And there’s nothing you can do so
Bite me!
You’ll need a bottle for your baby
You’ll need a leash for your dog
But since I’m neither one, boy, just move it along
And I got news for you, you’ll have to go
Bite me
(Bite me yeah!)
Bite me
(Bite me yeah!)
I’m the one who makes the rules
And there’s nothing you can do so
Bite me!
About the Book
The year is 1994 and alternative is in. But not for alternative girl Tabitha Denton; she hates her life. She is uninterested in boys, lonely, and sidelined by former friends at her suburban high school. When she picks up a zine at a punk concert, she finds an escape—an advertisement for a Riot Grrrl meet-up.
At the meeting, Tabitha finds girls who are more like her and a place to belong. But just as Tabitha is settling in with her new friends and beginning to think she understands herself, eighteen-year-old Jackie Hardwick walks into a meeting and changes her world forever. The out-and-proud Jackie is unlike anyone Tabitha has ever known. As her feelings for Jackie grow, Tabitha begins to learn more about herself and the racial injustices of the punk scene, but to be with Jackie, she must also come to grips with her own privilege and stand up for what’s right.
Purchase Links:
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Tour Excerpt
The club is dirty and small, and I have to stand on my tiptoes to see the stage, but I don’t care because these are my people: the hardscrabble freaks and losers who are angry at the world for their lot in life. Dramatic? Sure. But no one here looks at me like I’m some sort of zoo animal. An elephant with too much hair. A rhinoceros missing her horn. Here I am just a girl with cool boots, who maybe looks like she could kick your ass.
Mike seems in his element, too, and taller somehow, protective almost. When a guy with a safety pin through his left eyebrow bumps into me during the opening act, Mike shoves him back. At first I think we’ve won, but Eyebrow Piercing continues to thrash. I step to the side and let him go crazy. Who cares? This band is shit anyway. Mike lifts his brow as if to say, “Want me to kick his ass?” But I shake my head. No point in getting kicked out before the good bands start. We make our way to the other side of the venue where I can see the stage a little better.
We stand there for a while, taking in the scene. The opening band continues to suck. I’m not even sure the bass player’s amp is on. Their sound is top-heavy, like a car stereo with the speakers blown out. Mike nods in the direction of the merch tables. Looks like all the bands are selling CDs and a couple of girls are handing out flyers. We sidestep the thrashing masses to get a better look. I pass up the CDs; I don’t get my allowance until Monday, and I already blew my savings on the boots. A girl about my age catches my eye and smiles. Her brown hair is barely past shoulder length and much shinier than mine. Bright pink barrettes frame her pale face near her forehead. It should make her look childish, but instead she looks cool. I smile back.
“Hey, you interested in doing some shit?” she asks. Her pale green eyes sparkle with determination.
“Like what?”
“About all the bullshit in the world that girls have to put up with.”
Thinking she’s joking, I laugh. “That’s ambitious.”
“Just because we’re girls doesn’t mean we can’t change things. Here.” She hands me the flyer I’d noticed her passing out. “We meet on Tuesdays.
About the Author
Never one for following the “rules,” Carrie Pack is a published author of books in multiple genres, including Designs on You, In the Present Tense and the forthcoming Grrrls on the Side (2017). Her novels focus on characters finding themselves in their own time—something she experienced for herself when she came out as bisexual recently. She’s passionate about positive representation in her writing and has been a feminist before she knew what the word meant, thanks to a progressive and civic-minded grandmother. Coincidentally that’s also where she got her love of red lipstick and desserts. Carrie lives in Florida, or as she likes to call it, “America’s Wang.”
Connect with Carrie Pack at carriepack.com, on Twitter @carriepack, and on Facebook at facebook.com/mscarriepack.
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Thanks so much for having me!