The history of the Lunachicks, the pioneering all-female New York City punk group, will soon come into focus via a new documentary, Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks. The doc will hit streaming services and get a limited theatrical release in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Las Vegas, among other cities on April 24.
A trailer for the film, which is set to the band’s hopeful “Jerk of All Trades” (featuring the lyrics: “She can dance, she can sing/She can do most anything”), shows how the band came together. “I don’t know how to play lead guitar,” Gina Volpe says in the clip. “They were like, ‘That’s OK.’ We don’t know how to play anything either, so let’s just do it.”
“I wanted to shine a light on an era of women artists whose voices were too easily dismissed in their day, and what better subject to channel this through than my favorite band Lunachicks?” filmmaker Ilya Chaiken tells Rolling Stone. “Their story encapsulates the struggles and triumphs of survival, with plenty of hilarity and pathos that will resonate with fans and newcomers alike. It’s been so exciting to see a whole new generation fall in love with the Lunachicks.”
The trailer features interviews with the band members and archival footage of their colorful shows, as they reflect on how they transmuted their anger into raw, inspiring punk energy. “Getting on that mic and feeling the power, I remember feeling finally … free,” frontwoman Theo Kogan says. It also shows the effect they had outside of the band.
“They were punk,” Blondie’s Deborah Harry says, smiling in another scene. “They were rock chicks, and they had attitude.” In addition to the Lunachicks, the doc features interviews with Luscious Jackson’s Kate Schellenbach, L7’s Donita Sparks and Jennifer Finch, the Offspring’s Dexter Holland and Noodles, the Go-Go’s Gina Schock, and many others.
The film also shows how the mainstreaming of punk rock, and the mainstream music industry’s patriarchal tendencies, overwhelmed the group. In one scene, they recall how bookers would deny them gigs since a female band had played at a venue the previous month. “In the beginning, it was like, ‘Oh, my God, we’re in a band. This is so fun,’” says Kogan, who attends a pro-choice protest at the Capitol. “But we’re also feminists, and we’re pro-choice, and we’re still fighting for our choice today.” It also traces how the band got back together for a stellar reunion tour.
Author Jeanne Fury, who co-authored the excellent Lunachicks biography, Fallopian Rhapsody, says, “The Lunachicks tapped into every girl’s desire to take down the patriarchy.”
